May Update - More progress!!

This month, significant progress was made!

In my last update I expanded on the issues I was having with broken lag screws. This limited the progress made on the upper level. After considering the options available, I bit the bullet and moved from 1/4" to 5/16" lag screws. So now I have a lifetime supply of new 1/4" lag screws. Thanks Paul...I think!

In order to use to the new 5/16" screws, all of the stanchions had to have both mounting plate holes enlarged. It was back to the drill press to make the holes bigger. A lesson learned from using the 1/4" lag screws was to make the lower hole larger in order to enable lateral leveling. Now that I've moved to 5/16" lags, I have to expand both holes on the plates. 

An interesting phenomenon happened while drilling the enlarged holes in the mounting plate. With nearly 90% of the drilling complete, I had a failure. A big failure. Something I had never experienced. 

Yep, the chuck fell off! Talk about your oh sh!t moments! The drill bit was still intact in the chuck and still stuck in the mounting plate hole that was being drilled. This was further complicated by the fact that the bottom of the shaft is threaded in the center. Was there a bolt holding the chuck? Does a bolt or screw exist? Did I miss it? I certainly wasn't finding it on the ground.

Off to my desk and computer. I found the factory manual for the drill press. I was shocked that it was in the filing drawer. I purchased the drill press in 1994. A check of the parts diagram indicated that no bolt is used. Good news there! 

Next was a visit to YouTube. There I found that the chuck is pressed onto the shaft. The shaft has a slight taper. I watched a few different videos to explore methods to reinstall the chuck to the shaft. I settled on using a mallet and a 2x4 to smack the chuck onto the shaft. I'm happy to report that this worked and I was back in business and drilling holes. I'm certainly glad I didn't have to replace the drill press!

Now, back to installing more stanchions. The next series of photos are different views of the progress as we filled 3 of 5 walls with stanchions.

In order to cross in front of the windows, I'll have a longer unsupported span of roughly 4'. My current plan is to rip plywood into 2"x48" sections that will be installed on end as stringers to support the sub-roadbed. I'm estimating that three sections per window will do the trick. I'll have the solution in place in my next update.

Extra time and thought was applied to the wall corners and the egress window (window to the right of the picture) in how the stanchions would be applied. For the corners, I need to have the appropriate support structure over a longer span. And, I want to avoid any vertical support post from the main level. 

For the egress window, something that is easily removable yet still provides the support required for the removable portion of the upper level. I think I've settled on a solution. Stay tuned.

With 3+ walls of stanchions in place, it was time to start riser construction. 

I managed to acquire some 15/32" OSB to use for the horizontal surface of the riser. Time to start ripping on the table saw. To the left is the result from four sheets of OSB.

In the background is my portable table saw. It's great, but the precision of the fence is sometimes questionable. It works well for this kind of work though. 

Next up was to cut the risers to the needed lengths and then start cutting feet. All feet are 1 1/2" tall by 2" wide. I needed 200 feet be exact. The exception being 6 that are 3 1/2" for the risers on each end of the Santa Clara River bridge. 

Here is the result. Not a terribly impressive stack!

Let the fun continue with the required gluing and clamping required to build the risers.

One round of risers built. 

Now that the risers are built and the stanchions are up, riser installation can begin.

As previously mentioned, my goal is to keep the thickness of the upper level at 2 1/2". Given my construction, this is the minimum that I can achieve. The composition is as follows:

- 1" square tubing (stanchions)

- 17/32" space between the stanchion and the riser horizontal surface

- 15/32" OSB horizontal surface

- 1/2" drywall

Here is the first riser being placed. Risers are leveled front to back and side to side. 

 

However, when we went to install the  first riser, there was an issue. Because I'm keeping the deck so thin, The riser was hitting the lag screw on the stanchion mounting plate. Back to the chop saw to remedy the problem with 45-ish degree cuts.

Jason cut up some 17/32" hardwood spacers to use to block between the top of the stanchion and the bottom of the riser. His table saw is much better than mine. The proper clearance is achieved very quickly. 

To the right are the spacers in action. They have saved us a ton of time in riser installation. Spacing is super fast. Risers are clamped quickly and aligned. We have a lot of lessons learned from main level riser installation.

Below is the first run of risers.

We found that the most effective way to install the risers while keeping everything level is to install the furthest two endpoints and then fill in the middle. The level is checked on both the front and the back. I'm very happy with the result. The 8' level is very handy!

And finally! The drywall installation started. We used the same method as before, Liquid Nails on on the riser horizontal surfaces, put the drywall down, and then add some drywall screws. On the first piece, we used two screws per riser. Probably overkill, but I want to make sure everything is solid.

With the first two pieces of drywall installed (16 feet of benchwork), we went back to riser installation. More risers were added. Unfortunately, I had to stop prior the span of the Santa Clara River. Apparently, I changed the spacing of the holes on the east stanchion when it was drilled. Oops! I used the 'regular' spacing standard for construction of the specific riser. Time to make a replacement riser.

One thing that was particularly important was to protect the track from 'falling objects' as the risers are installed. Clamps can come off as the riser legs are drawn to the steel with the mounting screw. Tools can fall. Especially the torpedo level. Ask me how I know. :)

I quickly grabbed a piece of scrap styrofoam to cover the rails while we worked. The pieces on hand have been used to protect the railroad, protect the window frames when bringing in 40"x20' sections of benchwork, etc. I'm glad I saved them from the rollaway tool box I purchased a number of years ago. 

I also completed building the remaining electromagnets for remote uncoupling in the Violet Alley area. Below is a picture of the track plan. The alley tracks are 10 cars on one end and 14 on the other. The red X's represent where the electro magnets will be placed. Blue is the track, green is the backdrop.

In a blog post in December 2022, I elaborated on my plan for the electromagnets and the result of the testing. Having recently cut the steel for the electromagnets, I was ready to start building them. 

To the right is a picture of the parts used: 

- a spool of 24g magnet wire

- two 3/16" plates for the sides

- 1/4" washers for the core (18 washers)

- 1/4" bolt and nut

- Kapton tape to hold everything in place

With the parts ready, the next thing was to configure everything for spooling. I chucked the magnet in my drill. I mounted the spool of wire onto a screwdriver clamped to the benchwork. I used a clamp to keep the wire spool from coming off the screwdriver. The spooling of the magnet takes about 10 minutes, but seems to take forever. I used a drill to spin the magnet as I feed wire from the spool onto the electromagnet spool. 

To the right is the finished product.

That's a wrap for the May update. I expect to be laying upper level track in June. 

Have a great summer!

April Update

Progress this month was a bit slower than anticipated. I was gone for a week attending live steam ops in Texas and my wife broke her wrist. And, taxes. All of which hampered progress. None the less, some progress was made. 

In my last update, I pointed out where the lag screws had broken when installing the first of the upper level stanchions. While frustrating, I had to come up with a solution to move forward.

I had identified the two options to resolve this. A third possibility was sent to me by a reader of my blog. Thank you Steve. He recommended I reach out to a local  distributor of aircraft grade fasteners. That became my new second option, moving my previous second option to third.

I had noted that the shank depth of the 1/4" lag screws may be the primary cause of the failures. I decided to test this by drilling a second hole after the pilot hole using a 1/4" bit. But only going deep enough to clear the length of the shank. 

I opted to test this solution under the railroad rather than above. If I did have another failure, it would not adversely affect the upper level. The test was a success!

Now that I had a working method, it was time to start installing stanchions. Jason has pre-marked where all the studs were located, so it was just a matter of installing and leveling. 

After installing the first stanchion, we quickly realized that we needed more flexibility for lateral adjustment to ensure that they are square on the vertical axis. I opened up the bottom hole on the mouthing plate to a larger diameter. The larger hole gave me the ability to make that adjustment by moving the bottom of the mounting plate laterally.

To the right notice that green tape is used to identify where each wall stud is located. Each side of the stud is represented by a piece of tape. This is done to ensure the pilot holes are drilled in the center of the stud. The stud finder is very useful in this operation.

Stanchions were installed on every other stud to provide leveling over a longer distance. This was found to be the most effective method for keeping everything level when risers were installed on the main level. I will backfill the gaps with stanchions before riser installation begins on the upper level. 

To determine how the upper level will 'feel', I covered the first area where stanchions were installed with a sheet of drywall. I'm trying to keep the total thickness of the upper level to 2 1/2". In the picture below, the drywall is placed with spacers to represent the thickness. I'm happy with the result. 

I'm still debating on whether to reduce the maximum benchwork depth from 24" to 22". While not much, I'm thinking it may be a better course of action. I do have the flexibility in the design to reduce the depth by 2" without an impact to the track plan. I will be making a decision very soon. 

A coke flat is used to catch the debris from drilling the holes for the lag screws. A piece of paper taped to the wall helps direct the debris into the coke flat. This method keeps the layout top a bit cleaner. 

I brought in another cart to move all the tools around as the upper level stanchions are installed. It makes a big difference and helps keep the work area a bit more organized.  

Below is the cart I have been using for all the track laying tools and supplies.

To the right are the 'tools of the trade'. In clockwise order starting in the upper left hand corner: 1) box of 1/4" lag screws, 2) Ryobi cordless impact wrench for the lag screws, 3) stud finder, 4) Milwaukee cordless drill for 1/4" shank holes - note the tape on the bit for depth, 5) Sharpie for marking where the holes should be, 6) Frog tape, 6) Bottle of liquid soap for lubricating the lag screws before installation, 7) 1/4" lag screw, 7) Milwaukee cordless drill with pilot hole bit, and 8) Tape measure. 

A note on the tape measure. The tape is black with bright green marks on both sides of the tape. I've never bought a tape measure over $20.00 before, but did this time. This one is worth every penny. It is fantastic and has great visibility over a distance! 

In the view to the left, you can see the upper level stanchions installed above the Dolores area. Down by the window are stanchions installed on the next wall. The gap in between is where the Santa Clara River bridge will be located. 

On the prototype, the Santa Clara River bridge is nearly 800'. Of course I won't be able to model that length. I will shorten my version to be 350'. That equals seven Micro Engineering 50' deck girder sections. I'll be 3D printing the bridge piers. A lot of calculations were done regarding the height of the piers and the depth of the benchwork. 

The benchwork is a good place to make notes...

To the left is a test printed pier. The tape is used to mark with the final height of the pier. Some adjustments will be made to the design and then it is printing time. 

I plan to print the bridge abutments as well. I'll be headed back to my prototype plans and pictures to develop them.

To the left you can see the Santa Clara River bridge (represented as 3 sections) as oriented on the benchtop. Notice that the main moves from being closer to the backdrop on the right to being close to the front of the benchwork on the left. The length of the stanchions will represent this and so will the benchwork depth. The fascia will not be straight as pictured, but rather will taper down to from 24" to 14" and back to 24". 

The bottom of the benchwork will drop another 2" to accommodate the river bottom and bridge height. A lot of calculations were involved in coming up with the correct height and depth. As the main level area under the bridge is only 2 industries, dropping the benchwork 2" is of no impact. 

To the right is the first dropped stanchion for the bridge. I'm planning for an open length of 52" for the bridge. That includes the bridge and abutments. In doing so, I have to drop the stanchions on each end beyond the bridge length to build the supporting structure for the river bottom. Wall studs are 16" on center. So the actual section of benchwork that is 2" lower is longer than the 52" spanning five wall studs. 

You can also see the written on the tape, the lengths for each stanchion. As always, I'm trying to minimize any cutting that happens in the layout room. Knowing the lengths let's me cut them in the garage.

Below is a panoramic view of the stanchions installed. No, the upper level will not be used as a storage shelf :)

That's it for this update. Next month I plan to have this area completed with sub-roadbed and hopefully some track will be laid. Time to go build the bridge!

Thanks for reading and I always appreciate feedback!