benchwork for a beginner

[lionel2986]

 

Hey all,

I been in this hobby for 17 years but never built bench work. My first layouts were a 3.5x7 plywood laid on the carpet, then on milk crates. Then I moved the layout up to waist height as I grew older (and taller). I achieved this by taking legs off a ping pong table and screwing them on the bottom of the plywood. The plywood doesn’t feel very strong anymore and it feels like the corners might crack with the legs falling off. Also, I have added a 4x8 plywood to my 17 year old (sentimental value - lol) 3.5x7 piece of plywood forming a kind of "L" shaped layout. However, this 4x8 was cut in half to make it easier to carry upstairs into the house. This gives me two 2x8 pieces. So, where the plywood is cut and pushed up against each other, I have sort of a gap, and these pieces of plywood aren't exactly the same height because the newer 4x8 is slightly thicker than the original 3.5x7. Also, the tracks experience a very small grade so my legs are not level, or the floor is not level. I live in an old house. I would like to build benchwork to make my layout feel sturdier and have a permanent feel, but it is important that it is easy to disassemble. We may move so it would be good to make benchwork that give a solid permanent feel unlike the temporary feel I got going on now, but is easy to disassemble and reassemble. Will stick to grass carpet for now, but may experiment with ballast. Just want to know some important things to keep in mind when building benchwork, maybe sites that help with this. How should I design it, and what size material to use?

Thanks for taking the time to read all that

[CNJfan]

I recently built my first benchwork and I used the book "Toy Train Layout From Start to Finish" as my guide for the benchwork. Easy to follow, great photos and modular design is what attracted me to it. Check out the link below.

http://kalmbachcatalog.stores.yahoo.net/10-8305.html

Hope this helps,

Tim C.

[traindaddy1]

Hi! You may want to run a dual post on the other forum "Model Railroader - Layouts and Layout Building". I have received a lot of great information from those guys. Good luck with your project.

[luther_stanton]

I used How to Build Model Railroad Benchwork, 2nd Edition to build my bench work.

Post www.trains.com/trccs/forums/850133/ShowPost.aspx shows parts of the bench work I built using some of the techniques in the book.  The web and girder method I used is can be a lot more work than using sheet plywood, however the book covers many techniques.

 - Luther 

[ChiefEagles]

Look through this thread and see.  Will add 1" foam insulation sheet on top of this when I get my track exactly like I want it.

http://www.trains.com/trccs/forums/12/963811/ShowPost.aspx#963811

[RR Redneck]

All of my layouts have been built on "tables". I usually take a piece(s) of plywood, frame it/them in two by fours with the top of the two by fours flush with the top of the plywood. Then take additional two by fours and glue them across the bottom of the plywood and screw them to the frame. After doin this, I just take (yet) another set of two by fours and and attatch them vertically (for the legs) to the inside of the frame with screws that have been coated in liquid nails. I like to have a leg on every corner and one every 4-8 feet. 

[daan]

The easiest material is wood, but some people also use metal profiles to build the substructure. If you want to make it portable it's easiest to attatch the legs by screws or use bolts with wingnuts to attach them. Also use connecting strips for the wiring between the parts to be able to dismantle them when moving.

You can also make it easy for yourself and look in a second hand shop for used office equipment if you can find a few of those simple office tables. They have legs, are stable and come in different sizes, mostly they have a hook system which makes them connectable to eachother. A few of those tables connected to eachother give a solid, dismantable base for your layout without having to learn woodworking skills.

[lionelsoni]

I think you can easily salvage what you have by using a couple of tricks:

Stiffen the layout with the steel angles that you can get at home-improvement stores.  I use 1.25x1.25 and 1.25x2.25 (for long spans).  They are prepunched with holes every 3/4 inch.  Bolt them underneath the plywood with 1/4-20x1 carriage bolts, using a washer under the nut.  The ends do not need to be connected to the legs.  Put them whereever you detect sagging.  Also put a couple across the joints between your table sections to tie them rigidly together.  You can shim one side or the other with washers between the angles and the plywood to make the top surface flush.

Replace your legs with PVC pipe.  Install a 1/4-20x1/2 eyebolt of a convenient length inside one end of the pipe by drilling and inserting a 1/2-inch bolt through the pipe, leaving about 3/4 inch of the eyebolt shank protruding.  Use two nuts on the bolt, both inside the pipe, screwed against the inside walls with the eyebolt eye on the 1/2-inch bolt.  The 1/2-inch bolt doesn't need to be any longer that the outer diameter of the pipe.  Stick the eyebolt shank through a 1/4-inch hole in the plywood and fasten it with a washer and nut on top.  This will make an absolutely rigid connection with the table.  The leg may flex.  You need to experiment with the pipe size to get legs stiff enough for the height of your layout.  I use 1 1/2 inch pipe (actual 2-inch outside diameter0 for a 45-inch high table, which would be too limber except that the layout is braced against the walls.

The result of all this will be sturdy and extremely portable, just by removing the legs and the ties between sections.  About the only drawback is the hardware visible on the top, carriage-bolt heads and leg-fastening nuts.  They're not very big however; and you can probably hide them easily with a little scenery.

[Dr. John]

I have built three different layouts using a combination of hollow core doors and folding banquet table legs. The doors (6'8" long and anywhere from 18" to 36" wide) are rigid, lightweight and relatively inexpensive. The folding legs can be found at most any home supply store (I bought mine at Lowes.)

 

To attach the legs, attach lengths of 1x3 or 1x4 pieces across the bottom of the door to provide a place to firmly attach the legs. Remember, the doors structural integrity is primarily around the edges. They are hollow core, after all. Screw the 1x4s to the edges, then attach the folding legs to the 1x4s. You'll need four pieces of 1x4 per door.

 

The great thing about the doors is their flexibility and portability. I currently have three doors that I have reused. They can be configured as an island type layout, around the room, end to end, you name it. If you need to take down your layout, the legs fold and the doors/tables can be stored vertically.

 

Some people have issues with the noise levels of track on the doors. I use Celotex ceiling tile on the surface and that cuts down the noise level significantly. 

[Birds]

If you do use hollow core doors, make sure they are good quality.

I've been using four doors for the past year as a temporary table, and they have begun to sag in the middle.  The sag is so great that on a couple of the doors the track teeter-totters as the train crosses between doors.  These doors were purchased at Home Depot and they have MDF (printed to look like wood grain) for the front and back facing.

I have had experience with plywood faced hollow core products used as table tops in the past (in fact I have one inexpensive desk with a hollow core top and it is currently supporting a large laser printer, fax machine, and inkjet printer) and they never sagged.

It appears to me that not all hollow core doors are created equal. 

Chris