The benchwork is coming along nicely.
The two table tops, or modules as Model Railroad Benchwork calls them, went together pretty easy. To save money (10%) I didn't have them drill any of the through-wiring holes in the cross braces. Since I had a 3/4" forstner bit on hand my wife helped me work the drill press and I cut the holes two pieces at a time.
Then, I glued and screwed the cross braces onto one side of each module. I also added 1" square pieces of dowel stock to the joints as I had done on the legs. Clamps were used to keep everything straight. It went pretty quick.
I let the wood glue set about an hour or so and then removed the clamps and moved on to the next set of joints. In less than an evening I had one side done.
Getting the other side on was a bit more tricky as I wanted to drill down instead of up. That meant I had to lay the loose board on the floor and then flip the already-completed assembly on top of it. I glued and screwed one joint at a time moving down the line. A second set of hands to help stabilize it while I worked would have been nice, but I managed.
While that was going on I stared at my completed legs and realized the pocket screw holes were bothering me. They didn't look nice. So, I filled them in with some construction adhesive (the screws were stuck anyway) and when that dried I gave the joints two more coats of black paint.
The tops of the legs are milled away so that they slide perfectly inside the module's sides, and the weight of the module rests on the lip in the leg. I had to drill four holes for the wood screws which mount from the inside through the legs into the sides, and I used a template to assist me. The legs were not glued on, as if/when I move to another house I want to take this layout with me. The modules are only 3'x6' and can go out through our basement doors, but not with the legs attached.
The holes in the legs were drilled and countersunk, and then the legs were screwed on. I wish the kit had used Robertson screws here, but I had to use a Phillips driver and whatever screws they supplied were easily stripped even though I slowly powered them in. When I mentioned this to the company they told me that the screws were the "combination" type and both types of screwdrivers could work on them. Doh! At least they are going to amend their instructions in the future to mention this.
Finally, they modules were flipped over and rolled to their location in the basement. They didn't line up height wise, which was a bit concerning. Then I rolled them some more and they did, proving that my basement's floor is off by 1/4" in places. I was very happy how easy they were to push around though. The overall height so far is 43", which I am happy with. Also, despite being 36" deep I can still reach the back areas of the benchwork though I doubt I will really need to.
I am not sure if I want to permanently bolt them together or just use clamps (like they do for Ntrak modules and such). But, to give the wood more surface area for the clamps or bolts to compress I glued on some 2" squares of thin 1/4" plywood that I bought from Amazon. You can get something similar at a craft store. It is cheap insurance to prevent cracking the plywood from over clamping.
And just in case I did decide to use bolts, I clamped the two sections together and drilled a pair of 1/4" holes through the now four layers of wood. Now I am ready for the benchwork table tops.
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