A while back there was some discussion about layout lighting in a topic called What is the Best Layout Lighting?, out of which an idea developed which I proposed towards the end of that discussion. This is my "combined layout lighting and protection system" (aka CLAPS). Basically, a box with lights in which can be dropped onto the layout to keep dust off. The principle is simple, but making it operable by one person without too much risk to the layout was more demanding. However, being an engineer from a nautical background the problems were mostly resolved and now I have built it. It has taken a long time (to be honest I've just been damn lazy), cost quite a bit, and isn't 100% successful. But it is a prototype and it does work. Next time I will do things slightly differently, but not greatly. These two pictures show the overall effect (while my woodwork is not brilliant the banana effect here is due to the stitching of three pictures to make each of these panoramas; honestly ). If you want more pictures and info on the mechanism you can go to this thumbnail index page which contains this project. Basically the weight of the two covers is counterweighted in the attic above. I arrived at this solution after considering simple hand operated rope/pulley system (too much risk of losing grip and catastrophic fall of box), hand operated winch on wall (getting costly, difficult to mount conveniently in this room, and still a risk of losing control), electric hoist in ceiling (very expensive). There is a surprisingly large amount of material in this construction. The covers are 2'wide, about 19" high and 8' and 6' long. I used three 8'x4' sheets of 3/16" ply; yards of thin softwood for lips, corners, etc; 14 pulleys; 25 yards of rope; etc. Painting the covers just went on and on and on. I had to put three coats on to get a reasonable finish, inside and out. That is a total area of about 21 sq.yds, three times . The total cost of wood, ropes, pulleys, paint, lamps, lamp-holders, electric fittings, etc, was getting on for £300 (~$500), so this was not a cheap fix. And of course I've probably spent more time doing this than I've saved in dusting; but this has been a lot more fun than dusting ... er, except the painting bit
Things I'd probably change next time : 1/ Use a simpler box structure by having the main support beam across the box, not along it. The sides would then carry the bending load (this is most of a box beam and quite strong) and the fiddly lateral stiffeners would probably not be needed either. This would result in a lighter and easier to paint box, with more headroom over most of the area. Mounting the lights would have to be a little different though. 2/ I'd split the 8' box into two 4', or at least not have any box larger than 6' by 2'. A 6'x2'x2' box can be handled in the house without too much trouble by standing it on end. UK doors are usually 6'6" high and in our house the ceilings are only 7'6", so 8' long is getting awkward. It turned out that we couldn't get the 8' unit up the stairs (the railway room is one storey up) because of a jiggle in the walls at the top. I had to take it up a ladder and feed it in through the window, which was 1" wider than the box's smallest dimension. No, I didn't plan that - pure luck 3/ Possibly use ball-bearing pulleys. They are more expensive, but I think the reduction in friction would be worth it. I'd certainly shop around and also try and get a deal on quantity if I was going to use quite a few. Of course 'next time' I may not have a convenient space above, and I'll have to start over with the brain-strain
Wow!!! Very nice. You did some great work. To recover some of your cost I would suggest you sell this to idea to Model Railroader, they pay well.
Blooming marvellous, Mike! Have you thought of registering the design or concept? Could you? I second Jeff's suggestion of putting it forward to the hobby press.
I'm kinda wondering if you could use lighter materials too.... But thats going to be hard when it has to cope with the radiant heat of the lights. Maybe you could also make it sectional, for those times when you want to work on the layout, not run it. When do you tend to get most dust / crap on the layout? when your working on it...... If you split it into 4 sections, it would be a lot lighter, and you;d only have toclean up the section you were working on
Thanks guys, I hadn't thought of writing this up as an article. I'll drop MR a line. I don't think I'll be registering it, Gary. I can't really see it becoming a profitable best seller I did consider other materials, like aluminium sheet, but then you get into problems with construction - cutting, shaping fixing - and with some materials resistance to damage when handled is an issue as well. Heat is not really a problem with CFLs. Thin ply is easy to work and fix, and not very heavy. The 8' cover is less than 30 lbs including the lamps and wiring (I was able to carry it with one hand; holding on to the ladder with the other ) The downside of smaller sections is more rope mechanisms (pulleys, etc) which is more work and cost. Just like trains/locos/cars - two big ones is usually better than 3 or 4 smaller ones. I'm not generally too messy when working on the layout, and the boards are removable to the garden for major tasks like cutting big holes. Ordinary house dust is my main problem (though actually, this will keep the cat off too). As I said above, I'd keep to a 6' maximum in future.
What if you constructed a lattice work of wood, like the benchwork (just not as thick/heavy wood). Then screwed Plexi-glass 1/8-inch thick to the outside of the lattice work to form the box. At the ends epoxy the Plexi together, or place wood supports that attach to the Lattice. Even could put supports along the Plexi to help rigidty (some wood stain to make it pretty). Attach pulleys to the wood with screws through the Plexi. Box to protect and cover... And SEE through. At the top place a Thick black curtain (or Blackout curtain- used at Theaters) around the box, so when the box is up it looks more presentable. Just my 5-minutes of thought. Fine work you did there, by the way.
Excellent job Mike, and looks neat too! If there is a next time, try Luann board (Called door skins) 1/8 to 5/32 inch thick. Stiff, light weight, and beautiful when varnished, or can paint any color. On inside glue aluminum foil with the shiny side out. (crinkles will assist in reflecting light.) Cut out around the light bulb fixtures to prevent electrical shorting. The aluminum will also reflect heat away from the wood on top, so might require less bulbs. Hang a pulley at both corners on one end, and in the middle at the other. (3 point suspension is best and is all that is needed). Run 3 short lines (from a corner when "down" on layout, up over its pulley above and extend 2 or 3 inches. Tie the 2 lines at one end together. Run one long line from these 2 lines to the line at the other end of the cover, and tie off to the short line 2 to 3 inches beyond its pulley as before. run the long line to where convenient, over another pulley and hang down for reaching from the floor. Tie an old paint bucket on the end of the long line so when the cover is fully "up", the bucket will just sit on the floor on two 1 x 4 blocks. (As the new lines stretch with age, remove a block as needed). Fill the bucket with sand to balance the cover. Now you can raise the cover partially and it will remain in place, or all the way up, but wont fall if your hand slips. Just a suggestion that has proved to work well. [ 02. July 2004, 22:37: Message edited by: watash ]
Watash, I had intended to put some foil on the surfaces around the lights when I finished painting - but forgot . I may yet do it, but it's quite hard to access the inside of the covers now they are installed. Changing a lamp is OK, but actual work is awkward. I'll have to look out Luann next time - it sounds very suitable. Having the counterweights to hand in the room, as you suggest, has advantages. But in mine there is simply nowhere for them to hang that wouldn't be a real .
Mike, Just a thought,reading Ken "Sir Prize" reply about plexi-glass,which I thought a good idea,he then mentions "a thick black curtain". How about a light-weight basic frame the same size as the currant one,box aluminium maybe,with legs that drop down on each corner of the "box" to hold the frame the desired height off the lay out when its in covering mode. Then use some heavy curtain material,or heavy enough that it will stop light shining through.Instead of 3/16 ply for top & sides your using curtain material for top & sides!I think it would be lite enough to do away with the pulleys,weights etc. Just my 2 cents worth. Still Mike a great idea,hope it does make it into MR or NSR etc. [ 04. July 2004, 09:40: Message edited by: JASON ]
Mike, Sir Prise and Jason have some food for thought too. One thought: if you use thin .06 Plexiglas on the sides, it can act as a lighted "show case" when down. Second thought: Curtains could be any color, so long as they prevent dust from settling on the layout. The lights would be out when cover is down in place. Remember the "confined" heat from the bulbs must be vented from the top! Perhaps all you need is a vented Luann top board platform to mount the lights to and as a dust catcher, then hang dust curtains around the sides. Support legs at the corners assures the cover remains in place in case someone accidentally bumps the cover when down. The cover would swing across the layout if bumped, and whatever the sides were made from would wipe out some houses, trees, cars, or other details! For the sash weights for balance, remember you can run those ropes clear across the room, and even encase them behind a tall skinny "closet" in a corner of the room. Paint or varnish it to look like wood work in the room. The usual visitor would not notice it. You would open the (1x4" door) to pull the weight, then close the door again. Out of sight. [ 06. July 2004, 14:54: Message edited by: watash ]
I did consider transparent (or translucent) material, but that was not for display but because the light from the window you can see in the pix is partially blocked. Clear plastic glazing sheet is harder to fix than wood - you either have to make a slotted frame, or drill holes and use screws (and from experience I've found there is a tendency for it to crack around the holes), or use glue (and I wouldn't trust glue alone in this situation). I'm sure there are plastics that would be better, but then it really could get costly. In the event I decided not to go clear because the window is north facing and even without the covers I usually have the lights on, so its no big loss. For display it takes all of 5 seconds to raise each cover, and about 15 to bring it down again. (Down takes a little longer as I need to make sure it comes down around the layout, not in it .) There are certainly many possible permutations to this solution. Personally I'm not keen on the curtains - I reckon they will end up getting dusty themselves and then, when disturbed, dump the dust somewhere; on my trains for example . And I'm afraid I don't like the curtain look much anyway. I also wonder if thick curtains would actually be any lighter than the plywood - that would need some research. For a 'soft' option I'd consider some sort of tarpaulin arrangement using soft plastic covering material, perhaps fitted like those soft-side lorry trailers. The main advantage of having the counterweights in the room (assuming there was a choice like I have) would be to allow direct operation of the rope as Watash suggests. I then would not need the extra 'pull-up' rope I have installed. But they really need to be in reach of the dust cover so you can guide it to make sure it doesn't bash anything on the way up/down. I could just about manage this for one cover, but not the other; so both weights went in the loft. (This was also a factor in my rejecting the use of small manual winches.) If you have a fixed layout most of this needn't apply of course. You can box the whole thing in and have a removable or hinged front cover (or curtains ).
Mike, a curtain wouldnt NEED to be supported by a frame on ropes..... If you had the curtain long enough to reach from the room to the layout, you could mount it securely directly to the roof. The curtain then has a weighted bottom.... say 8mm solid steel rod...in a 'pocket' seam. Your pulley then only has to hold the weight of the solid rod and a VERY little bit of the weight of the curtain. By using the solid rod you also have an element of rigidity in the curtain to prevent those 'oopsy' bumps. Guiding that curtain down over the layout would be no more difficult than guilding your 30lb plywood box. The curtain material could, of course, be anything. The plastic (actually rubber) stuff on the sides of trucks might be a bit over engineered for what you want..that stuff is THICK...but you can get much lighter grades.
Oops. Slight lack of clarity there . What I meant was the principle of construction could be like a lorry trailer. The material would of course be lighter - I was thinking of the sort of stuff used for small trailer covers or even tablecloth stuff (oilcloth?). The curtain idea would probably be OK if you only need to screen one side of the layout. Getting it all round the layout would be tricky though. Actually, disisme, I just realized that idea of yours is getting pretty close to a roller blind. Stangely enough at one time I was thinking of using some of them for dust-covers (before I thought to combine the new lights into the plan). What goes around comes around, as they say (and stabs you in the back ).
Well Mike, it could, in fact, go all they way around...... and it wouldnt have to 'roll'. You make make it 'roman blind' style so it basically self folds as its raised, and you end up with maybe a 12" blind up against your roof when its right up, or a full layout-ceiling...SEALED.... curtain when its down. The weight in the steel rod at the bottom wouldnt be that heavy. The curtain would, effectively, be like a box with an open top and bottom. The top get sealed against the roof, and all 4 sides at the bottom have a piece of 8mm solid steel rod 'hemmed' into them. This provides the weight. If you make the tolerances close enough on those 4 pieces of steel, by simply pushing / pulling / wiggling one corner, the inherne t flexibility of the material will let you manover the entire curtain into place (with one hand) while you lower it. That plasticised material is cheap as chips, and a 6 meter length of 8mm steel rod is about 4 bucks. I am thinking that total materials cost for the entire curtain for, say, a 15 x 12 L shaped layout would go around $30.....depending on the quality of the pulleys you used, of course.
