castellated beam
noun
a rolled metal beam the web of which is first divided by a lengthwise zigzag or round cut, then welded together so as to join the peaks of both halves, thus increasing its depth and strength.
Origin:
1670–80
1670–80
I wanted to support an upper line with a simple support system that I could easily build from Plastruct beams and cut plastic. I like "open" supports so that the lower level trains are not blocked by solid supports like chord trusses as opposed to solid beams.
Castellated support beams (see photo above) provide an answer. However, creating lots of them as described in the definition above would be very time-consuming. I also like fast! So using CorelDraw I created a truss picture with six centered holes in the web. I then cut up 10 blocks of plastic from 3/4 inch thick plastic sheets ( available on eBay) the length of the truss and about 1-1/4 thick. I then glued the truss drawing onto the long face of each plastic block.
Using a drill press and a 1/2" forester bit for a clean hole I drilled out the six holes in each plastic block using the drawing as a guide (the drawing had center marks for each hole). Next using a band saw I cut away each end of each block to form the truss shape. Then setting my band saw at 1/8" I sliced up each block like deli-meat creating multiple identical castellated truss-beams.
To get away from the 2D look of the truss, I added a piece of Plastruct channel to the bottom chord of each truss extending beyond just a bit on each side.
You can use the holes to run piping and use the piping to hide wires to power the track.
layout photos to follow. . .
