New Ideas in Benchwork

[jward]

Has anybody ever considered putting their benchwork on wheels?  As I get older the thought of climbing up on my layout sounds less appealing.  The layout will have to go against a wall with a corner.


Regards,

Jonathan

i am currently doing just that for the reasons you stated. casters are readily available at lowes at modest cost. the ones i am using add about 2" to the layout's height, but the advantage of being able to pull it away from the wall to work on the back sections will be worth it i hope.

[CNE Runner]

I have returned from my fact-finding mission to Huntsville, AL (actually my wife wanted to take advantage of the tax-free weekend and add to her overabundance of clothes...uh, we don't need to inform her of my comments).

I stopped at the Home Depot and found out that a 4'x 8' piece 23/32" luan plywood sells for #16.12 a sheet. Additionally 11/32" [don't you wish we would use the metric system?] BC sanded plywood is $18.87 ea. Home Depot makes the first two cuts for free and charges 25 cents/cut after that. As I said yesterday, you would need 15 cuts to yield 16-3" pieces that would be 8' long (considerably cheaper than cutting 32 pieces 4' long). The gentleman I spoke to wasn't sure they could cut all the 3" strips as their saw needs about a foot at the bottom of the sheet.

Now the plan would be to laminate 2-3"x 8' pieces together - making a very strong support piece(s). [Aircraft in the 1930s and '40s were constructed using this method.] I tried this by holding 2 pieces of 1/2" plywood together and then comparing it to similarly sized pieces of 1"x 4" pine...there was a significant difference in weight...the plywood being the lightest. Again, food for thought.

One of the things I avoid; is doing (or using) something because "that's the way it has always been done". Already you folks have come up with some different ideas.

Oh, the wheels/casters: Our local Chinese tool store (read: Harbor Freight) has a large selection of casters - any one of which would fit the bill.

Ray

[jonathan]

Well... casters are starting to sound better.  I'm glad to hear some others have done it, and it works.  Now all I need is approval from higher authority.

Wish me luck.

Regards,

Jonathan

[Woody Elmore]

Instead of getting Luan plywood ripped you could use lattice. You can buy 1.5 or 2 inch wide pine lattice at most Home Depot locattions. This is much easier to laminate especially if you can get pieces 10 -12 feet long.

While a member of my former club, we used lattice and little three quarter inch blocks (which I cut on a table saw.) We used three splines separated by the blocks. We even made clamps out of carriage bolts and left over material. We then drilled the center spline to hold a 5 penny nail (try to find these!) driven through into a riser. Then we covered the laminated splines with homasote roadbed - again, cut by me on my trusty radial arm saw.

This method was featured in Model Railroader and we used it with much success.

[CNE Runner]

Woody - As I understand your post, you used lattice for your track sub-roadbed? I am familiar with this procedure and have used it in the past. What I propose using the 3" laminated plywood for is the actual benchwork (where most builders use 1"x 4" pine). In other words, are there new materials and/or new methods other than the L-girder system of yore?

So far, my limited research has shown that 2 laminated pieces of 3" plywood could be used as a frame for a layout AND be lighter in the bargain. The concern I have is: what problems am I not seeing with this method; and are there other options that are superior to this one? The L-girder design has been around for years...but is it still as relevant as it once was? My buddy, in Belgium, uses a method of very light strips of wood that are underscored by a cookie-cutter style of luan backing (adds tremendous strength and very little weight). I am sorry I am not being very descriptive about this option (I know I have seen this done once...but can't remember where). [I can describe the process of construction and am willing to do so in a later post if requested.]

On the otherhand, I suppose you could laminate a couple of strips of lattice together. Given the large grain of the pine used in lattice; I would think the strength isn't there - although you would end up with a 'beam' that measures 7/8"x 1.5" (using a single 1"x 2" trues out at 15/16"x 1.5"...an insignificant difference).

I am glad I have stimulated some thought and discussion with this topic.

Ray

[Woody Elmore]

Our club had new quarters and we wanted to get it up and running quickly. The layout  plan was designed to scale. We used L girder construction and the location of risers were placed on the plan. We were very fussy about not having any curves less and 4 feet radius (in HO) and we found that the long splines would form a nice natural curve without any coercion.

Once the risers were placed we added the splines. First the center ones, held in place with 5 penny nails and a dab of glue. By the way, we drilled the splines before adding the nails - then the splines didn't break. After the center spline was added, we added the blocks and then the outside splines. The work went fast!!

Everything was open; the only solid bench work was the yard which was made from 5/8 inch plywood covered with Homasote. We even developed a spline method for turnouts. Once everything was assembled and glued the roadbed was very strong. After all how much does an HO train weigh? The open areas were filled using zip texturing (another Linn Westcott MR development) Later we used rolls of plaster cloth.

Unfortunately the landlord kept raising the rent and there were members who did little but complain about the slow process of construction (but did little or nothing.) Sadly we had to close up. Demolishing all the spline work after I had spent many hours in assembly was especially troubling to me.

The spline method has many variations. The original article appeared in the mid sixties so it would really be difficult to locate unless the method is in one of Kalmbach's books.

I have seen roadbed made from laminated strips of luan plywood. That works but ripping the luan is laborious.

One word of advice - any glue used on laminations should be yellow resin glue. White glue like Elmer's will work but it becomes brittle and doesn't allow the spline assembly to stretch when the train room gets hot. Of course an air conditioned train room will help with this problem.

Anyway, good luck with your railroad. I always found making the subroadbed, cutting the Homasote and then hand laying track to be very relaxing. (I also made the jigs for laying the ties!)

[Jim Banner]

I have never used spline road bed but those that have swear by it.  I seem to remember that one of its advantages was that it automatically formed easements into and out of curves.  Another was that you could make it all up on the flat (on top of your L-girders or joists) and add risers later.  Then it would form eased vertical curves as well.

I had the pleasure, in the late 80's, to be invited to a gentleman's house to trouble shoot his CTC-16.  He had built a basement full of spline roadbed and laid track on it but had not yet started on his scenery.  But even in that state his layout was a thing of beauty with curves that flowed like none I had seen before or have seen since.

Jim

[RAM]

I have not used this method, but the club that I operate one two or three times a year used it.  What you need is strips of homasote and sheetrock screws.  If you used 5 strips, the two outside ones could be cut at the  angle you want for the roadbed.  Anyway once you get started one person can hold it in the shap that you want and the other person puts the screws in.  It go real fast and if you make a mistake, just take the screws out and redo it.  Well I can't get spell check to work tonight.

[Woody Elmore]

I also have seen laminated Homasote used for subroadbed. If I recall, there was an article about it in MR.

Here in the NYC area Homasote is greatly affected by humidity. A friend has a layout and he actually sealed all the wood so that it wouldn't be greatly affected by humidity. He switched from Homasote to building foam since it has more stability for roadbed.

One problem with Homasote is that it contains little tiny pieces of steel wool. This used to be a problem with brass engines that had open frame motors. The magnets could get clogged or the motors could short out with the steel shards if you weren't diligent about vacuuming. If you don't believe me run a piece of Homasote through a table saw. You'll see sparks.

[jward]

i don't like homasote for the humidity reason. i have seen homasote expand enough to kink flex track out of alignment by more than an inch.

pine is alot more stable, and almost as easy to spike into. as a matter of fact, pine holds spikes much better than homasote. foam board i cannot use because i am handlaying my track and it doesn't hold spikes well.

[jonathan]

I experimented and used 1/4" pressboard for my subroadbed.  It holds track nails very well... didn't need a hammer.  Just push gently and firmly.  No problems so far.  I may use 3/8" pressboard for my next layout.  Just my two cents.

Regards,

Jonathan

[CNE Runner]

That pressboard suggestion sounds very interesting Jonathan. I will have to check out our Lowe's and see what a piece of it weighs. Pressboard tends to be very heavy as anyone who has assembled cheaper office furniture can tell you.

Further up the thread there was some discussion about using casters on layout legs. It dawned on me that the Model Railroader folks did just that when they constructed their recent Beer Line. I checked out the MR website; but couldn't find any information directly related to their benchwork and leg supports (naturally I had already recycled those issues of MR).

One interesting feature of the Beer Line is the use of cabinet dowels to align the various sections of the layout. Since I am contemplating a layout that will measure 4'x 8', I am leaning toward constructing it in two sections. When (if?) we ever move, I could detach the sections, remove the legs, and not have to start yet another new layout. If you get the chance, and are an MR subscriber, check out the videos in the members section...lots of food for thought there.

Ray

[Craig]

My bench work is similar to residential framing. I used 2x4's spaced 24' on center. The assembly rests freely on a 2x6 beam system supported by 2x6 legs and 2x6 braces. The whole shebang is on 4" casters so I'm able to work the far side of my layout now and then via the "hallway" created when I roll it to the center of the room. Otherwise it rests against two walls.

[CNE Runner]

I found an interesting video on benchwork construction on YouTube.com that is in several parts. Check out the first installment at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzGjQkv-s_0

I also found another video clip from Green Frog Productions that showed a benchwork leg with a caster in place of the leveling screw that was shown in the clip above. As I see it, all one has to do is replace the leveling screw with an appropriately sized caster...piece of cake!

Craig - That must be some layout you have (2'x 6' beams, legs and braces...wow). I assumed you meant the 2'x 4' cross pieces were on 24 inch centers and not 24 foot centers? 'Glad the casters worked out for you...makes maintenance easier and I think that is the route I will follow myself.

Thanks for sharing,
Ray

[jward]

i liked the idea of using dowell pins, and i use one pin to align my legs and support the layout while attatching the carriage bolts that secure them to the benchwork. i will also try them to hold sections of the layout in alignment.

previously i used carriage bolts alone to hold sections together, wasn't satisfied with their ability to keep things in the same alignment after taking the sections apart.

i then tused the tried and true loose pin hinges to hold sections together. they work very well.  i also tried using 12" pieces of 1x4 as splice plates, this also worked well.