Inexpensive motorized turntable up to 10 lb load

[Darryl Gilley]

Hello,
I'm trying to design and fabricate a dc motorized turntable (24" diameter fairly light-weight pressed wood table top) to rotate at various slow speeds between 1 revolution per hour to perhaps as fast as one revolution per minute carrying a load of up to 10 pounds on a lazy susan type ball bearing fixture to serve as a stand for a revolving centerpiece.

I've found hobby type motors (with planetary gear box, etc) that seem like they may work, but I believe they may be noisy and they range in power to 3v to 5v and I am wondering how long a 3 volt battery would last on a 3v motor (I realize it must depend on the load) but it would still be good to have a ball park idea.

I would rather avoid the costly and time consuming trial and error method of buying and trying different motors and batteries but frankly I'm completely out of my depth here (yes, I realize it's like wading-pool depth to engineers). So, I was wondering if you would be so kind as to point me in the right direction for the simplest and least expensive solution to the problem at hand.
Thank you very much,

Darryl

 

[Baluncore]

Welcome to PF.
Take a look at how the old vinyl record players worked. Some had a flat belt drive from a small pulley on the motor, to the large outer diameter of the platter. Others had a rubber idler wheel between the drive pulley and the inner wall of the platter. For your slow speeds you would need a reduction gear on an electric motor. You might consider a belt with a stepper motor, without a gearbox. The step period would set the time per revolution. The steps would be small and would not be noticed by observers.

 

[anorlunda]

I really like @Baluncore 's suggestion. In fact, the easiest thing you might to is to adapt an old fashioned record player to fit your RPM range. It probably has enough power for the 10 pound load already.

Look to a local consignment store or a flea market or perhaps Ebay for old record players. They came in both AC and DC versions.

 

[NTL2009]

Turntables were more common nine years ago (see date on OP).