I know some experts here think particle board should be avoided like the plague, but I got a large quantity of it for free, and it saved me a lot of money as compared to 3/4 in plywood.
I asked this in another thread but want to get some opinions ASAP as I’m starting assembling some modules.
I’ll explain what I have again and maybe someone can give me some wisdom here.
"This particle board is laminated with a sort of formica skin, so that should reinforce hopefully.
What do you think about the skin offsetting the negatives of particle board?
I was thinking of screw and gluing long strips of 2x2 ribs underneath to keep it rigid.
In any case it was free and I acquired a lot of it.
It would cost hundreds of dollars for equivalent plywood."
It may be a better product than regular particle board since it has skins on both sides. Knowing that you want to build your layout in modules, how heavy is it? The deciding factor may be how easy or difficult is it going to be to move and transport once the framework and scenery are added.
Formica is a material that was used for kitchen counter tops before granet became popular. How easy or hard will it take glue etc? White glue will not stick well on standard formica, so that could be a factor.
FREE may overcome some of the draw backs. For a permanent layout, I would go ahead and use it, but for a modular application, I am not sure.
Regular 3/4 inch plywood is quite stiff. I would not build a modular type transportable layout with any type of 3/4 inch plywood because of it’s weight. Just say’n.
I said it was “Sort Of” a formica laminate. I’m not sure exactly what it is. It looks like the skin material used to laminate older hung kitchen cabinets.
Probably the coating on that particle board is melamine. The problem(s) with particle board are its weight, the comparative difficulty of cutting it, drilling holes into it, nailing into it (very difficult), and its tendancy to break off chunks when under structural pressure.
I have some long wall mounted bookshelves made of melamine coated particle board and they do show a sag between supports. So do not expect the coating to do much to prevent that.
Uncoated particle board shelving in my garage shows signs of swelling where it has gotten wet over the years.
Cheap particle board bookshelves (assemble yourself kits sold at home improvement stores) of the kind often found in college dorm rooms tend to break off chunks where there is tension or compression. They especially tend to break off when being picked up by an unsupported edge or end – something to keep in mind for a modular transportable layout.
On the other hand tons of furniture, cabinets, and other constructions use the stuff so clearly the problems can be overcome. If the stuff was free and you have a lot of it I would say, use it, or give it a try, but be prepared to have to deal with the problems and characteristics of the product. Particularly the weight and the tendency to sag.
I don’t know if the melamine or formica coating is a plus or a neutral for your purposes. It may inhibit the swelling I have noted where particle board gets wet but it does not prevent sagging.
Particle board sets off alarm bells for me. However not all particle board is created equal. If it were me and you want to do a little time travel test put a small piece (maybe 6" x 12") in the sink full of water for a couple of hours and then let it sit out and dry (until it is thoroughly dry) This will show you your future.
Different brands use different glues or combinations thereof. They also vary in the coverings they use. The water test is a good one for all types of wood products.
Using liquids to glue down ballast and other landscaping materials will be something you will need to avoid. Also a room where humidity is not kept at a steady level will have you fixing a lot of frost heaves in your track.
How big are your modules going to be and how will they be constructed using the particle board? 1" x 4" grid construction and hardboard spline is a really cheap way to go if money is an issue.
The old adage “some people create their own luck” I think applies in this case. Nothing will drive you away from enjoying a hobby faster than constant grief and frustration.
I’d be very leery of trying to build any type of layout on this material – even though it was free, that may not be much of a bargain if you find out too late that it easily warps, breaks off on the corners, chips, or won’t allow scenery to be applied.
Getting the free material makes it very attractive for layout use - and I fully understand that. But, I just don’t think the absence of a price tag makes it a suitable substitute for a layout You mentioned “hundreds of dollars” for plywood, and that sure is an awful lot - give that a very usuable sheet runs about $25 or so.
I am not saying you can’t make a layout using laminated particle board, but I am saying the difficulties of using it just don’t make it worthwhile. Plywood is much easier to work with, lighter, and will give you less of a “drum effect” noisewise.
By the way, I was once in a situation similar to yours. Back in the early '70s, I came into a quantity of paneling that would someday be the basis for my dream layout. I carted the stuff from Joliet, Illinois when I transferred to Dallas, and from Dallas when I transferred to Houston. Then in the mid '90s, when I could finally start that layout, I quickly realized it was just not a decent substitute for plywood. Later on, I sliced all that paneling up and fed it to the trash collectors, week by week by week.
Well it may help but it is not making it any lighter. The 2x2s that I see at the home improvement stores tend to be awfully warped themselves so finding some straight enough to bne helpful might be a huge task.
Since you have so much of the stuff and since it was free I suggest making a sample module or domino and then try moving it around, and actually being rather abusive with it, just to see how it does it terms of weight, durability (will the joints hold up?) and potential sagging.
There are different grades of lumber, bad to good so I would get what’s very straight.
Good idea the sample.
This is how it goes though. You plan and scheme and plan some more to get some total idea of your track plan and in this case module to module matching in case of moving to a new house and how the layout fits into the whole enchilada of a layout in order to move the project forward. Now according to the majority consensus here, I might have to consider scrapping the FREE laminate particle board and shell out precious cash for some new plywood and start over.
For that matter, make yourself a small photo diorama, say 1 x 3 feet, to pose rolling stock on, out of this stuff. A bit of track, a bit of scenery, nice but nothing elaborate. That will let you try cutting, drilling, screwing, fastening, tracklaying, ballasting, scenicking, et al, on the particle board and see for yourself how it works, but if it turns out to be a cheap kind that doesn’t work, you’ve only lost a small 1 x 3 photo board.
There are multiple kinds of particle board. There is the kind you often see as house sheathing, which is made up of some very large ‘particles’, which does a poor job of supporting weight when used horizontally, had has a tendency to rough edges where the chips break away instead of cutting through cleanly. Then there is this other stuff I’ve used to build a shelf layout (and a shelf above the layout for my books and magazines. ) Supported with metal shelf brackets into every stud, 16" centers, and packed from end to end with books and magazines, it showed no signs of sagging. The downside of this stuff is it is EXTREMELY heavy, it’s made up of smaller particles, more like sawdust, with a binder. Very hard to cut, but since this was a layout I built in a closet in an apartment, I had it cut at the store before I brought it home, all I had to do was install the shelf brackets and lay each piece on. This heavy surace keot things very quiet, and there were no issued screwing in to the end grain to support a control panel off the lower (railroad) shelf, or for some masonite for a valance off the upper shelf.
Just My [2c] The only problem I would see, is when you try to affix anything to the Laminate. In which case You would have to use, Original contact cement, not the water based kind. The same type that was used when they put the Laminate on. As for swelling and sagging, moot point if supported properly, swelling when wet, also moot point, if that was the case your kitchen counter tops would swell the moment you spilled liquid on them, they are also sealed underneath with a sort of Polyurethane protective coating. Not everyone can afford slate counter tops, so Laminate and Plastic countertops are still in wide use.
Weldwood Original Contact Cement made by DAP, is about the best you are going to get. Vapors can be harmful to the faint of heart. I’m not dead yet at 72, use it and still do.