Clamps

Test pieces

To keep the top of the layout reliably aligned I felt it needed something bullet proof. I made a set of alignment clips tonight from some 1/4″ aluminum and fastened them to two separate pieces of wood to see how well it will hold. The clips are 2″ long and 1″ wide each. A joiner slides into the clips to keep everything aligned, shown above.

They seem to work well, with the pieces perfectly aligned and very rigid. They are small enough to fit under the layout so I can use several of them where needed.

I have decided to upgrade the clamps I will use to join the boxes to the benchwork. Initially I was going to use a “suitcase” type of clamp, but the ones I purchased seem a little weak for the job. I found the type above and ordered a dozen of them. These are much more robust and don’t have any parts that would protrude past the bottom of the box and could possibly get damaged as the brass version I had initially purchased.

The rendering above shows the clamps in place to demonstrate how they are to be used to hold the boxes tight to the benchwork. They won’t be on the outside of the boxes on the actual layout, I will mount them inside to keep them from getting bumped when being moved.

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-T

About the Author:

I'm your host, Tim Warris, a product developer in Port Dover, Ontario. Since March of 2007 I have been documenting the construction of the former CNJ Bronx Terminal in HO scale. For my day job, I design track building tools for Fast Tracks, a small company I own and operate. Fast Tracks makes it fast and easy to hand lay your own trackwork. Stop by our website to learn more!

Posted by: Tim | 03-20-2008 | 09:03 PM
Posted in: Benchwork Construction | Latest Posts