Stargate inner track mechanism?

[Prop-Builder]

Does anybody happen to know how the 'inner track' was mechanised on the studio-scale Stargate prop? What was the system that made it revolve, and how did the prop-makers achieve such a close fit with the outer casing without a single part of the ring scraping the sides and jamming?

Any pics or info on this would be greatly appreciated as I may attempt this on a smaller scale for my 4ft gate build.

 

[cheech9898]

Motor driven at the bottom of the stargate. See pic 1, which is from when they converted the SGC Gateroom set into the Icarus Base set for SG:U. Motor can be seen and there is no outer piece at the bottom.

Blueprints show that there was a vertical back plate with tubular rings on the top and bottom and that ran on/between a double set of rollers (one above, one below). Wedges came off the back plate and the the glyph panels were mounted to those wedges..

 

[jedimaster]

Have you looked at the lazy susan bearing rings? I used them fo my r2 dome. They have an inner and outer ring and are very slim. A motor could be rigged with a skate wheel.

 

[cheech9898]

Cost for a 4ft lazy susan bearing would be cost prohibitive, i don't know of any off the shelf that size... so your looking at one custom and some big $$$

Below is a general idea what the blueprints show.

 

[Prop-Builder]

Cost for a 4ft lazy susan bearing would be cost prohibitive, i don't know of any off the shelf that size... so your looking at one custom and some big $$$

Below is a general idea what the blueprints show.

Thanks for the info on this. I may do a test rig to try this out before assembling anything to a gate. I guess the motor would have to be geared to run much more slowly but with more power.