John, Okay I followed the concept! It sounds neat! Yes I remember the alcove! Did you lose your shirt on lumber??
I’m glad your daughter is only moving as far as near Pittsburgh! Did she get a new job down there?
@Mark Boyce posted:John, Okay I followed the concept! It sounds neat! Yes I remember the alcove! Did you lose your shirt on lumber??
I’m glad your daughter is only moving as far as near Pittsburgh! Did she get a new job down there?
Lumber was expensive when I got it but can’t imagine what the price is now. Had gotten the L-girder 1x3 and 1x4 and 2x2for legs before prices went into orbit
Daughter starts new job at Target on Tuesday. She is all excited to be leaving the nest and flying solo! God bless her!
btw still have part of my shirt lol
I'm glad you got the lumber before the price went as high as it is now.
God bless your daughter!
Here are some pics of progress so far
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Great to see you back in action. Great start on the bench work!
Ditto what Dave said.
John, Great looking L-girder!!!!
Dave, I'm glad to see you respond! I was thinking of contacting you since I haven't seen you post for a while.
Clearly a dual purpose blackjack table with a train layout
Still around, Mark, just haven’t had much to say lately. I’ve worked on a couple of designs via pm and email, so I’ve kept busy enough. Also, we’re having the bathrooms remodeled and have been fighting the lack of truck drivers, workers, etc. We’re not doing the work ourselves, but there’s still plenty to interrupt the day. The biggest frustration difficulty getting materials. We waited until we had almost everything. Work started Oct 21 Andy the last items, faucets, we’re supposed to ship in time, but have been delayed twice and won’t ship until mid-December, if then. Now we’re waiting on a glass shower wall and countertops. When they finally get delivered we’ll have to buy some cheap faucets to tide us over. The good thing is our niece got us her employee discounts and we ordered before all the price increases, so it’ll all be worth it eventually.
@Bruce Brown posted:Clearly a dual purpose blackjack table with a train layout
I taught professional blackjack back in my younger days! Needed a table for practice sessions. Never got around to repurposing it yet.
@DoubleDAZ posted:Still around, Mark, just haven’t had much to say lately. I’ve worked on a couple of designs via pm and email, so I’ve kept busy enough. Also, we’re having the bathrooms remodeled and have been fighting the lack of truck drivers, workers, etc. We’re not doing the work ourselves, but there’s still plenty to interrupt the day. The biggest frustration difficulty getting materials. We waited until we had almost everything. Work started Oct 21 Andy the last items, faucets, we’re supposed to ship in time, but have been delayed twice and won’t ship until mid-December, if then. Now we’re waiting on a glass shower wall and countertops. When they finally get delivered we’ll have to buy some cheap faucets to tide us over. The good thing is our niece got us her employee discounts and we ordered before all the price increases, so it’ll all be worth it eventually.
This supply chain issue is just crazy. Great planning ahead Dave, even with that they still manage to throw wrenchs into the works. 
And inflation is killing my retirement income. Glad to hear from you again! You have helped me and others so much it is impossible to repay you for all the work and help. Again HUGE THANKS !
Getting to the benchwork section that will support the 27" Ross turntable. Anyone have experience installing a Ross turn Table? Seems straight forward, but when it seems like that to me it usually isn't so easy. Any links or help is always appreciated. Thanks
John
Good luck Dave, that’s is a disruptive process. You’ll appreciate it all the more; when it’s done.
Fortunately, Jay, I knew beforehand there were going to be issues, so we’ve been prepared for them. I knew the faucets were going to be close, but was surprised they got delayed further. Everything is shipped direct from Kohler factories, but it didn’t help that everything was brushed nickel in the same collection, you can get white and stainless much easier. It’s still not a big deal, just would like to take a shower in our new shower. I guess I could right now and just dry the floor after, but it’d get rather cool with no walls on 2 sides. We might still end up adding a door, but we’re going to try the walk-in first once the glass wall gets installed, hopefully this week.
@Aegis21 posted:I taught professional blackjack back in my younger days! Needed a table for practice sessions. Never got around to repurposing it yet.
I had no idea what that thing was! 
No, I've never been to Las Vegas!
Proceeding along with bench work, not much else to report. Bench work will slow as I am at the point of framing out for the 27" Ross turntable and then the two ends that will be where the truss bridge will span the two benches. As for the turntable that maybe easier than I am anticipating, however the truss bridge that will lift from one side or the other is another story. There are overhead concerns as a steel I-Beam is in the vicinity of the cross over, I am hoping this will work. Plus adding bench work to handle the bridge going up with associated safety switches, alignment pins and lifting mechanism will be a whole other ball game. I'm setting my sights on finishing the bench work early next year. Sad to say, but that is a realistic goal with the obstacles to face and problems to solve.
John, you have reason to think the lift up will take a while. I kept confusing myself as I was setting it up. Mike gave me good information. Hopefully you will have less trouble than me
Hi Mark,
Well you have an impressive dual bridge, dual level to deal with! Mine will only be one , 40" long two track atlas Pratt truss bridge . Dealing with only one bridge and only one level should be easier for sure. My BIG concern is the overhead clearance for the bridge when it is lifted up. 40" gets awfully tall when raised... Table legs are 40" add the plywood and homosote, I am looking at 82" height minimum. I have tried to keep the bridge and track away from the I-beam overhead and I will be hoping for the best. I hate at this point to remove all the legs and lower the bench work to get the clearance for the bridge.
Thanks
John
John, it has been a while and I forgot you are using the double track bridge; one level. My Atlas bridge doesn't raise the whole way up to vertical or it would hit the ceiling, but my upper track level is 50 inches off the floor. That I-beam of yours will keep you on your toes locating the bridge. Yes lowering the layout would be a nasty job.
Hoping all had a happy thanksgiving.
Hi All, Here is a pic of my works in progress bench work. The ross 27" turntable has me a little baffled using L-girder construction. There is the motor/electronics assembly that protrudes appox. 10" past the 31" square on one side. Not sure how to support that side. Here is a pic with the turntable rotated 90 degrees which has that assembly protruding past the bench work and into the aisle. Yes the area is cluttered with train boxes, which does slow things down quite a bit.
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Ugh! John, Could you give us another couple photographs at different angles, since I'm not quite sure what you have there? I don't know what to suggest except, can you remove a cross member and support the controller differently?
Hi Mark,
yes those pictures aren’t very helpful
here are a couple more
I am thinking to make a box with a channel cutout to accommodate the drive portion sticking out, that the turntable can be lowered onto which will also help in matching the levels of the turntable and the plywood/homosote.
here are some more pics
hope they help
thanks
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John, thank you for some more photographs. Yes, that idea sounds like it should work.
Here is what I wound up doing with turntable. Made box frame so the 31" clearance was met for the turntable. Then cutout spot for drive hardware and added 1x4's to extend onto L-girder supports. I may reinforce that section with aluminum angle across the cutout section, but I'll asses its support the way it is now. Here are a couple of pics.
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Looks like a good solution. I don't think you need to reinforce the joint if you screw plywood down across it.
@turkey_hollow_rr posted:Looks like a good solution. I don't think you need to reinforce the joint if you screw plywood down across it.
Thanks and excellent point about screwing plywood down onto those cross pieces.
John, it looks like a solid installation to me.
@Mark Boyce posted:John, it looks like a solid installation to me.
Thanks Mark, Now to work on the pass through bridge area. My intent will be to get the L-girders done and before putting on top, run as much electrical and under table work from above as possible. At least the main runners to distribution terminal strips. And also the controlling relays and detection and signalling electronics placed in their area's.
Good plan!
Here are some more pics of progress on bench work. The narrowest space for entry is 33” and it widens to 38”
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John, It looks great! I see you have already drilled holes for running wires. I would have made my entrance point wider like yours, but then I would have been fighting curves on the ends of both bridges.
Well just working on spacing joists to accommodate 48” or 96” sheets of plywood
From the information I have read, the raised track sections should be cookie cutter and the flat yard can have a sheet of plywood and homosote on top of that for sound considerations
not sure what I’ll do with town area as that is 2” above baseline. Thought of plywood then foam and then homosote. That will allow some culverts and a stream or other lower areas for interest
any thoughts or comments
as always I welcome all opinions as they always add to the build
Hello All,
To keep from reaching too far (>36") The four foot width along each wall needs to be either a drop down shelf or a removable shelf. I am now tending towards removable as a drop down will still keep more than 36" reach if they have any structures on them, so when they drop (lets say a foot of shelf) the height of the structure will be down and protruding out. Any place I can go to learn about the best way to make the shelves? Tthe run will be 1 foot by about 20 feet. so one shelf will be way too large. Maybe 4-5 feet will keep them manageable?
Any thoughts and all HELP is needed....
Thanks in advance
John
Hi John- just read through your thread. Not sure what you are trying to achieve with the shelves. Are you planning to cut the framing back as well? if not then even if you can remove a section on top you still would have the same reach problem.
Bob
John, my thought is that the removable sections should be like kitchen drawers. When you pull out a kitchen drawer, rails are like the joists in L-girder bench work. The drawer front is attached to the drawer, not the rails. Then when you remove the drawer, you’re left with an opening between the rails/joists that you can move into. If you attach the facia to your shelves instead of the joists, you can simply lift them out and have a similar open space between the joists. I would double the thickness of your joist under the shelf where 2 shelves meet to give you enough support to use pins for alignment. It’s kind of hard to explain, so I can draw something in SCARM if needed. The key is making the facia renmoveable.
You asked for any thoughts.....Down through the years, where ever I could, I used fingers with aisles between the fingers or cut in slots so as to have access w/o physical contortions.
Some suggested settings:
<< Short slot
<< Switch accessThe above slot at top center allows for turnout service.
Slot for a hinge drop down body of water above and below photos.
This entire peninsula above was originally flipped over 180 degrees with no aisle. After replacing an obtrusive tank style water heater with a relocated tank less wall mounted water heater I flipped the benchwork and made an aisle to provide an ease of access.
Simply a 12' X 12' walk in.
The above was a 8' 6" X 8' 4" industrial peninsula with only climb up and crawl over access to the center.
A jig saw and Saws-All made a nice waterway which provided access to the center of everything.
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@Tom Tee posted:You asked for any thoughts.....Down through the years, where ever I could, I used fingers with aisles between the fingers or cut in slots so as to have access w/o physical contortions.
Some suggested settings:
The above slot at top center allows for turnout service.
Slot for a hinge drop down body of water above and below photos.
This entire peninsula above was originally flipped over 180 degrees with no aisle. After replacing an obtrusive tank style water heater with a relocated tank less wall mounted water heater I flipped the benchwork and made an aisle to provide an ease of access.
Simply a 12' X 12' walk in.
The above was a 8' 6" X 8' 4" industrial peninsula with only climb up and crawl over access to the center.
A jig saw and Saws-All made a nice waterway which provided access to the center of everything.
Great job and good ideas for sure! Using the waterway makes a lot of sense. Nice pics to illustrate the idea with implementation
Thaks!
@DoubleDAZ posted:John, my thought is that the removable sections should be like kitchen drawers. When you pull out a kitchen drawer, rails are like the joists in L-girder bench work. The drawer front is attached to the drawer, not the rails. Then when you remove the drawer, you’re left with an opening between the rails/joists that you can move into. If you attach the facia to your shelves instead of the joists, you can simply lift them out and have a similar open space between the joists. I would double the thickness of your joist under the shelf where 2 shelves meet to give you enough support to use pins for alignment. It’s kind of hard to explain, so I can draw something in SCARM if needed. The key is making the facia renmoveable.
I do get your idea and did not consider the facia. My thought was to attach two strips of wood to the underside of baseboard that would act as guides along the joists for lateral alignment. Maybe use latches under to latch the main section to the re movable section like a dinning room table leaf gets latched? Is that similar to what you are conveying? Thanks for reminding me I need to deal with facia. And what is the maximum joists spacing you would reccomend? For the removable sections...
@RSJB18 posted:Hi John- just read through your thread. Not sure what you are trying to achieve with the shelves. Are you planning to cut the framing back as well? if not then even if you can remove a section on top you still would have the same reach problem.
Bob
The framing is L-girder and the joists can remain while the baseboard could be removed allowing for better access to the back. At present the section is four foot wide. Removing a one foot section gives me a three foot reach instead of four foot. I do have a topside creeper which I am leary about working on for delicate work for extended time periods
so my hope is to cut down on reaching four feet to work on the layout
