Overthinking

All weekend I've been dithering (an occupational hazard for me) about how to resolve the issue of making two of my four layout sections easy to move.

The simplest answer is, of course, just putting casters on the bottoms of their legs. I've been resisting that solution mightily, however, because I didn't want them to be higher than they are, and I wanted them to be leveling (as they are now, with the screw-in leveling feet). As noted in my previous post, I've been mulling various systems for creating retractable casters. I saw one design on line (that I now understand), and I figured out a design of my own. Even this morning I spent some time and energy figuring out how I could adapt this design to the legs I've already built.

But in the end, it's just a little too complicated. And considering that the units will have to be moved as often as every day, retractable casters are more work than is worthwhile.

Farm & Fleet has casters that are less than 2 inches high and would do the job just fine. I would put casters on the legs of 2 sections, and then create simple risers to bring the other 2 sections up to the same level. (Or, I could just put casters on all four sections and be done with it.) Raising the entire layout 2 inches just is not a big deal. And heck, if it really turns out to be too high, I can just cut 2 inches off the top of each leg assembly.

I don't think locking casters are available in the size I'm looking at; if they are, then that's an option to go with.

And I'll pull out all the T-nuts and all the levelers and put them in ziploc bags for storage. I'm sure there will be occasion to use them in the future.

SO:
Next step is to buy at least 2 sets of 4 casters each. (Or, again, perhaps 4 sets.)

I also need 16 4-foot lengths of 1/4-inch by 1-1/14 inch furring to be used for cross braces that will further stabilize the legs, in keeping with the Hediger benchwork design I'm using.

We'll see if I can get to that this week.

Belated discovery

Well, as I suspected, I really need to make at least 1, maybe 2, of my sections easily movable. That means casters. But I can't put casters on the bottom, because that will raise the height above the other sections. (And higher than I really want the lowest level to be.

I have seen a great solution here, but I don't know how to implement it. I hope that I can find more details on how it works.


Update:

Thinking a little more, I have another alternative design in mind:

A 2 x4 cross brace between the legs.

A piano hinge on the underside of the cross brace.

The other part of the hinge is attached to another 2 x 4.

When the hinge is folded in on itself, the 2 x 4 s are stacked one upon the other. The lower 2 x 4 has casters mounted on it.

To retract the casters, lift the table. Fold up the lower 2 x 4 (making the piano hinge wide open). Hook it into place somehow (old style door bolts? screen hook latches?). In this position, the casters point straight up.

To install, put the upper 2 x 4 across just high enough so that when the lower 2x4 with the casters is lowered, the wheels are perhaps 1 to 1-1/2 inches below the bottom of the feet.

Second update:

I think instead of positioning the hinge so it's folded up when the casters are down, I should position it so it's straight when the casters are down and folded when they are raised.

Bottom line, however: Problem solved.

Finally!

Well, I've finished painting all the wood with polyurethane. I've attached legs to 3 of the 4 sections. (The last one I'll do tomorrow.)

I do need to rearrange some stuff in the basement to make room for everything in its "official" configuration.

Here's the thing about a sectional layout

The advantage is, it can be easily transported or moved to a new location.

But when it comes to the benchwork, it means you double, triple or quadruple the work you would ordinarily do.

I have finally assembled all 8 "H-leg" assemblies that will go on my four sections. This weekend I begin coating everything w/ polyurethane to help prevent warping.

If all goes well with that, I'll be finished by Thursday. Then next weekend I can put everything up on legs and at last see what I've got.

Always one more thing

I built two of 8 H-leg assemblies today, and attached them to one of the frames. Then I was advised by a friend that I should cover all the wood with a coat of polyurethane, to prevent warping when the climate shifts. I wasn't planning on that, though I obviously should have been.

So while I'll make the rest of the H-leg assemblies, I won't attach them yet. And the one I did attach, I'll remove. Then I'll haul everything outside and paint them w/ Polyurethane.

And then I'll be able to attach the rest of the legs.

Sigh...

Northern Wisconsin it is -- I think

In my last post, I was dithering about the setting for my railroad. As appealing as modeling the area around Mineral Point and Platteville sounds to me, I'm going to stick with my Northern Wisconsin logging and mining (iron, copper or both) concept. It's the logging -- I really do want to have something reflecting that on my layout, and after a lot of searching I can't find any evidence of serious timber harvesting in Southwest Wisconsin. Should I learn otherwise, the decision will be up for grabs again.

I've been working on names, too, assuming the UpNorth setting. I've just about decided it will be Nicolet & Wolf River Ry. Co. -- names of real geographic features in NE Wisconsin (the Nicolet National Forest and the, yes, Wolf River).

Principal locations on the layout, however, will have fictionalized names. And all of them will be personalized. I'll hold off on that information for now; one of them is still up in the air, for one thing. But I'm pleased with the other two.

Regarding the layout itself: The individual legs have all been completed with the addition of the 2x2 blocks in the base, including T-nuts and the levelers. Next step will be to pick up some carriage bolts, lock nuts, washers and wingnuts so I can make an H-assembly of each pair of legs and then install them on the frames.