Hi, and Merry Christmas
Just a quick question reguarding glue. When building the benchwork, I’ve glued the L-girders together, but I was wondering do you go ahead and glue the legs to the girders or just screw them to it? I was also wondering the same about the cross braces and the joists. I’m thinking ahead many years in case I need to disassemble for a move (even though at this point it is out of the question). Also if they are glued together would the legs be hard to knock off the girders?
Thanks for any cosideration,
Regards, Richard
I would definitely go with the screws. For one, if you make a mistake, it is much easier to fix when you use screws. Also, using screws is stronger and more reliable, especially for legs and other “backbone” benchwork.
Reed
Glue and screw everything. Use sheetrock screws for their ease of use. Your benchwork is the foundation for the layout so it better not be moving around at all. Don’t worry about the future moving problems. About all you can take with you is your engines, rolling stock, track (maybe), wiring and your buildings. Anything else you can salvage is a bonus.
Archie
if you want to move your layout later do not glue the legs to the framework . the joists should also not be glued in case you have to move them to mount an undertable switch machine or other equipment. but do use elmers carpenter glue on the L girders. also don’t glue the plywood to the joists.
Unless you have built the layout in modular sections for moving, you probably can’t move it successfully. But using just screws makes it easier to salvage the wood for reuse. I use #10 stainless steel screws - they cost a little more, but I can reuse the screws as well. I like #10s because they have deeper threads than 6s or 8s. With the cost of wood these days, salvaging can save you quite a bit on your next layout.
Enjoy
Paul
To me this is one of those questions that either way will not really hurt or help that much. From past experience I would not use glue, but some would. I feel that if you use proper size wood and screws, this is more then enough for the job and like was stated above, lumber is getting near the price of gold now. When I said screws, I mean screws, not nails. I may use nails to hold something temborary but go back and screw it all together for strength. For you that believe in gluing, thats fine and in noway am I putting you down. This just a personal thing of mine, no disrespect intended here. Thanks, Ken
[#ditto]
I’m also trying the modular approach, NOT because I expect to move again anytime soon but to make it easier to change selected areas of my layout without major trauma. Example: “Era flipping”, where one module has buildings and trees that would have existed in the 1960’s, and another ‘modern’ module having contemporary buildings and ‘excavated’ areas where the trees used to be.
On my layout the legs are screwed into the base and some of the framework is screwed and glued, the baseboards are glued down using a product similar to “No More Nails” (copyright)
Ian