Now that my railroad is 70% finished with respect to benchwork, track, backdrop etc. I find that I have no room for tools and processes that make a mess…specifically, plaster dust, sawdust,and general airborn dust. Since the layout is basement sized and the railroad nearly fills it, I’m just wondering what everybody else does when they have to sand or saw something to keep the residue from getting all over the railroad.
I’ve thought about hanging plastic from the ceiling tile grid to create a “room” to contain the mess and after vacuuming it removing the plastic. Any other thoughts?
My layout is in the carpeted, fully finished family room. I’ve got to be really careful about that kind of thing. I always put a mat on the floor below me if there’s any chance of spilling or dripping anything. If I’ve created any significant amount of dust, I vacuum it up right away before it can spread.
The big thing, though, is to have someplace else to do the big stuff. Spray painting gets done outside, and anything where I would even consider using power tools is done in the basement workroom or the garage. I’ll occasionally have to Dremel something on-layout, but that’s a small exception. Yes, there are days when I feel like I spend more time going up and down stairs than I do actually working, but, well, I can use the exercise.
If I have to do a lot of cutting I have my saw up in the garage and do it there. Yes it makes for a lot of running up and dow the stairs but the big mess stays in the garage.
I am lucky as my basement stais leads directil to my work shop up stairs but my table saw and chop saw are out in the garage. I just back the car out and cut!
Although the one thing that was nice I was able to design the way the garage, shop and the entrance to the basement/train room were laid out when I built the house!
I’m “sort of” in the same boat, always moving tools, supplies and cleaning up to make ready for the next project…It is at times very frustrating!
First off…Somehow we have to have a spot for the tools and keep them orderly. I find this is NO small task it self.
And then the big issue to address…the dust. I like your idea of temporarily partitioning! I have done that (basicly covering everything) upon occasion, mostly to control paint over-spray. On the other hand, when I did a re-model in my house, I had plastic up everywhere! It seemed to help there, but I think my trainroom is really too small to have a benefit. As for sawdust, rock dust and so on that I generate in the Trainroom: For the most part I just always have a big shop vac handy.
I have seen layouts that have heavy material “curtains” that hang from the bench to the floor. When the layout is not in use, the curtains are folded upwards and attach to celing (hooks and eyelets) to keep it dust free.
When I built my shelf layout, each 5 foot module was constructed outdoors along with other dirty work such as airbrushing track and dirt work. This way the layout room was dust free during construction.
Since my “workshop” for any project is a “haul out, haul in” from the storage shed, if I must work inside (winter or small projects) I keep a small hepa vac on hand -biggest help. I keep quart sized freezer double zipper bags with about a cup- cup and a half of clean play sand on hand. Right now I use those to hold down risers/track while caulking it in place. BUT they work well piled on the end of the vaccuum hose to hold it in place while I make dirt…power or manually, and it sucks things up well as I work. I takes some more time, but I keep it handy for everything even if I just drill a hole to put a screw in, I vac right away. Keeps more harmony in the house!!
Those bags I have found for many uses. Larger gallon sized are handy for the bigger jobs. The freezer ones are heavier and more durable. The double zippers give a better seal. When you need a helping hand that isn’t a clamp, a sand bag may help.
AS a cook, there is also the issue of “work clean”. That means address the messes and oops right away, so everything is always clean.[dinner] I do the same in using the vaccuum during all projects.
And if a bag should break…just glue the sand in place!!!
I try and do all my cutting and painting outside when I can. I keep a cheap hepa filter vacuum with a VERY long hose out at all times.As soon as I make a mess, I vacuum up the dust so it doesn’t get tracked around. I hate all those little peices of pink foam that get every where. I just try and remember my old shop class days and clean up after every project so the mess doesn’t get out of hand. I’m going to rig up some kind of high volume air filter this summer to cut down on dust.
For the sake of others who share the house, for the sake of the newly installed carpeting, and for my sake so that I don’t: a. breath the stuff more than absolutely necessary; and b. I don’t have more work in the way of cleaning buildings, ground foam engines, etc., I do only hand work except at the earliest stages of benchwork. For example, I used a power jigsaw to remove the disk from the plywood for my turntable. I also used a cordless drill to drive screws, of course. Beyond that, a shop vac was always handy, and any power sanding was done outside.
So far, I have one small carpet stain, one soldering iron burn…a tiny one…and a small drop of Gorilla glue nicely hardened in the pile. That is it after 10 months of construction. I went through a lot of newspaper underfoot.
I have two workshops with one in my train room and the other in the garage. I did the real messy stuff in tha garage, and cleaning my train room became a daily event for many years during construction. I only carried water putty or plaster products into my train room after they were mixed and completely wet. The two workshops worked well for me…but I did spend a lot of time back and forth…
While that does seem like a rather solid workbench foundation, aren’t you concerned about accidentally dislodging one of those blocks? The results could be disasterous or possibly injurous.
I just work on the layout in complete sequence: do ALL of the woodwork, do ALL of the foam carving (or mostly so), do ALL of the basic landform painting, do ALL of the base layer ground foam addition, etc, etc. It may take a little longer to build a whole layout, but you end up with a finished-looking product faster. I also don’t have to go back and clean or touch up parts that I’ve already worked on
It helps that my layouts are generally large shelf-type layouts that are foam-based. I don’t have all that much sawdust to deal with, and seeing as how I’m modeling central Illinois, I don’t have all that much foam carving to do either!
About once a week I stop working on my layout and start cleaning up. I have to… I can’t find anything! All sanding, spray painting etc. is done outside, never inside. Fortunately I live in the South so warm nice weather usually isn’t that far away. Doing those things and keeping the shop vac handy usually does it for me. Every once in a while I remove most items from off the tile floor and give it a good mopping.
I do all the heavy construction work in my woodshop. I also do all of my spray painting, either in my shop spray booth or outside. I use hand tools for nearly all the work in the layout room.
In the layout room, I use drop clothes and keep a small two gallon shop vac handy. My carpet only has a couple solder burns and glue spots.
The spring loaded adjustable poles used to put up a quick drop/ tarp for a wall may be just what you need. Should be in the Granger catalogue or some builder’s supplies.
For nasty cutting or sanding I would have a helper hold a shop vac to catch the bulk of the mess.