Lee
No need to overbuild. The whole point of keeping the benchwork narrow is that you can easily reach WITHOUT having to climb on it. No need for gussets every wall stuf. An occasioonal diagonal brace from a stud tot he front edge will work, at other locations some metal L pieces will sufficiently reinforce the attachment to the wall and don't have to necessarily line up with the benchwork crosspieces. And as long as you aren't planning to build scenery with concrete, modern scenery materials are pretty mightweight.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
jmbjmbIt's not clear from the pictures, but are your modules held to the uprights only by screws through the rear girder? There's going to be a lot of downward torque at the outer edges of the layout once fully loaded and especially if someone leans against it. I'd be a bit concerned about the layout drooping without either legs or a diagonal supporting the outer edge. jim
jim
Actually they were supposed to be held with gassets, but because the stud spacing does not match the spacing of the open-grid joists I will have to re-engineer it in the next iteration.
It's a bit difficult trying to match the spacing on both pieces across large spans, without some very precisely cut wood pieces. Maybe I can get IKEA to start mass producing these which would make it easier. :D
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It's not clear from the pictures, but are your modules held to the uprights only by screws through the rear girder? There's going to be a lot of downward torque at the outer edges of the layout once fully loaded and especially if someone leans against it. I'd be a bit concerned about the layout drooping without either legs or a diagonal supporting the outer edge.
The RGB set I have - the coontroller is junk, it doesn't allow enough brightness options for each color. The steps are very noticeable. I've decided to just build my own which will allow more gradual transitions between colors.
On a previous layout I mixed warm white and cool white flourescent tubes (2 tube fixtures, each got one of each type) and while looking up at the lights was very odd, the light it cast on the layout surface was actually pretty good. So a strip of each type LED may be a good option. The ones I have on my workbench use 5630 LEDs, they are brighter than the ones that use 5050 LEDs. The RGB strip I'm pretty sure is 5050 size LEDs.
@rrinker
That's what I was planning to do - already ordered some LED strips to do a test.
I ordered Warm and Cool White, and a Blue, so I will do 4 rows of LEDs. Top will be Cool+Warm and side will be Warm+Blue. I also ordered dimmers for them so that they can be well adjusted.
Ultimately I would go with several rows of RGB as those LEDs can be individually addressed and controlled. Think rolling day/night across the layout. Ok, might not look as great in my layout size but still...
@DSchmitt
Thanks for the pointer, will check it out.
A book that might be of interest
https://www.amazon.com/TilTable-Book-Tables-Model-Railroad/dp/0983579008?SubscriptionId=1NNRF7QZ418V218YP1R2&tag=bookfinder-test-a-20&linkCode=xm2&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=0983579008&tag=bookfinder-test-a-20
I tried to sell my two cents worth, but no one would give me a plug nickel for it.
I don't have a leg to stand on.
For thin lighting, consider LED strips. They are available in different white color temperatures (warm white, cool white, etc) as well as colors and also RGB. My intention is to use two white strips plus an RGB strip and maybe a blue strip to light each level. That should give me a nice bright daylight, as well as allo dusk adn dawn sequences plus night operation (the blue ones). These have been around long enough now that the technology is mature, the products are reasonably priced, and they work. The ones I put under the bottom shelf of my electronics workbench - well, the adhesive backing said it was genuine 3M, but I don't trust it. On Amazon I found shallow U shaped rubbery mounts, they fit over the LED tape and have 2 screw holes. They produce quite a bit of light. On 18 to 24" wide benchwork, a double strip whould minimize false shadows and make enough light to read car numbers. The RGB strip tuned to white menas there would actually be 3 white strips during day operation. One blue strip plus the RGB strip on blue should be sufficient for night ops - cheap pen lights with uncoupling picks attached will allow operators to see what they are doing.
Made a bit more progress today...
The left side is the 30" and 18" deep tabletops, at 40" and 59" respectively off the floor.
A (hard to see in the photo) 60' box car is sitting on the H0 flex track on the main level, looking kinda big to me, in relation to the size of the module surface and the size of the room.
Sigh, a few of these cars and they'd fill the 6' length of the module...
Similarly, on the right side a 24" and 12" deep tabletops, at 42" and 58" respectively off the floor.
An (even harder to see in the photo) box car is positioned on a section of Kato N scale track, both looking miniscule and teasing at the amount of railroading that would fit in 24" depth.
Main levels have 1/2" plywood on them, while upper levels are made with 3/4" plywood resting on common shelf brackets. This combination should offer enough clearance between levels without taking away vertical space.
Also to consider is that because there's no open-frame benchwork on the upper levels, wiring will have to be done more creatively as well as mounting of the lighting system for the main level.
I used clamps for all instead of permanently affixing with screws so that the various surfaces could be moved up or down and test how heights impact visibility of levels.
In both cases at my eye level of 71" I can see all the way to the inner edge of the main level without obstruction from the upper level.
Since fascia is missing on all of the outer edges, I surmise once in place it would probably cause some interference in viewing all the way to the inner edge.
By moving away half, or full, step back into the aisle remedies that interference though.
Some mistakes in design/construction have been made:
- Because it is free-standing, the studs are only anchored at the bottom of the feet, while the top of the stud can swing somewhat forward/backward.
- The inner grid spacing of 2x3s between the studs does not align to the open-frame benchwork crosses. Consequently, the gassets can not be mounted to level and secure the benchwork. This spacing needs to be somehow standardized.
- The choice of wood used for the open-frame benchwork seems to be an issue. Aspen is soft kind of wood and might not be providing sufficient rigidity.Originally, it seemed that ripping a 4'x8' plywood sheet might have been more cost effective than buying dimensional lumber (Pine), but in retrospect the added rigidity of the latter and it light weight could offset minor additional costs.
The experiment continues.
Good point on the spade bit.
If lateral balance might be problematical, simply attach a box of rocks (or scrap metal) to the most lightly loaded horizontal leg. Where, and how much weight, can be determined by hoisting each leg with a spring balance.
Going by my own experience, any tendency for the box frames to deflect out of square can be permanently stopped by adding one diagonal element to the frame. I used a small steel girder, but could have achieved the same result with a length of baling wire.
Chuck (Modeling Centeral Japan in September, 1964)
That is really a unique approach to layout building. With the "feet" narrower than the modeling area I would be concerned about one side being heavier than the other and the chance of the whole structure falling to the heavier side. A soloution to your spade bit problem, stop drilling as soon as the point of the spade bit breaks thru the material. Turn the board over and finish the hole. Please keep us up to date on your progress.
Hello!
I thought to start a discussion on free-standing benchwork as I'm trying to figure out the best approach for my setup.
Most people are blessed to hang their layouts on the walls, but I only have 2.5 walls and a big open space with two columns. More details on that are in my other thread at http://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/11/t/260185.aspx
A basic sketch for a self supported peninsula looks like this:
It's a mish-mash of things I've seen elsewhere incorporated into one.
I gathered the materials, a combination of plywood (3/4" aspen) and dimensional lumber (2x4, 2x3, 2x6)
Already a lesson learned: don't use Aspen plywood - it is way too soft for basic open framework and if you are not careful with the spade bit you get a mess like in the photo below.Aspen would probably do well for a tabletop, being soft you can drive rail spikes into it, etc.
Progress on the way...
Larger module is 30" deep, smaller is 24". Intention is to test the depth against the height of double-decked setup and see what works the best in this space
Here, H0 scale track is on the left on the 30" module; N scale track on the right on the 24" module. I hate to say it, but I could fit a whole lot of N scale track into 24" depth.
Still need to build the upper deck portions for this test. An 18" deep shelf to go along with the 30" module below it, and a 12" deep shelf for the 24" module.
More to come, soonish...