Transcript Baseboard Construction

Lightweight Baseboard
Construction
Presented at VMRS Meeting 18 September 2013
by John de la Lande
Photo
Gippsford
Baseboard Design Criteria
When I decided to build Gippsford, for showing at the AMRA Exhibition
last year, I focused on meeting these criteria:
for the baseboard:
• Lightweight
• Easy to build
• Easy to dismantle for transport
• Least amount of work
• Eliminate warping
• Use perfectly straight structural members
• Keep cost down (as much as possible)
• Hide point mechanisms from damage
• Minimise wiring issues
• Easy alignment of track from one board to the next
Materials
• Decided on Aluminium structural members as:
•
•
•
•
•
Lightweight.
Easy to work with.
Relatively cheap.
Free cutting to length (Action Aluminium).
Quick to build and dismantle (using Aculok system
and 25.4mm square Aluminium tube).
• Height adjusting feet available (and casters if
required).
Materials (2)
• Decided to use “extruded polystyrene” for the
base of the layout as:
•
•
•
•
•
•
It is lightweight.
Relatively strong.
Deadens noise very effectively.
Can be easily shaped and cut.
Has a range of thicknesses available.
Can be glued together using PVA (I used 2 part epoxy
to glue to the ply base).
Materials (3)
• Used building plywood under the extruded
polystyrene as:
• It added structural rigidity to the baseboard
frame.
• Provided support for the extruded polystyrene
and minimised cross structural members required.
• Allowed wiring and connectors to be easily
attached underneath using a hot glue gun.
Baseboard Construction Layers
Extruded Polystyrene
Plywood
Square Al Tubing
Rect Al Tube bolted
To square tubing to
Reduce sag.
Materials (4)
Aculok connectors.
Baseboard Framing
Underneath layout showing framing and wiring.
Legs
Lighting (1)
• Support poles were clipped onto the legs
to enable LED strip lighting to be installed.
• The LEDs come in a 5m roll with a sticky
back enabling them to be stuck onto an
aluminium “L” shaped strip of aluminium.
• Very light weight and very easy to install
and dismantle.
Lighting (2)
Brackets were made from 3mm acrylic to connect the “L” aluminium to the
Uprights and made such that there angle could be adjusted to obtain
optimum lighting. For a permanent layout the lights can be suspended on
Fishing line.
Cost Comparison (1)
 Aculok connectors cost on average $1.30 each
but cost depends on how many ways it is
designed to support (eg: 3 way, 4 way).
 Square tubing to match the Aculok connectors
costs $20.80 per 6.5m lengths – that is $3.20 per
m. Action Aluminium were by far the cheapest for
aluminium I could find and would cut the tube to
the lengths I required for free (just needed to
provide them with a cutting list).
Cost Comparison (2)
Material
Description
Cost/m
Aluminium Square
25.4 x 25.4 (1” x 1”)
$3.20
Dressed Pine
64 x 19
$2.80
Dressed Pine Framing
42 x 30
$3.34
Tas Oak Hardwood
65 x 19
$5.68
Structural Framing Pine
Walls
2” x 1”
$2.50
 Wood prices are from Bunnings Mentone
Issues & Conclusions
 The span between legs can be an issue. If too long the
aluminium can sag. This can be resolved by:
• Adding more legs.
• Bolting (and gluing) a length of Aluminium under the
Aculok square tubing. Note that it is the combined depth
of the beam that determines its rigidity over the length of
the span.
 Ballast weighs more than the boards!
 The baseboards were easy to erect, dismantle and
transport.
 Easy to align track from one board to the other.