Ductwork usages

[FJ and G]

After finishing my basement, I had some leftover ductwork and this weekend I put it to use.

I was constructing a helix and cut out curved sections of wood to go 1/4 of the way around the circle. To join the pieces together, some advocate putting a piece of wood over the joints. However, this greatly adds to the thickness.

The solution I came up with is to cut strips of ductwork (using straight, left & right hand snips) and wrapping the joint with this; then running machine screws in to hold it in place. If you do this, ensure you round the edges of the metal as you can get a nasty gash (I still have scars from high school shop).

Other usages I found for the ductwork is repair patches for tinplate structures. I use rivets.

Has anyone else used ductwork for purposes other than ductwork?

Dave Vergun

[cnw1995]

This is an interesting idea. Our leftover ductwork was both 'curved' and too thick for me to use - I couldn't bend nor cut it, though I did experiment with using one as a 'quick and easy' tunnel liner.

[FJ and G]

Doug,

I'm covering the ductwork with a piece of ducttape to insulate the rails, which will be mounted tie-less directly to the board's surface. Clearance is 6"; track diameter 33 (using 027 hand-bent track), which makes the grade somewheres between 4 and 5%, a bit on the curvey and steep side, but running fairly short trains.

A bit about the helix, which I call "DNA" because there are two of them, one at each end of the shelf layout.

The upper level is primarily country scenery. The middle level is primarily an industrial switching setting, and the lower level is a yard.

The helix is not as pretty as most so I'm enclosing it in a gigantic building (that you will be able to open to pluck an errant train); actually a 3-level building; the top being a station, perhaps Dearborn, the middle level a freight warehouse and the lower level a locomotive rebuilding facility like perhaps the one in Cleberne Texas. The other helix of the DNA will be a giant floor to 3rd level mountain.

Another uniqueness about the layout has to do with BB the beagle. I have an odd-sized sliding glass door that I couldn't find a dog door for so I made my own dog door that fits into the window behind the layout. There's a step that she vaults up on in order to make her entry and exit thru the window and, of course one on the other side.

The lower level layout stops on either side of her step up but the middle level is directly in her path of egress. So, I'm designing a curved bridge that will allow BB a nice duckunder as she flies out the window to the back yard.

Dave Vergun