Look! A Homemade Driveway Turntable

Look! A homemade driveway turntable FARM HOME Miscellaneous 11-1-30 "We have a long, narrow driveway which my wife has trouble backing the car out of so I built the turntable," explains Carl Ford, Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. "It solved the problem." Now, his wife Jean just backs the car out of the garage onto the 15-ft. dia. turntable. She then pushes a button on a modified garage door opener control and the table turns. When the car's facing the right way, she releases the control and drives forward out the driveway. "It takes just 15 seconds for the table to turn 180?," notes Ford. The 15-ft. dia. turntable sits in a 1 ft. deep poured concrete pit. It's made of aluminum, covered with indoor/ outdoor carpeting, and driven by a ¥-hp. electric motor with reducer drive. It turns on 20 stationary 6-in. steel wheels positioned in the pit around the outside of the turntable. Ford notes that it's built heavy enough to handle the weight of even trucks and boats. A drain in the pit gets rid of water but, if ice covers the turntable, Ford says "it's time to head for Florida". He estimates that it would cost $6,000 to $8,000 to have a similar turntable custom built.

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