How to improve the Walthers 90' Motorised Turntable - The Escarpment
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- Опубликовано: 29 дек 2022
- New content continues - this video will be the last video for 2022. This video will show you how I improved the Walthers 90' Motorised Turntable for sound operations. This will see the mechanical Walthers solution turned into a digital solution, this will see two major improvements:
1 - You will now not lose sound; and
2 - the rails will be now controlled by a Frog Juicer configured to act as an Auto-reverser.
Below is the list of components that I used:
1) Slip Ring (this initially had 6 wires, I just cut one off):
www.aliexpress.com/item/10050...
2) 5 Pin connectors:
www.ebay.com.au/itm/284150711019
3) Frog Juicer:
www.brunelhobbies.com.au/Tam-V...
4)Heat Shrink tubing
Any Jaycar or electronics store or search on eBay
5) Custom Slip Ring holder:
This would depend on the slip ring size and can easily be done in TinkerCAD and then produced on a 3D printer. If in Australia, I can help out with and/or printed part. If overseas, I can help out with sending the STL file
Stay tuned until the end, as there will be tips and lessons learnt content, which will be important to the conversion job.
For behind the scenes content, the link to my Escarpment Facebook Group is:
/ theescarpment
All the build and track planning has been undertaken in Anyrail 6, for the Escarpment construction. This is an HO Australian model train layout build loosely based on the Illawarra South Coast line on the Escarpment.
How to improve the Walthers 90' Motorised Turntable - The Escarpment
End of Video music by Graham Greene:
www.grahamgreene.com.au 
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Last video of 2022 and one that many have asked for - please remember to like and share!!
A very ingenious modification that significantly improves the turntable. Even though it's moderately complex, your step-by-step instructions and recommendations greatly simplify things.
Thanks for showing us just how you get it done.
Thanks Michael, it was something worth showing. I believe it was also shared with Walthers lol. Glad it was useful, cheers
Impressive, hope I don't ever have to go through this procedure, however; my problem is with the alignment / zeroing. Going back and double checking the areas of the LEDs will hopefully correct the issue. Very good presentation you have done in this video, THANKS.
Thanks Rich, appreciate the feedback. This has been the best mod for this TT..cheers
Ha ya think Walters would of came up with that idea so all ya had to do was buy the juicer . Great idea man .hopefully some day I’ll get to my 130 ‘ one an do it .great job man an your panels to you did
Thanks for your comments. I believe another viewer passed this video/concept onto Walthers for consideration.
Loving the panels, beats the manual battery workaround lol..cheers
Jason, well done and i too was trying to work out how to have sound on mine.
I tried putting in a Auto- Reverser but couldn't get this to work. But now i know lol cheers Robert
Hi Robert, yeah it has been a project I wanted to solve ever since I bought this kit. Perseverance has paid off, and aside from some fiddly work, it was fairly straight forward..cheers
That turned out awesome! Job well done. Thanks for sharing, stay safe. Ken
Thanks Ken, happy with the outcome, although it had me a little nervous with the home sensoring issue lol..cheers
Great tutorial Jason hopefully this will be of great use to other model railroaders well done. Have a great new year and see you in 2023
Thanks Phil, hopefully it will be as I coulding find a lot of information about it online. Happy New Year and all the best in 2023..cheers
Happy New Year, Thank you for posting this. I will follow the same approach.
Same to you Ray..not a problem..cheers
Awesome update Jason!!! Thanks for sharing this video. Interesting and educational too!! Happy new year and all the best for 2023 for you and your family! Cheers Onno.
Thanks for all your support this year Onno! Best wishes to you and your family as well for 2023!
Very interesting Jason.Great tutorial
Thanks Matthew..cheers
Absolutely brilliant. Jason you are a genius! Your design and mechanics are bested only by your ability to explain it all clearly. Thank you so much. Happy New Year and I can't wait to see what you have in store for 2023.
Hi Scott, thanks for watching..but not sure about the genius part..but do enjoy the problem solving part to enhance an outcome. The bonus being it worked! Hoping 2023 will be a big yeat for the Escarpment..regards
Excellent video your skills are brilliant, love watching you work. Take care.
Thanks Dallas, appreciate your kind words..regards
Slip Ring a wonderful discovery! I am trying to design a scratch build turntable and this is a game changer. I have a couple of version on order from China. Now to the drive mechanism under the pit...
They are indeed! Best of luck with your custom build. Let me know how you go..cheers!
My Peco NB-55 turntable uses a brass split ring design that automatically reverses the track polarity when the bridge rotates past a certain point. No need for any current reversing circuitry. Well that's the theory behind it but maintaining constant track power to the bridge was almost impossible so I simply wired my bridge track directly to my DCC power bus via a DPDT switch and it all works perfectly now. If I rotate a loco 180 degrees just simply flick the switch and simply drive it off the bridge no worries.
Jason. finally watched the video for the turntable. Great job , really enjoyed this one. Your fix for this one was great. Look forward to seeing what next year brings. And a belated merry Christmas and a Happy new year to you and yours . Keep up the great work. 😊
Thanks William, appreciate the feedback. Best wishes to you and your family for 2023..regards
Thanks Jason, happy new year.
You are welcome, thanks for watching..cheers
That was very interesting Jason. It was good to see the testing prove that the modifications had worked. That will make the turntable usable without the oddity of the loco shutting down to be turned. Happy new Year to you for 2023 Stephen
Hi Stephen, best wishes to you and your family as well for 2023. It was a big improvement. Losing sound as it rotated was not realalistic at all by any standards..regards
Jason , great modification for the turntable, happy new year
Thanks James, it was a great improvement..cheers
Great to see you got the video up to end off 2022 Jason .
I have a KATO KA20-283 - Unitrack Turntable (N Scale) that i kind of inherited . My plan is to upscale it to O Gauge using the guts of it , its DCC ready so i hope i can get around some of the issues you had , though its currently retailing at around $500 so it better bloody work ! 😑
Sounds like you have a great project coming up. Understand the dollar value and hoping it doesn't become a paper weight item on the workbench lol. Best of luck..regards
thank you for your detailed video
very super detail through out video
Glad it was helpful!
A fascinating and brilliant solution! Walthers, are you paying attention? You could make a good product great!
Hi avlisk, agreed and wouldn't need a full redesign of the existing kit..cheers
@@JasonWood_Escarpment I sent Walthers an email with your video attached. Let's see what happens. (I hope that was OK.)
@avlisk let's hope for a future upgrade..cheers
@@JasonWood_Escarpment Here's an update from Walthers. It's the text of an email they sent me:
Thanks for your note regarding the upgrade video of our Cornerstone Turntables. As I do the technical and promotional writing for Walthers-brand products, your email was forwarded to me for assistance.
While there's nothing planned for an upgrade, I had seen this video and have forwarded the link to our engineering team for possible future consideration.
Thanks again for passing this along and happy modeling!
Lance Burton
Senior Writer, Wm. K. Walthers, Inc.
1-4-23 12:18 PM/CST
@@avlisk thanks for sharing the feedback..fingers crossed..cheers
Hi Jason, nice solution to a problem I would not have gone anywhere near, lol! I like watching you work mate, it makes me feel like I actually understand some of this stuff!🤔😂
I think we’ve already said our Happy New Years, looking forward to what you do next year Jason, cheers for now mate, John
😂🤣 thanks John. If I dont know anything about it, I just make it up as I go along..and sometimes I get lucky 🤣😂 cheers
😂😂😂
Jason, thanks for the explanation! The Walthers turntables hve a weaklink in the bridge connection. Gives a lot of trouble, I know because i have the 130ft. This modification is a very good one! I will look into it to do myself!
Thanks for watching. Yeah, it is still going strong and has had no issues to date..cheers
@@JasonWood_Escarpment Thanks! I think the printed part is the same as in the 130ft bridge... do you know the outside measurement of it?
Sorry, I forgot to come back to this query. I'll need to check that detail from my CAD later when I get back home from work. I can't quiet recall from memory
@@JasonWood_Escarpment no rush, no hurry 😊 Thanks!
18.7mm diameter I used
I found a swivel that has a plate built in. It had to be cut down a little but now fits well.
That is great to hear, cheers!
The turntable is installed and I did the first test run today. It still needs painting and all the other tracks but so far, it is all good. There is a 45 sec. video of it on my channel.
You sure made that look easy! Being one who models the steam engines it makes me want to put in a turntable too. Of course space is a premium and a turntable does take up a lot of space with it's associated tracks.
Thanks for your feedback. It helps where a good step by step plan is developed. Yes, they are realestate estate , ungry and I haven't got a full blown setup with multi stalls/tracks etc..cheers
@@JasonWood_Escarpment Have you checked with Norm at Caboose Stop Hobbies? I do not know if you know about their weekly show on RUclips. They have been around for 50 years. ruclips.net/video/vjzWEnI-33Y/видео.html
Thanks
@@JasonWood_Escarpment Sorry, that was meant for someone else.
Great job that. Works like a charm. I have just bought 2x90' Walther's turntables, but the unpowered variety. I'm buying the Electromech separately, and using auto reverser circuitry for the bridges.
Then figure out a way to run the show using DCC, rather than the Walther's controller.
I do have one of those as well, but then decided to go the full mororised kit, I I couldnt work out the best way forward..but I guess you could go down the path of a stepper motor, stepper controller board and maybe arduino to control it all..best of luck that the project..cheers
great job cya next year
Thanks Alan, all the best for 2023..regards
Great video; even though I use keep alives in my locos this seems like a great mod for this turntable. Thanks...
Thanks loumickie, must admit I didn't test the loco I have with a keep alive, pre this conversion. Thanks for watching..cheers
@@JasonWood_Escarpment Appreciate the links for the parts too. Lou
@@loumickie I will put a better link up soon for the slip ring
New slip ring link
Jason , i have followed your channel from day one . I look forward to watching your videos on your build and i have learnt a lot from you . thank you . I was wondering who did you use to make up your signal panel boards . they look fantastic . And what is their measurements ?
Keep up the great work and I look forward to 2023 vids Thank you for your help .
Thanks for your support Daryl! I'm glad to hear that you find it of value. The company that did my signs was a Sydney based and operated called Easy Signs. My panels measure 545mm x 210mm x 4mm. I have the frame plans, so I'm hoping to start putting them together over the next couple of weeks. Currently busy with laying carpet in the Escarpment room and finalising my custom designed coal loader for level 3. Thanks again, regards
This is a very nice and clearly wholly effective solution to the biggest single fault of the Walthers turntables (the 110 and 130 ft turntables have the same slip ring arrangement). It will also eliminate the two "dead bands" where the as-delivered turntables cannot support stall tracks directly opposite each other due to the break in the outer ring of the pcb.
Is there any chance you'll sell the slip ring collar file to save others most of the development time - changing the inner diameter to suit other slip rings should be relatively quick and easy? Alternatively perhaps sell a parts kit and instruction sheet with everything that matches up?. I can get the printing done, I'm just not at a point where I can play with files yet.
Thanks for bringing us along on your journey this year, looking forward to what 2023 brings from you. Happy New Years Jason.
Appreciate the feedback and questions Jag. That is a very good point about the additional support for additional tracks. Concerning the custom ring, yes, I can support you with what may be needed. It is a basic design/setup and wouldn't take much to change. I can supply the file and/or part if required.
Thanks again for your support. Best wishes to you and family for 2023..regards
Thank you for all this info, im using a Hegian turntable & if I do have problems Im going to use your new wiring diagram. I can find the Frog juicer but what is the other pcb board that you use. I was very impressed with your woodworking skills at the start of your build. Thank you again ....Cheers Brian U.K. American ho
Thanks Brian..the other PCB was part of the Walthers motorised turntable. I'm not sure how the Hegian is wired up or whether this approach would work (?)..regards
Thank you ...I've just realized that the other pcb is part of the Walthers kit. I think your take on rewiring the turntable is spot on
Great video! I’m going to try this on my Walthers N scale 130’.
It occurs to me that you don’t actually need to reinstall the Walthers circuit board back inside the blue housing. If space is a premium, the board could be mounted to the bottom of the layout near the reverser.
That is very true..thinking outside the box 😉
Where did you get the slip ring or did you make it yourself. Thank you for your video as they are a great help.
Hi Allen, I couldn't find the original link on eBay, but found a similar slip ring product on AliExpress:
www.aliexpress.com/item/1005002523794074.html?spm=a2g0o.detail.1000060.3.37da3156cgEQT7&gps-id=pcDetailBottomMoreThisSeller&scm=1007.13339.291025.0&scm_id=1007.13339.291025.0&scm-url=1007.13339.291025.0&pvid=2cf290da-4247-4c77-93e4-ddbe263af21c&_t=gps-id:pcDetailBottomMoreThisSeller,scm-url:1007.13339.291025.0,pvid:2cf290da-4247-4c77-93e4-ddbe263af21c,tpp_buckets:668%232846%238107%231934&isseo=y&pdp_ext_f=%7B%22sku_id%22%3A%2212000027789324868%22%2C%22sceneId%22%3A%223339%22%7D&pdp_npi=2%40dis%21AUD%2111.61%2110.68%21%21%21%21%21%402101f6b416724482609291169e9c80%2112000027789324868%21rec
Fantastic solution Jason. I would like to convert my 110' turntable to eliminate E3 errors. Given that my layout is DC not DCC will I need to do anything different? I assume a frog juicer will not work for me.
Hi Stephen, thanks for the feedback. While I haven't done DC layouts before, I do know that frogjuicers are DCC only and do not work with DC. I would assume you would use a DPDT to switch polarity, but only take what I say with a grain of salt. I would recommend searching for a website/RUclips dedicate to operating with DC to help..cheers
Very nicely done - would installing stay alive capacitor on the loco decoder be a simpler, albeit tedious solution??
Thanks for the question s
Sid. All my locos are sound equipped, and there are many making that exercise long, tedious, and very expensive. Plus In 99% of my locos, this would be the only area that would need them. While this TT job seems daunting at first, once you break it down, it is very easy to do..regards
Hi Jason, Great Video...but Brunel Hobbies has now been bought by the model emporium and they appear not to have any.
...also which one do I have to search for ?...the unit you have in the video looks like the DFJ003U Dual Frog Juicer. Can I use the MFJ003U Mono Frog Juicer
Cheers Paul
Happy New Year 2024.
Hi Paul, for this solution, you will need the dual frog juicer. The reason is that it needs to be converted into an auto reverser (there is a jumper pin on the board to do this). Hope that helps
Jason, I am about to alter the slip ring in my walthers 90 turntable. I was just wondering if you had had any trouble with the new slip ring you fitted as I have purchased the same type.
Hey Ken, no issues to date. Runs like a dream..cheers
Hey, Loved your tutorial, I have a quick question for you though, do you know what the diameter of the small circular pcb you removed is? I want to test this theory that another hobby of mine might have a pcb replacement similar to that one that'll work with your upgrades.
Thanks for the comments. Good question, I had done the conversion a while ago now, so I can't remember. But will have a look up in the train shed over the next few days to see if I still have that PCB laying around..cheers
Finally found it..it is 19.9mm in diameter..cheers
@@JasonWood_Escarpment thanks man, I'll let you know my findings!
I am at a point where I can install my turntable (same kit). Are you still using the little blue controller box provided by Walthers?
I am familiar with Tam Valley Frog Juicers amd have uaed two of the duos for reverse loop tracks so my layput can be point to point for ops or it can be a continuous run.
Hi Airwolf, yes I have installed/linked two of them
@@JasonWood_Escarpment thank for the quick reply. I am looking at the other needed items. I do not have access to a 3d printer but my son does. I may be contating you for that stl file.
@AirwolfCrazy will just need the diameter of your slip ring and adjust STL and send through to you
Where did you obtain the slip ring for the wires? Thank. Nicky done
Hi there. The slip ring I believe I got from AliExpress. It was a while ago, so I don't have a current link. But if you search, you should find them..cheers
@@JasonWood_Escarpment 🚂 Thank You 🚂
Actually, the description of the RUclips video has a link..looks to be still good, too
Hi Jason - I have just received in the post the same CCTV system as yours for my fiddle yard. Since having PTSD my mind no longer functions like it used to so I have a question. In order to wire it into a plug/transformer, can you please tell me which two wires out of the six I use please? Also sent to your FB account.
Regards Chris
Hi Chris, I hope the answers on FB helped? I believe that last power pack (12v 2amp) should do the trick. You should be able to get a connection where it will plug into your power pack and the other side have + and - terminals for the wires fro. The CCTV unit
Cheers Jason, power pack ordered and I will let you know how I got on. Very likely be asking questions as to how it works as no paperwork.
Regards Chris
I'm curious as to how this turntable is motorised in order to rotate? Most turntables have a central pivot spindle attached to a motor but this does not.
Hey Phil, these ones have a motor in the bridge with a spindle at each end of the bridge..cheers
@@JasonWood_Escarpment Arrh the beauty of HO scale where something like that is feasible. I'm running N scale and unfortunately Walthers don't make their 90' turntable in N scale.
Hi mate, I have a 130' table on the way and would like to mod it like yours. Any chance you could send me the .stl for the slip ring holder? I've been looking for something like this over the past few weeks, excellent work! My BLI Big Boy and FEF will thank you.
Hey Phil. Assuming the diameter of the PCB is the same, what is the diameter of the slip ring you will be using? Either way, just contact me via Facebook Messenger, and I can send it to you..cheers
@@JasonWood_Escarpment Thanks Jason. As soon as it arrives, I'll grab the calipers and let you know. Cheers
Where did you obtain the slip ring?
@@fallnflags5587 It's in the description, Aliexpress