Subject:
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Re: MichLUG Table Specs
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.trains.org
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Date:
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Tue, 26 Nov 2002 14:58:06 GMT
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Viewed:
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1202 times
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In lugnet.trains.org, Larry Pieniazek writes:
> In lugnet.trains.org, Chris Phillips writes:
>
> > NELUG is actually re-designing our tables for faster setup/breakdown at the
> > expense of strength. We use mostly 40" square tables with a few half-width
> > tables here and there. Our last layout was about 10' x 20' and just bolting
> > legs onto tables, etc. took (IIRC) five people nearly two hours.
>
> You guys may be doing something wrong. Since we use a mix of 30x30 and 30x60
> we probably have somewhere near the same number of intertable seams that you
> do using 40x40s... and it would not take us anywhere NEAR 2 hours to make a
> table setup that was 20x10.
>
> We cribbed from you in terms of some of our design features, and I even told
> people about your setup process which we still use, sort of. Are you using a
> mechanic's creeper for the person putting bolts on underneath? Are you using
> a drill with a deep socket mounted? Are you using just one size of bolts?
>
> Those are all things that I think conribute to our speed.
>
> As for drilling holes, we already have some random holes but have not made a
> regular pattern yet. Thinking about it though.
I agree, we must be doing something wrong. After I wrote that, I had to
check with Eric K., and he verified that it was correct. The "nearly two
hours" includes bringing all our stuff into the hall, and we probably wasted
some time chatting and showing off new MOCs, but still...
We do a few things that probably cost us time. One is that when we take
bolts out of tables, we put the washers and nuts back onto the bolts. This
makes it easier to distribute bolt sets during setup and minimizes lost
hardware, but it takes extra time to do this during both setup and teardown.
This show was the first one that we used two new half-width tables, so we
had some extra drilling to do on site. Also, the "gorge" table takes a bit
of special care to assemble. This tabletop sits at a depth of 29 bricks
below normal table level. We use a special depth gauge tool (a stack of
bricks with a couple of baseplates) to make sure that the tabletop is bolted
on at the right height. One person can do this, but it probably takes 2 or
3X as long to do as a normal table. We also had some warping of the gorge
walls since our last show that cost some extra time to correct, but was
critical to ensure proper spacing of track as it crossed the bridges.
Each leg uses four bolts which also attach adjacent tabletops together. We
don't put a leg on every corner of every table; instead we do the "2N + 2"
thing like most clubs. Some legs only get two bolts, but we generally use
all four.
We don't use a creeper, but we do lay the tabletops upside-down on the floor
for assembly, adding legs and bolting rows of tables together. Then we flip
them over and attach them to the previous row of tables. All hardware is a
single size, both nuts and bolts use a 7/16" head, as I recall. We use
rachets, but not power drivers. We usually have at least three sets of
tools on site.
Anyway, Eric and I retrofitted most of our tables with the new
quick-assembly PVC legs yesterday. I didn't stop to take any pictures
during the construction party, but I will do so today. I think the results
will save our club a lot of setup and breakdown time at future events. More
time to gab about new MOCs!
- Chris.
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Message is in Reply To:
 | | Re: MichLUG Table Specs
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| (...) You guys may be doing something wrong. Since we use a mix of 30x30 and 30x60 we probably have somewhere near the same number of intertable seams that you do using 40x40s... and it would not take us anywhere NEAR 2 hours to make a table setup (...) (22 years ago, 26-Nov-02, to lugnet.trains.org)
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