My grandfather tended to overbuild everything he touched. Unfortunately (or perhaps not) I think I have that in my genes. A few years ago I managed to build a $4,000 deck for $7,000[swg][(-D].
That means that my benchwork will likely be overbuilt too[sigh] but at least I will be able to rest comfortably at night[(-D]. I will definately use ‘L’ shaped legs. They seem to be so much easier to attach to the benchwork, and to attach leveling legs or posts to.
I figure that I have two choices - spend time sorting crappy 2 x 2s or spend time making sturdy, good looking, easy to install ‘L’ shaped legs. Besides, I enjoy wood working as much as modelling so why not add to my pleasure!
My only concern was that with smaller legs if anyone touched the table they could flex and jiggle the trains off the track. Any table not connected to something solid can be scrambled if bumped hard enough. Been there.
Hi Richard; All my layout legs are 1X4 pine, glued and screwed into an “L”, shape that I saved from my first layout built about 1982 when I started in N Scale, and bolted to the layout frame with 1/4 inch carriage bolts recessed into the frame so as not to interfere with the fasica. They have sure proven the test of time and the “L” shape stops slippage on the carpet of the train room. Doug
If your local lumber yard is anything like the ones here, you can’t find straight, seasoned, kiln dried lumber. Even 2x4 and 2x6 boards are still so green the sap is oozing out, and they begin to twist, split, and warp as they dry out.
Only pressure treated boards are close to being straight. An independent store had some 4x4s stored outside that were so warped they could have been used for an arched roof if only they all warped evenly.
Because my layout is in my basement, and the floor has a floor drain centered in it, I made my legs adjustable. I used the 1x4 “L-shaped” method. In the bottom inside corner of the leg, I glued and screwed a short length of 2x2 which had been drilled and tee-nuts inserted. I use a 1/4-20 carriage bolt as the adjuster. They work great and are plenty sturdy.
I usually use 1x4’s, but have on occaision used 1x3’s in an L shape. I find that the 1x4 L’s don’t need additional bracing, but the 1x3’s do. Some of my 1x4 legs are on their 4th layout and are over 20 years old - never had a problem with warping and my last basement was so damp I had to have contractor come in and add drainage and sumps pumps to the basement.
Jim Hediger has shown over the years how to build legs using ripped plywood screwed and glued into an “L” shape. I have followed his advice for two tables holding not trains but heavy shop equipment and they are very sturdy and easy to attach to the table top.
For my layout benchwork I have used 2x2s. The initial batch that I bought were very straight and have remained so – somewhat trickier to attach to the benchwork framework but they offer more “meat” for the screws to dig into and overall they have given good service. When I went to get more they had none, so the lumberyard (a real lumberyard, now gone alas, not a big box store) ripped 2x4s to create 2x2s. Those are probably the best of all in terms of hardness and straightness but the somewhat rounded corners have to be dealt with. When I needed still more, something awful had happened to the pine lumber industry and every single 2x2 at the local Lowes was a dog – some looked like cooked bacon. I went through the whole pile. Years ago Jim Kelly of MR wrote that in a big bag of scenery lichen you’d find yourself increasingly using pieces you’d previously rejected so the entire process was a degradation of your standards. The same is true of sifting through bad lumber. Eventually you end up buying something rather bad because it is not truly awful.
I actually did buy one truly awful 2x2 to use as a prop for a clinic I give at NMRA divisional meets … on easement curves!
Thankfully I no longer need to buy benchwork legs but if the most recent 2x2s I have seen are now the standard for what to expect, I think I’d use Hediger’s plywood-ripped “L” shapes.
Well, that’s true, but bracing is the key to preventing this. Some angled 1x2’s connecting pairs of legs goes a long way towards mitigating this without resorting to “bomb proof” 2×4 construction.