The conversion of an office into a bedroom meant that a large desk had to move, and it now occupies a significant amount of space previously designated as layout area. This necessitated a significant re-plan as there appeared to be no acceptable way to close the mainline loop. An understanding wife has graciously granted trackage rights around the room to accomplish this, on the understanding that the room furnishings are not significantly altered. I can live with that.
The result is that I need to add a 6" shelf around a good portion of the 14' x 26' room to carry the double-track main. I'll need to include a 42" lift-out section at the doorway. Two problems come to mind:
1) How to construct the shelf? I don't want it to be too obtrusive but it must be strong enough to handle the odd bump - three kids, and all that. The January MR shows the construction for a shelf layout, but a box made of 1 x 3 seems a little over-engineered in my mind, although the 1/2" ply is probably a good idea. What do you think?
2) The rest of the layout is built on standalone benchwork and is quite solid, but I worry a little (perhaps unnecessarily?) about the transition from the freestanding bench to the wallmounted shelf. Is this going to be a trouble spot?
Of course, there's a chair rail running around the room that interferes quite nicely with the planned height of the shelf, but I don't want to get into removing that. I suspect I'll end up running 3 or 4 inches above it.
Chris
CMLewis wrote: 1) How to construct the shelf? I don't want it to be too obtrusive but it must be strong enough to handle the odd bump - three kids, and all that. The January MR shows the construction for a shelf layout, but a box made of 1 x 3 seems a little over-engineered in my mind, although the 1/2" ply is probably a good idea. What do you think?
If you want it "unobtrusive" do you also want is finished and reasonably elegant...all things considered? If it were me, I'd to the wainscoting "lid" thing and use nice curved pine brackets and pine board to make the shelving...paint the brackets and face and nether side of the boards, and do the tops railroad style.
CMLewis wrote: 2) The rest of the layout is built on standalone bench-work and is quite solid, but I worry a little (perhaps unnecessarily?) about the transition from the freestanding bench to the wall-mounted shelf. Is this going to be a trouble spot?
2) The rest of the layout is built on standalone bench-work and is quite solid, but I worry a little (perhaps unnecessarily?) about the transition from the freestanding bench to the wall-mounted shelf. Is this going to be a trouble spot?
Quite possibly, but it needn't be. Fashion a joining tool, a fairly robust one, that serves to lever or to lock the two together. That may be a simple as a lag bolt or a carriage bolt with several wide washers to distribute the pressing load, and cinch them together at their interface. If you want something less permanent, more quick-release, invest in two good wood clamps, C-type, and clamp the two together underneath. Several quick flicks of the wrist and you can drop the clamps and move them apart...if you need to.
CMLewis wrote: Of course, there's a chair rail running around the room that interferes quite nicely with the planned height of the shelf, but I don't want to get into removing that. I suspect I'll end up running 3 or 4 inches above it.Chris
After my latest experience with a swing down bridge.....I like the idea. Some guys get the heebie-geebies just thinking about duckunders and drop-leaf inserts, whatever, but they make my plan a reality, so I like 'em. May change in 15 years, but at nearly 56, and still short, I'm still all for them.
I'm in a similar situation. I have 2 unobstructed walls for shelves - one 119" long, and the other 89" long. A third side has a 50" wide window in the middle of the side, which must be normally accessible (when the layout is not in use). This means a lift-out across the window. And the 4th side must be a peninusula with a lift-out to access the center donut connecting from the free-standing end of the peninusula. Making things worse is that the donut access lift-out connecting the free-standing peninusula and the wall with the window must connect to the lift-out across the window.
Lots of engineering to do to 1) make the free end of the peninsula as locked as possible against bumps, hopefully without fastening through the carpet into the underlying basement floor (not sure whether there is underlaying wood or not); 2) make a reasonable-to-handle lift-out section across the window (about 50" by 8" wide); 3) come up with a way for the access lift-out to connect with proper alignment to both the window lift-out and the free-end of the peninsula.
All this to get a continuous run for both the standard and narrow gauge lines! However, I am designing the layout so it is operable (all areas can be switched) without either of the liftout sections in place. Liftout sections will be stored on shelves above the layout when not in use.
The alternative was a peninsula-style 48"x89" main layout on a peninsula with a 16"x119" parallel leg on one wall, and a short section completing the base of the U. The interior aisle of the U was only 24" wide with this design. This looked very prone to being bumped and knocked on both sides of the narrow aisle when I mocked it up with cardboard boxes. And the design could not effectively provide continuous running for the narrow gauge. But it was so much easier to build that I'm having a hard time letting go of it.
yours in planning
Fred W