A great controller, I built a turntable from MDF and 3D printed swivel section and geared to 10:1 a few years ago and i'm just at the stage of getting working, I use a sketch with a Nema17 from RudysModelRailway but not happy with it so I look forward to see your final build ... Regards John
EXACTLY what I am looking for, aside from the turntable itself. I am building a DC/DCC powered layout for my special son, though your project can be used for both, the turntable location will only have DC power connected to it. I like the simple complexity your project has and am really looking forward to the plans and code download. Please let me know when ready where I can download each and if in the future you plan on selling the panels please include me in the information exchange as well. REALLY excited to get into this project, thank you!!
I just came across this series. So very well done. Do you have any updates? Parts list, etc? I'm very interested in controlling a G Scale turntable by building this.
Thank you! Yes there area few more videos in the series. I actually just released my code. I have a free version and a paid version. You can find both on my Etsy store. www.etsy.com/listing/1646672329/arduino-model-railroad-turntable?ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=Arduino+model+railroad+turntable+controller&ref=sr_gallery-1-8&dd=1&organic_search_click=1 There is also a playlist dedicated to how the controller works, how to set it up, etc. Hope this helps! Andy
Thank you! With all of the R&D I did, YES! Totally flew past that $300 mark. I believe that if you built the whole thing from scratch using basic parts you could probably get it under $200.
Well done :) Can you make a video how you made power supply to the tracks so the wires dont twist up (i got some ideas but would like to see how you did it)
Thanks! I didn't do anything special to get the wires going to the tracks from tangling, I just used a 4 wire slip ring. Pretty cheap and super effective.
I Just watched all your videos about this controller and your work is so good!Im not yet in railroad modelling but Im sure I will be soon,and thats why Im here.I have a question and I will try to be as comprehensible as I can.First of all as I can imagine you working with DC controller for your Locomotives so thats why you have to reverse polarity on the "moving" part of the turntable.I cant understand how the individual tracks in the "warehouse" work individually.Sometimes you have more than one trains in the warehouse but it only moves the one that load or unload on the turntable.Is the arduino somehow implemented with these tracks and gives power only at which you choose?
Thanks for watching and thank you for the kind words! You are correct all of my trains and my layout are old fashion DC. I have never used DCC before but I would assume you would still need to reverse the polarity of the turntable tracks once it moves past 180 degrees, just like DC. The reason being is that as your train moves from the turntable track to the static section of the tracks on the train layout it bridges both sections together through the wheels of the train. If both sections of the track are not the same polarity then you will create a short circuit. There are a lot of documents online on how to wire tracks for a turntable that provide good illustrations that can explain it better than I can via text. The static tracks in my "warehouse" are all wired to dedicated switches installed on a small box on my layout. I can manually turn power on and off to each track section. I thought about automating this process, but never got around to it. But it is possible! If enough people ask I may be able to add it one day.
How about a very specific video on how you wrote and downloaded the Arduino program. What you used to build your control box and how you wired it. What and how you built your Arduino control boxes including your box you built below your train table. How you wired everything up.
Good afternoon Chris. I plan to make a series of more in depth videos when I release the code opensource. Unfortunately I just cant find the time to get all the documentation written and the code cleaned up. Fingers crossed I can find some time soon.
I just found this video series because I'm looking to add a turntable to my layout and I was wanting to control it via Arduino rather than using a store-bought controller to save money and because I have a source for an unpowered turntable at a very good price. Yours looks to be the most promising code I've found so far. It will probably be at least a couple of months before I'm ready to work on that project, so I hope you come out with some followup videos and code release soon. In your video you said you were hitting the limits of the Nano, and that the nano was used in the controller to save space. Would it be possible to put the Arduino with the controls under the layout and use the Ethernet cable to connect to the control box instead of the other way around? I don't know how many wires you need for all of the control box components, so it may be a no-go due to the number of wires required for the keypad, knobs, and screen.
Thanks for watching. A new video in the series was just put out with more info. You hit the nail on the head with your last comment, there wouldn't be enough wires in the Ethernet cable to support all of the switches, knobs, buttons, and LCD. Also you would deal with signal distortion over a longer run with Ethernet cables for the LCD. Great minds think alike because I originally tired to do what you are proposing.
Lol thank you for the enthusiasm. The design isn't quite finished yet. I am trying to refine the code. I am going to try to send a link out to the code when it is finished.
Hi, very fine work. Some Questions: 1. can you give some information ( brand, type etc. ) of motor, timing belt and wheels and reed relay ? 2. is torque of your nema motor a neccessity or a surplus and might a smaller gear motor be sufficient ? 3. is the gear ratio you use 26 ( motor ) * 8 ( timing wheels ) ? You controller is very fine, but as I'm developing a low cost DCC accessory control system, based on low cost I2C boards from Adafruit, Sparkfun etc., on my own, I will also do my own controller. My turntable will be mounted in a non visible part of my model plant and have a diameter of about 25cm. Because of space constraints, the motor will be mounted on the turntable itself. The turntable will be used to mimik a reverse loop for tramways.
Great series of videos. I am converting an Australian 90ft turntable made by Anton to Arduino control. Have you released the Arduino "Sketch"/ files yet if so what is the link, if not any projected date? Keep up the good work. Regards Ken
Thank you for watching the series! I have not yet released any code for this project. The Arduino Nano build in this series didn't have the horsepower I needed so I am re designing the controller using an Arduino Mega. Hopefully more videos to come this fall.
Thank you! No parts list or wiring diagram yet. I am in the process of trying to optimize the code and the overall design. There are a few hardware tweaks I might make so nothings 100% done yet.
Good afternoon. Thanks for watching. Unfortunately I don't have a kit ready yet. My family is currently moving and I plan to jump back into this project after the move. Hopefully I will have a kit some time this fall.
Good question. You cant control the turntable through DCC but I think DCC could be send to power the turntable and a DCC locomotive would work fine. I don't know a ton about DCC and I don't have DCC to confirm.
A colleague and I are very interested in this project of yours, and would be most willing to help with some testing? Whilst I can't claim to be a programmer of a y standing, I have recently published a Nextion based Controller for DCC++ and DCC-EX where I wrote all the code and have hopefully learned a few tricks to reduce code size ( particularly when using an UNO/Nano. Do you have a download location somewhere? Github?
Good afternoon. I am not positive exactly what sensor it was but I think it may have been the A3144. Its a hall effect sensor with an integral breakout board. You can get around 6 of them for $6 on Amazon. Pretty cost effective.
Good question! Short answer is maybe, but I don't think so. Long answer is a bit more in depth. Based on my short google search a position encoder has a resolution of around 4,000 points per revolution. My hall effect sensor method gives me a resolution of roughly 27,000 points per revolution. I believe this additional resolution is what allows my controller to be so accurate and repeatable. Again very solid question.
Code is a bit of a mess at the moment. I started to learn how to write code more efficiently (I'm not a programmer by trade) and then got sucked into a new project. I hope to get the code ironed out this fall. There are a few people who are chomping at the bit to get the code and I plan to send it their way first since they will likely be enthusiastic beta testers who don't mind bugs lol. Ill throw you on that list.
Good afternoon Matthew. I have gone back to the drawing board for the controller. I am upgrading the system to now use an Arduino Mega and have a better form factor. Progress is currently going pretty slow with my home / work / other projects fighting for my time. I hope to put out another video on the topic in a few months with the new design.
