Benchwork Square: For this, I go to a Big Box home supply store, and buy two precut hardboard panels, one 24" by 24" and one 24" by 48". These are cut square at the mill, and can be used as benchwork squares just fine.
Benchwork Plan:
For the X-Brace in red (rear), I would use 1/2" electrical EMT instead of wood. This hammers flat and drill easily enough. Use five 1/4" bolts with ny-lock nuts in the locations shown in purple. Only hammer it flat where the 1/4" bolts go.
X-Braces made from EMT are much better.
I would eliminate the opposite X-Brace in the front. This should not be needed if the benchwork will not be moved and makes access to the underneath much easier.
the corrected temporary bench jig. clamps hold blocks to align legs as well as back of bench. there’s a line marked on the bench on bottom right.
braces are on opposite sides of legs. each leg is on solid pine and one scrap plywood strip with screw thru the plywood. legs will be screwed into inside of bench
I don’t know how wide those leg assemblies or your bench are, but I would never have legs all the way out at the edge, it is a tripping hazard.
I have always just built benchwork “in place” and have never managed to design a layout I was happy with on same sized “domino” modules. I have and will make removeable sections where needed.
I tried for years to design a satisfactory “modular” layout - I gave up, back to the old way. In fact on my way to the basement now to wire some more lights and clear some more space for the first section of bench work. First somewhat free weekend in a month.
the layout will be 32" wide and the longerons(?) 24" apart on a 30’ pennisula
once i got the jig sorted out, it didn’t take much time to assemble the supports. i’ll need many more, so figuring out how to do this right was important to me.
i don’t want to spend a lot of time building the benchwork and would like to be able to cut and pre-assemble as much as possible in the garage where the tools are.
I never understood why model railroad benchwork books advocated using cross braces. Wastes so much space under the table, and makes for a more complicated build.
Just build another open grid table top on the inside of the legs about 33% up from the floor. A storage shelf, if you will.
The vertical legs will be supported in 4 directions in 2 differetn spots along their length. They wont be able to rack. A plywood table top and a plywood shelf will be as sturdy as any other construction method.
Your end braces that are horizontal at the mid-point are half of what you need. eliminate the proposed cross braces and place two more horizontal braces along each side. Then place a plywood “shelf” on the 4 horizontal braces.
For more storage and even more strength, build two shelves.
I would use 2x2, 2x3, or 2x4 legs. 2x4s sometimes are the cheapest cost. The 2x provides a proper surface to screw into. I use 1 x for the outside braces, and more 2x for the grids. 2x ends hold screws well…enough.
The table top and each shelf should be at least 1/2 inch plywood.
(If you use 2x for legs, 2 of the horizonatl braces will have to go on the inside of 4 legs and the other 2
I agree Douglas, your approach is as good as any. If I install diagonal braces, I install the from the bench work to the leg and keep them up high, no more that one third of the way down the leg. And they go on last.
I now understand (mostly) what Greg is trying to do, but in the end he will use more “parts” each of which takes more time and material, even if they are “mass produced”.
I use table top construction for yards, urban areas, etc, but open grid everywhere else. each section is a custom shape.
This new layout, the old layout, every layout I have ever built, does/did not have uniform depth of benchwork, standardized corners, or benchwork all the same height. So every “module” is custom…
We are trying to simulate mother nature here. In this part of the world mother nature is not flat or in straight lines. Rivers, streams, bays, ocean, mountains, hills and valleys meander where they will, and railroad right of ways, highways, and human activity follow them and can only level and straighten a small portion of that.
So realistic scenery dictates creative benchwork construction.
Jim (RioGrande) has posted lots of pictures of his benchwork - he has the right idea.
Here we have all three - drywall screws, “golden” anodized construction screws, and epoxy coated (usually grey) construction screws. The epoxy coated ones hold the best outdoors. I mostly buy those just to keep the inventory of different screws to a minimum.
And, as an example, most of my benchwork starts out very similar to the pictures Rich posted awhile back in this thread. And if it is going against a wall, it is getting fastened to the wall.
Yes, Jim’s pictures show impressive benchwork. Well desgined and tidy, as well as the train room itself.
With his plan, lots of vertical scenery, its a necessity to plan the track ROW, because cutting the subroadbed to the correct arc is very important. The track plan needs to be precise before the plywood is even cut, it dictates the shape of the ply. Yards and other spots that use table tops can be a bit more free hand planned.
Yes, my around the room layouts are always anchored to a few studs in the walls. And U shaped benchwork against three walls provides natural stability that elimin
I agree that the legs need to be set in from the edge of the layout. What I did made the layout solid. I used 10/32 machine screws and T nuts to hold the legs to the grid, if I remove the screws the tabletop still sits there until it is lifted off. In reality, I did not need to ever put those screws in as it was still solid without them.
I have three mills and one independent lumber store within a half-hour drive of the house. I can buy lumber at the mills but nothing else, The independent store still sells screws and nails by weight out of big bins. Home depot is for the fluff. Life is good.
