finally. for several years i have been in a perpetual development stage of my california southern rwy. i finally discovered some inspiration this week and, not only chose locations, but developed a working track plan... well, at least a general plan for one. yesterday, i even made a visit to my local Lowe's home improvement center and bought some lumber. this weekend i'll build the first "domino" - how exciting! after i get my car back from the shop, we'll see if i can afford to build another 2 dominos. lol.
p.s. any idea for strong, cheap, and portable legs?
CalSoRwy wrote: p.s. any idea for strong, cheap, and portable legs?
Without more information on your requirments of weight capacity and length, several come to mind:
2x2 dimensional lumber with bottoms drilled for lag bolt adjusters is probably quickest. Use 2x3's if you need more capacity.
1 3/4 inch PVC pipe with a 1 1/2 dowel (6 inches long) pressed in each end to hold screws is pobably lightest.
Plywood L shaped legs, probably most attractive. (one strip 1 3/4" wide, other 2 1/2" wide, edge of narrow glued/screwed to surface of wider, gives you 1 3/4 inch x 1 3/4 inch inside size-glue/screw a 2x2 <1 1/2" x 1 1/2" actual size>; 4 inches long to one end, drilled for Lag Bolt as adjustable foot)
All legnths determined by your desired height.
A couple of weeks after I overcame "analysis paralysis" and actually started building my benchwork, I had this:
(You can get a bigger image by clicking on the picture, by the way.)
Anyway, this is a 5x12 foot frame, made of 1x4 on the outside and 1x3 as the cross-rafters. The legs are 2x3, and the cross-bracing is 1x2. I used plywood for the triangular gussets where the legs meet the frame.
The layout base material is 2-inch foam. As you can see, the whole layout is on wheels, so it needs to be light enough to roll around, on a carpeted floor. When not in use, and sometime when I'm running, the layout tucks under a slanted roof line, but I needed to be able to pull it out to get to the back.
The 2x3 legs work fine. I think the key is the triangular gussets, which stabilize the corner legs in both dimensions. The center legs have gussets in the long dimension, and diagonal bracing in the other.
On my layout, the legs and gussets are held on with wood screws, but you could use carriage bolts to make them easy to remove if necessary.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.