Building a layout on a rotisserie

[hon30critter]

carl425

The cut will always have a clean edge and a splintered edge.  Upstroke or downstroke just changes whether the clean edge is on the top or bottom.  For example, the downstroke blade should be used to cut a hole in a countertop for a sink.

Hi carl425,

That's about what I figured but I thought I would ask the question anyhow. You know the old adage about the only question not asked....

I'll give them a try. Its only benchwork.

Thanks,

Dave

[hon30critter]

I just got the last of the lumber. I had to get a 4x8 sheet of 3/4" plywood to use as a work surface.

I spent most of the day cleaning up the garage so I have space to work. I cut up a whole bunch of cardboard boxes. Heaven knows why we were saving them.

It is too hot right now to do any more work in the garage. I'll see what it's like this evening.

Dave

[hon30critter]

I didn't get back to the garage on Tuesday night. My back decided to show how unhappy it was with having been pushed around all day. I had to take a couple of oxycocets to settle things down. It's easy to see why people get addicted to opiates. I have a really nice cosy buzz on right now and my back feels fine. I haven't taken the stuff for about six weeks, and I will not take it again for at least that long, hopefully longer. Dangerous stuff!

Dave

[hon30critter]

I have made some progress, albeit minor. I have inventoried and marked all of the pieces of lumber that I have in the garage, and I have assigned each piece of lumber to its designated location in the plan. I also got the spray booth off of the radial arm saw and cleared a path that will allow me to use the RAS to cut all the pieces to length instead of using a jig saw. The RAS will give me much cleaner cuts assuming I can get the boards lined up squarely against the fence.

My back continues to be an obstacle. I can only stand and work for a few minutes but I will persevere!

Dave

[SeeYou190]

Dave,

Be careful with that Radial Arm Saw. I had a bad accident with mine last year, and then I got rid of it and replaced it with a miter saw.

-Kevin

[hon30critter]

SeeYou190

Be careful with that Radial Arm Saw.

Always! I have seen what damage they can do if you make a mistake. When I was managing the Hardware Department in the Sears Canada Peterborough store early in my career a guy walked in with his jaw wired shut. That didn't stop him from communicating how angry he was with Sears! To make a long story short, he was trying to rip a 2x8 in half (I didn't ask why he didn't just buy 2x4s) but he fed the board the wrong way into the blade. The result was that the saw fired the board across his garage and when it bounced back at considerable speed it hit him in the jaw. No amount of explaining would have solved the issue.

Another guy did the same thing, except this time he fired the board through the side windows of his car! I could hardly keep a straight face when he showed me the pictures. Some people shouldn't use power tools!!!

For what it is worth, I have used my RAS to build kitchen and bathroom cabinets, countless feet of door and window trim, numerous pieces of furniture and multiple other objects. I haven't messed up yet. I always take my time. I always check where my hands are before making a cross cut, and I always check the feed direction when I am ripping a board.

Dave

[rrinker]

 It's been a LONG time since I used any sort of power saw besides my miter saw, part of why it has been taking me so long to make the next steps. I couldn;t even tell you the last time I used a circular saw, but now that I got one sheet of plywood cut into 3" strips I'm ready to go. Same with the jigsaw, but on Sunday I did what I planned, used some scrape cardboard to get the radius of the backdrop and transfer it to the sheet of plywood, and then drew in track centerlines for the 3 tracks, and a final inside edge line, and went for it.

 Would definitely be better if I had help, at least with larger pieces, but I managed to control the saw and not drop the cut off part on my toes. Next bunch of sections will all be straight so I will probably cut that the easy way, with the circular saw and the Kreg Rip-Cut guide. 

                                         --Randy

 

[hon30critter]

Finally I have started to build the layout!!! Can you believe it?!? No more procrastination! No more paralysis by analysis! Its only taken me 18 years to get to this point!

Not much so far. Just the basic end supports assembled. They are upside down in the picture. The castors will be mounted on the top pieces of plywood:

The Torx screws and bits work very well! I'm happy I made the investment. I have decided to use the radial arm saw to make all the cuts. I'm using a hollow ground planer blade so the cuts are super clean.

FWIW, being able to sit to do most of the work is great. I spent more than two hours working on the layout and my back is feeling fine.

Dave

[rrinker]

 Feels good, doesn't it? Everyone works so much faster than me. Great to hear you can manage without causing additional back issues. You got this!

                                    --Randy

 

[SeeYou190]

hon30critter

I spent more than two hours working on the layout and my back is feeling fine.

That is great to hear. I had a back injury a long time ago, and hurting it again is something I really need to avoid.

-Kevin

[hon30critter]

hon30critter

I spent more than two hours working on the layout and my back is feeling fine.

Spoke too soon!

In addition to starting the layout I have also been refinishing the top of our dining room table. It is a fairly large harvest table that I made many years ago, and I never got the finish right. We had to carry it out onto the deck to sand the old very decrepid finish off of it. Carrying it in and out has set me back a bit (pardon the pun).

After moving it back inside we decided to go to Home Depot to buy some yard mulch as well as some nuts and bolts for the layout. After a few minutes I was so distracted by the pain that I got confused about what I needed. I didn't realize that everything that I was pulling from the bins was stainless steel.  My back hurt so much that I had to go back to the van to sit down.

In addition, there were several other customers who came into the aisle after we got there who didn't care a rodent's behind about social distancing. We have four days to find out if any of them were Covid-19 positive. The end result is that half of the nuts and bolts that I bought were too large so they have to go back.

I think I'm due for a wheelchair for use in situations like I have just described. I can't go into any more stores wondering if I'm going to be able to make it back to the car.

Thanks for letting me whine, again!!

Cheers!!

Dave

[SeeYou190]

hon30critter

I think I'm due for a wheelchair for use in situations like I have just described.

My wife disagrees with my decision to install a wheelchair ramp and wider doors as I do the house remodel.

But... you never know, and I am in shape well enough to install them now.

I am sorry to hear about all your aggravation.

-Kevin

[hon30critter]

SeeYou190

I am sorry to hear about all your aggravation.

Thanks for your thoughts Kevin!

The only reason that I would get a wheelchair would be for shopping trips and excursions where I might have to stand for long periods. I don't need one to get around the house, and hopefully that won't change. Besides, our house is a four level side split so getting around it in a wheelchair is a non-starter.

Dave

[mbinsewi]

Dave, don't the big stores up there have the electric carts you can ride on?

Mike.

[hon30critter]

mbinsewi

Dave, don't the big stores up there have the electric carts you can ride on?

Hi Mike,

Yes, most of the big stores do. I guess that my reluctance to use them stems from the fact that I don't want to admit how badly my back has deteriorated.

I would not buy an electric wheelchair. There is an advantage to using a manual powered wheelchair in that there is some effort involved in pushing yourself along. Any exercise that I can get without experiencing pain is a good thing.

Dave

[hon30critter]

I just made a great deal with my favourite hobby store which is a real brick and mortar establishment. I won't mention names because I don't think they are willing to do deals like this very often.

When I was planning my first layout I bought all the needed track and other bits. My back prevented me from building the layout so I was stuck with a bunch of Code 100 Atlas flex track. I decided to offer the surplus track to my hobby store at a serious discount. In fact, the asking price was about what I would have netted if I had rented a table at a show. It just so happened that the hobby store had just sold out of its supply of Atlas Code 100 track, so we have made a deal! I will get a nice store credit, and they will be back in stock of Atlas flex track. Win win!!

Dave

 

[hon30critter]

The credit I earned with the hobby store didn't last long! I just ordered 25 Tortoises!

My only disappointment with having to buy the Tortoises new is that I sold 40 or so used Tortoises that I bought on eBay to my old club for about half the current retail price a couple of years ago.  I had given up on building a layout so I thought I would never use them.

Dave

[SeeYou190]

hon30critter

The credit I earned with the hobby store didn't last long! I just ordered 25 Tortoises!

I recently purchased 36 Tortoises from MB Klein. That order was partof the single biggest model railroad purchase I have ever made.

When I took down the "dream house" layout in the early 1990s I gave at least 100 Tortoises to Scale Rails of Southwest Florida.

-Kevin

[hon30critter]

SeeYou190

I recently purchased 36 Tortoises from MB Klein. That order was partof the single biggest model railroad purchase I have ever made.

Hi Kevin,

I am spending money on this layout hand over fist! Dianne isn't complaining, at least not too loudly, but she is getting a bit tired of picking up packages from the front porch which are all addressed to me. There are one or two every day!

Before I can make more progress on the layout I have a couple of shelf units for the garden shed to build, and I have to finish the refinishing of the dining room table. I messed up on the table refinishing. I didn't use a conditioner before applying the stain as was recommended by Varathane with the result that I have some streaks across the grain that don't look very good. I'm going to try using some 99% isopropyl alcohol to see if I can lighten them a bit. I'm waiting for cooler weather to do that so I can have the doors and windows open to get rid of the alcohol fumes. Wednesday was really hot so there was no way I was going to turn the AC off and open the windows.

One step at a time!

Dave

[richhotrain]

I wouldn't spend too much time lamenting the loss of Tortoises.

On my old layout, I had nearly 70 Tortoises, operating Atlas Custom Line turnouts all over the layout. On my new layout, I decided to use Peco turnouts and take advantage of the spring loaded feature to throw the point rails. I kept 8 Tortoises and Atlas turnouts for my passenger station ladder, but I sold the rest of the Tortoises and Atlas turnouts on eBay and generated sufficient proceeds to buy the more expensive Peco turnouts.

Rich

[hon30critter]

richhotrain

On my new layout, I decided to use Peco turnouts and take advantage of the spring loaded feature to throw the point rails.

Hi Rich,

I am going to use Peco turnouts on this layout but the springs will be removed. The reason that I want the Tortoises is that I don't want to have to keep going from one side of the layout to the other to manually switch turnouts. The layout will be 5' 4" wide, so reaching across to the other side of the layout to flip a switch won't be possible.

Just to explain, I'm using Peco Code 100 turnouts because I bought a ton of them in anticipation of building my original layout several years ago. I also bought a ton of Atlas Code 100 flex track. I made the decision to use the Code 100 equipment that I already have because replacing it with Code 83 would have cost several hundred dollars.

Dave

[richhotrain]

I agree with you, Dave, on the use of the spring loaded feature on the Peco turnouts.

In my case, I like to follow trains around the layout. I don't walk along with the trains as they travel, but I often set the routes ahead of the trains. But, even when I used Tortoises for route control, I had several smaller control panels along the routes as opposed to a single large central control panel.

On my new layout, I do continue to use Tortoises in the passenger station to simplify routing. But, elsewhere on the layout, I rely on the spring loaded point rails on the Peco turnouts.

Rich

[rrinker]

 My use of Peco allows me to be lazy in building up more of my servo control boards. All the easily reached ones, I can just flip the points until I get around to powering them.

                                      --Randy

 

[hon30critter]

hon30critter

I made the decision to use the Code 100 equipment that I already have because replacing it with Code 83 would have cost several hundred dollars.

I should clarify that statement a bit. I will be using the Code 100 track and turnouts that I have in stock for most of the layout. However, the approach to my service yard requires a double slip turnout and I want to have live frogs, so that necessitated using a Peco Code 83 Unifrog double slip turnout. The adjacent track geometry requires me to use three Peco Code 83 Electrofrog Streamline turnouts in order to get everything to line up. So, I decided to buy some Code 83 Flex track to connect the Code 83 turnouts together. That only made sense. The final result will be that I will have Code 100 track on everything except the service yard which will be Code 83. Win, win! I have smaller rails in the service yard which is reasonably realistic.

Cheers!!

Dave

[hon30critter]

I have to apologise to everyone for not having done any work on the layout itself for the past week or more. I have been workong on a couple of projects around the house which are mostly done now so I can get back to layout construction on Sunday or Monday.

I have been spending a lot of money on structures and track. I have ordered kits for about 70% of the structures on the layout. I had told myself that I would scratchbuild a lot of the structures, but I decided to limit the scratchbuilding to simpler buildings like the engine house and service area buildings, and use more detailed kits for the others. Buildings like Saulena's Tavern and O'Doul's Flop House by Bar Mills have such intricate details that scratch building them would be more tedious than pleasureful.

I also bought 25 Tortoises. I had debated using servos for the turnouts because I have a dozen of them that I purchased long ago, but by the time I would have purchased the additional servos and all the bits to control them, I wasn't far off of the cost of the Tortoises. As I have said before, I understand Tortoises so I'm going with what I know.

I have also purchased all the track and turnouts to make the service yard all Code 83 instead of using the Code 100 track that I have on hand. As I have mentioned before, I needed a double slip with powered frogs for the entrance to the service area. That required four Code 83 turnouts to get things lined up properly with the double slip. That left me with the remaining two turnouts in the service yard being Code 100, plus all the track would be Code 100. I decided that that would not look very good given the differences in tie and rail size.

Cheers!!

Dave

[richhotrain]

Dave, your latest two replies to this thread are very interesting in that they do a good job of explaining your thinking and describing your actual trackwork. I think that these replies will be very helpful to a lot of those forum members following this build thread. Keep it up.

Rich

[hon30critter]

richhotrain

Dave, your latest two replies to this thread are very interesting in that they do a good job of explaining your thinking and describing your actual trackwork. I think that these replies will be very helpful to a lot of those forum members following this build thread. Keep it up. Rich

Thanks Rich!

I hope that my posts make sense to people and aren't too boring. I had hoped to be a lot further along with the benchwork by now but other things have interferred, and doing those things has killed my back so I have had to spend a lot of time lying down.

Never the less, we will be back at the construction later today!

Dave

[richhotrain]

hon30critter

I had hoped to be a lot further along with the benchwork by now but other things have interferred, and doing those things has killed my back so I have had to spend a lot of time lying down.

Dave, this question may have been asked before, but if it has, I will ask again.

Your back problems sound totally disabling. Is there no medication, or some form of surgery, to resolve, or at least alleviate, your pain?

Rich

[hon30critter]

richhotrain

Dave, this question may have been asked before, but if it has, I will ask again. Your back problems sound totally disabling. Is there no medication, or some form of surgery, to resolve, or at least alleviate, your pain? Rich

Hi Rich,

My doctors have looked at every possible solution including surgery, physiotherapy, cannibus, acupuncture, back braces, massage..... and just about anything else you can think of, and they have concluded that there is little that can be done. Surgery was the last option that we explored but the best surgeons in Toronto said that it wouldn't accomplish anything. Physiotherapy caused so much pain that I could hardly walk out of the therapist's office to get to the car. Acupuncture worked wonders - the first time. By the third session I was experiencing pain and cramping so bad after 10 minutes that I had to tell the technician to take the needles out immediately. Massage works - during the massage that is, but that only lasts for a few minutes.

The only thing that dulls the pain when it gets really bad is oxycocet which is an opiate, but I am brain dead for at least 30 hours after taking them. After they wear off I am so stiff I can hardly get out of bed or get down the stairs. They are also addictive so I try to avoid them as much as possible. Sometimes that is hard because the pain is so easily relieved by just popping a couple, and the buzz is rather pleasant, unfortunately.

My only option on a daily basis is to pace myself and avoid lifting anything of any weight if at all possible. I sit down frequently. Fortunately my back does not hurt when I am sitting in a good chair. I have two Herman Miller high end office chairs, one at the computer and one at the workbench, which I can sit in for hours without a problem. The workbench chair is likely headed to the garage for the layout build. If you want an excellent quality chair, check these guys out:

https://store.hermanmiller.com/office/office-chairs?lang=en_US

I apologise for blathering on about my back problems. I never seem to be able to give short answers.

Dave

[richhotrain]

Dave, after I read your most recent reply concerning your back problems, I did some online research. I had thought that most back problems could be addressed through medication or surgery. So, I was surprised to read about "intractable chronic pain".

I did come across a medical article about "spinal cord stimulation" (SCS). According to the medical article, appropriate use of SCS can improve patients’ quality of life in cases where they have medically intractable pain or are not surgical candidates.

https://oregon.providence.org/forms-and-information/a/a-treatment-for-untreatable-back-pain/

Rich