Table Construction

Here's a look behind the skirting around my layout, at the underside of the layout platform,

...which is located directly under here....

as well as everywhere else, all of which is 40" off the floor, providing plenty of storage room as well as easy access for crawling around to fiddle with this-n-that.

3/4" plywood; 2x4s, framing and legs.

The whole shebang is sturdy enough for me to mount it, and since I have cross-bolted one table to the other, with the same type of bolts I used to affix the legs to the framing, the entire construction acts as one unit, with no wiggle and no sliding around. Very, very sturdy.

Also, where I especially do not want to allow prying eyes, crawling children, or adventuresome hands under the layout, I have bolted onto the 2x4 framing, 3/4' plywood as a skirting, and where I want my own easy access, I have attached fabric (actually, ready-made "Café-curtains")...

I hope seeing all this may be helpful to you, sir.

FrankM

P.S. I had the entire floor of the Trainroom, including under the layout, broad-loomed, wall-to-wall, for easier-on-the-knees crawling-around comfort.

P.P.S. As I expanded the layout (of course!) thru the years, using the construction technique I described to you, it was a simple matter to add a new section, no matter the necessary dimensions, with some units the following sizes of width and length: 1'x8' ; 4'x4' ; 4'x6' ; 5'x20' , put them in-place, and attach them with the large bolts to the adjacent unit(s).

Moonson posted:

 

Looks Great Frank! I appreciate the post!

I would not mount shelving fixed in place.  Too much in the way for service. 

I do however have a lot of 36" tall book shelves mounted on furniture  dollies so they can be moved as needed where ever needed when ever needed.

Having worked under platforms where built-in shelving was located turned out to be very painful.

Things dont fall out of rolling cabinets doors and or storage drawers while in motion, but wheels are the way to go. Less dusting involved than just shelves too. I ended up leaning a large screen tv's protective screen in front of some shelves as it was being razed for removal. It fit exactly to the bottom of the layout frame. Two pieces of 1/4 round moulding gave it a slide channel on top. The plastic screen is non marring an just slides on the floor unguided. Quick to be removed and I have 30"x56" tinted sliding door helping me keep the mega dust of two 150lb dogs at bay....somewhat. Add hock, but some care and planning and it could be quite nice to have sliding "glass" doors on front of any shelving. My shelves roll, one holds transformers on the end cap and power wires have finger nut speaker terminals for fast removal(till I feel like doing a large telecomunications plug, there are 4 tracks, 4 acc. lines on 6 transformers 60w-90w,)) The layout rolls too. Bracing the legs is key, and a 2x4 is overkill on them in girth imo. Use 2- 1/2x3" ish boards forming a corner shaped leg won't twist or warp as bad. i wish i had done a 1x5" or 1×6 frame box as well but my lumber wasnt bought, it was handy.There wasnt as much room for button mounting on the perimeter as I would have liked. I just used two nuts and bolts in a vertical line on the legs relying on braces for the real "work". Traditional hidden framework braces work too but arent usually as strong or as easy unless you build them regularly. Filling and or enclosing the bottom by any means cuts down on noise projection from under the layout too.

Leave a 1/2" gap at the underside above rolling storage. An uneven floor over 6-12ft or if it's moved may cause issues with rolling out shelves in a new area. No attachment tool today to load some pics.

Harbor freight carts for storage 

Clem, you are The Man!!

clem k posted:

Harbor freight carts for storage 

Clem...  This is excellent!  I'm borrowing this.

Clem - great idea. How tall are the carts?

Sean

Sean.......... 32.5"   Tall equipment goes above that

Clem, I must have been blind, I walked right past those carts when picking up my furniture dollies. 

Mucho slick!!!  Neat & orderly. 

Anyone wanna buy some slightly used book shelves and dollies?

clem k posted:

Harbor freight carts for storage 

Pick a train any train. Great idea.

Eric, Have you made any headway on planning your layout table construction methods?

2x4's for legs is overkill. Nothing wrong with the corner shaped legs mentioned in the post above. But if you like to save money and time (work) go to your local independent lumber yard and buy 2x6's and have them rip them into 2x3's (assuming you don't have the requisite saw at home). 2x3's are than strong enough and won't warp like 2x2's. My benchwork has been up since 1988 or`89 supported with 2x3 legs.

Funny, was looking at 2x4s witha pal recently. 50% were twisted or warped to the point I wouldn't have bought them for legs. 

It might boil down to the quality of the lumber at your local supplier too

Clem, awesome idea!

Modeltrainparts, more of the layout please?!