I am planning on building a new 4 x 8 N scale layout in my garage. What I would like to do is hook the table to some cables so that I can raise it straight up to the ceiling in case I needed to pull the car in for some reason. Has anybody else done this? Or does anyone have any suggestions on how I might do this?
Yep, I'm going to do the same thing. I already did it with the table I use to work on my 1/64 scale spruance ship. That one is 3' x 6' All you need are some pulleys in the right place. One for each corner, and the proper attachment points on the layout that will handle the load. And actually, if your layout is strong, you could attach it at three points.. save yourself some rope/cable I run my four ropes up through 4 pulleys, then they all meet at a single 3-to-1 block-and-tackle. Then, that's hooked up to a trailer winch on the wall. With the block and tackle, you can actually lift it by hand.. but the winch is just easier.. I don't have any pictures of the setup.. maybe if I remember I'll take some tonight Tim
My father's On30 layout is suspended from his gargage ceiling. It is 4x16, and took some massive engineering to accomplish. In short, it is hung from 6 points, one each corner and two in midspan. He obtained a garage door opener, and modified it to pull cable. There is also a serious counterweight made of lead ingots. It involved a lot of welding and trial-and-error to get it all to work right. When lowered, there are safety horses underneath to prevent it from slipping to the ground. When raised, he uses carabeeners to click it safely to some ceiling hooks. This is not as easy as it might sound, but it is doable. Since you are 4x8, that makes it easier right there. We had to really reinforce that 16' length with steel bar stock and trusses, and that layout is now extemely heavy! My take on this? Well, if you have no other room for a layout, I guess it's the garage. However, you already know it can be dirty, hot, cold, and generally a tough place to model. Also, consider that the maximum height of buildings and other things will be compromised by how close you want to hug the ceiling, and also the proximity of your regular garage door opener. Try some measurements first. Sorry, no pictures. I guess I should go take some! Good Luck!
Andre Kritzinger's 4 x 13 foot (1.6 x 4 meters) suspended Chessie layout. He uses a boat winch to raise and lower it. Pretty nice design. Andre's Suspended Layout
Flash, Thanks for the link. That is exactly the kind of idea I have. Tim, I would love to see more about how you did your ropes and block and tackle. (on board or email either one.) Steve, You have some interesting points. I am going into this deal with an open mind and the expectation that it will be hard. That way if it's not too bad, I will be happy and if it is hard, I won't be disappointed.
Richard: There are some fine trackplans in Linn Wescott's "101 Trackplans For Model Railroaders" there are easily adaptable to N scale. One friend of mine up north had a layout in his garage that he raised on pulleys to lift it to the ceiling. Have fun.. Stay cool and run steam.....
Richard, I did it with one of my previous layouts. When I was living in an Appartment in South Germany the only available room for a decent sized layout was in the Dining Room, but my fiancee was adament that is should still be useful for Dining.... The layout was approximately 3 by 9 feet. I used pulleys and a counterweight. I never used any legs,so the layout was suspended all the times, fixed in place with suitcase locks. I was afraid that shifting from suspension to legs would make the frame bow in a different way, distorting the trackwork. What did work well: 1. Putting the staging yards on shelfs that remained attached to the wall. I could run all trains into the staging at the end of a session and they were not in danger. The shelfs were cabinet-grade, so they were OK when the room was used for dining. 2. Using a open-top concrete planters as counterweights. I filled them with sand to increase the weight, and adding sand enabled me to keep the weight balanced as construction on the layout progressed. 3. Using suicase locks to fix the layout in the lowered position What could have been better: 1. I attached the cables to the corners of the layout. I had some sagging due to the uneven load-distribution. Attaching them further inwards would have been better, but would have resulted in the cables being "in the way" when operating. 2. Building some closed cabinets in the room to store the buidling supplies. The biggest chore was not to lift the layout, but to clean up the room... Overall I was very pleased with the concept, as it allowed me to keep on model railroading even in an appartment. Hope this helps Cheers Dirk
Ok Richard, I finally took some pics of my boat lifting deal. Here they are: http://www.railimages.com/gallery/BoatLift The only part I don't have here is the block-and-tackle, that'll be for the new layout. Those are easy to lay out though, let me know if you need help. The nice thing about pulley systems is you don't have to use counterweights, say if you don't have the room. That's where the block-and-tackle comes in Tim
Nice R/C boat. Is it finished now? Wanna see pics! (I have a scratch designed and built 30" tug with 16 R/C functions).
It's been in drydock for some time now.. but when the weather gets warm.. I'll be starting up again on it I just received some more detailed plans for the superstructure, so it's detail time! http://www.diezfamily.us/spruance/
Very nice! I completely forgot about this thread and had to search for it! A lot of similar techniques I used for my tug. On mine, I have no gear reduction. Instead I rewound my motors with thinner magnet wire to reduce the RPM and current draw. Lots of torque to boot.
Consider running grade-rated bolts through the trusses and secure with nuts as opposed to screwing anything into the trusses. This will significantly reduce the possibility of having everything rip out and fall if things become too heavy and/or fatigued. I did this with my Corvette hardtop storage hardware & never had a problem, thank goodness. Cam
I'm thinking the first thing on the agenda would be to make it as light as possible, with a sturdy frame under it that the block and tackle / cables are attached too. Foam baseboard and thick wall aluminum frame, for example. Dont get the thin wall aluminum because it WILL bow over 8', but the 3mm wall stuff wont budge an inch and a simple square frame under the foam should be abundantly strong to prevent flexing. You might even get away with 1.6mm wall stuff.
