Baseboard thickness

[Lord of Narnia]

Very interesting thanks.

 

I am using 4’x2’ baseboards with 6mm ply on top. The sides are based on the ‘Barry Norman’ double beam approach with 2 x 6mm ply strips, each one sandwiching short sections of 6mm ply which can also be clamped and glued to form a curve. The depth is about 125mm. The intermediate bracing is also used in this way and also pinned and glued to the top and sides with soft wood blocks also providing a fixing point. The ends are formed with 12mm ply to get a solid fixing for the alignment dowels. I’ve added the two internal braces at third and two third intervals. Not started laying the track yet but I think it will work ok. 

[RobinofLoxley]

6 months on and funnily enough I dismantled my layout then promptly re-used most of the 6pmm ply but with much stronger bracing. The boards are about 90cm by 60 and have 44 x 19 bracing all round with an additional cross member.  They are chalk and cheese compared to what I built before. Each long axis rests on two supports that are screwed into roof trusses and once I'm sure the boards won't have to come out the long beams will be screwed directly. So nothing much will move. The boards fit through the loft hatch and are easy to carry. I'm going to glue most of the track avoiding the drilling and hammering that caused trouble before.

[KingEdwardII]

I use 12mm ply, with most baseboards approx 1800 mm x 600mm. My layout is static and in a bedroom, so I have no issues with weight or size to worry about. 12mm also means that the amount of bracing is smaller and more widely spaced and this makes attaching stuff under the boards easier - and makes it easier to plan the trackwork to avoid having point motors and other equipment blocked by the bracing.

 

I selected 12mm mostly because of the need to mount stuff under the boards - mainly the point motors. 12mm enables me to use screws that give good grip. I don't see how I could use 6mm ply and still do this. 9mm ply would work, but the screws would have to be quite short.

 

If I were building a portable layout, the considerations would be very different - but that's not what I have.

 

Mike.

[RobinofLoxley]

13 hours ago, KingEdwardII said:

I use 12mm ply, with most baseboards approx 1800 mm x 600mm. My layout is static and in a bedroom, so I have no issues with weight or size to worry about. 12mm also means that the amount of bracing is smaller and more widely spaced and this makes attaching stuff under the boards easier - and makes it easier to plan the trackwork to avoid having point motors and other equipment blocked by the bracing.

 

I selected 12mm mostly because of the need to mount stuff under the boards - mainly the point motors. 12mm enables me to use screws that give good grip. I don't see how I could use 6mm ply and still do this. 9mm ply would work, but the screws would have to be quite short.

 

If I were building a portable layout, the considerations would be very different - but that's not what I have.

 

Mike.

I used 3/8" brass screws with washers I had from another job to secure the SEEPs I used on the last layout. They justbroached the surface of the ply, so you could see where they were. Now I will be using MTB motors the fixing plate is thicker and they dont come through; the holes are so tight to the track they would be covered by ballast anyway. There is no load on the screws so provided one is careful its no problem with 6mm ply. A 1.5mm pilot hole gives the screws position.

[Deltech]

On 04/07/2020 at 19:00, rab said:

Pedant hat on: 9mm is 3/8 not 3/16.

 

Bigger pedant hat on. 3/8 being 9.525mm is more 10mm than 9mm. 
 

Sorry, but my OCD’s kicking in. 

[rab]

7 hours ago, Deltech said:

Bigger pedant hat on. 3/8 being 9.525mm is more 10mm than 9mm. 
 

Sorry, but my OCD’s kicking in. 

Reminds me of one of my father's favourite sayings:

Near enough isn't good enough;

when 'tis 'zackly' (exact), that's near enough

[Stevebr]

I like diagonal bracing.  What is the best way to attach this to the side frames?. I am using 9mm ply

[Captain_Mumbles]

I used 7mm ply on a ladder frame type of structure and I am finding it a little loud, or drummy. I also have a layer of 3mm cork on top of it.

In hind sight I have in essence, made a drum. The cork has not worked as well as hoped. Softer foam roadbed or felt would be better but might not be as good over time with your scenic materials.

Once I know wires need to be and all the switch motors are fitted I may have to glue something solid underneath the rails. Like some left over wood pieces, or even some purpose cut wood.  I found the stock runs a lot quieter over the solid parts like the joins in the base boards.

 

this would obviously not be a problem on a small layout but on a large one where there may be some trains going at speed it is something to think about.

i am just sharing my findings to help others make their choices.

[Lord of Narnia]

I was going to use 3mm cork as an underlay. I am now thinking of using a 3mm foam. The sort of stuff that flooring gets laid on. I was then going to use the 3mm cork over this so the ballast has something to adhere to. 
 

If there is too much of a step up to the track I’ll infill the surrounding areas with more cork sheet.

 

Not sure if it will work or if anyone had tried this before? 

[peterfgf]

There are lots of different foams around and I took ages to look at some of the properties. 

In the end I used 3mm thick closed-cell EPDM foam from Rubberstock.  It is resilient but relatively firm and the one I used had self-adhesive coating on one side which made laying it easy, It didn't need another layer of, for example, cork on top of it.

In theory, the idea of a sandwich construction (stiff base/flexible insert/stiff top) is good for vibration and noise insulation but I found the 3mm EPDM more than adequate.

Peterfgf

[ikcdab]

3 hours ago, Lord of Narnia said:

I was going to use 3mm cork as an underlay. I am now thinking of using a 3mm foam. The sort of stuff that flooring gets laid on. I was then going to use the 3mm cork over this so the ballast has something to adhere to. 
 

If there is too much of a step up to the track I’ll infill the surrounding areas with more cork sheet.

 

Not sure if it will work or if anyone had tried this before? 

I have used the closed cell underlay.  Never again.  It dents very easily and the dents don't come out.  

I have used 9mm ply with 3mm cork sheet and have no noise issues at all.

Ian

[Captain_Mumbles]

As stated before I used 7mm plywood and found it noisy, or drummy.

I have reduced the drumminess by adding thick and heavy chip board pieces screwed and glued to the bottom of the plywood. I think this might be because it does not give the plywood a chance to vibrate.

 

[Phil Parker]

I've used sheets of car noise deading material to do this as an experiment - works OK, but thicker plywood (I always go for 9mm) is cheaper.

 

[LBRJ]

32 minutes ago, Captain_Mumbles said:

As stated before I used 7mm plywood and found it noisy, or drummy.

I have reduced the drumminess by adding thick and heavy chip board pieces screwed and glued to the bottom of the plywood. I think this might be because it does not give the plywood a chance to vibrate.

 

 

For the pedantically minded that is OSB board ( its says so on it!) which is structurally  far sounder than the stuff more usually known as chipboard and as you say will dampen the vibrations in thin ply.

[Captain_Mumbles]

On 14/12/2022 at 20:49, LBRJ said:

 

For the pedantically minded that is OSB board ( its says so on it!) which is structurally  far sounder than the stuff more usually known as chipboard and as you say will dampen the vibrations in thin ply.

My bad! We do not normally see this material often in my part of the world, so forgive my ignorance. I ended up with this stuff as it had been used as frames/supports in a shipping container out of Europe!

 

Technicalities aside, the main thing to consider in terms of material is really using stuff that wont vibrate under the trains as this causes the unwanted noise.  There is still noise of course, but it has become more of a whoosh/whine train like noise instead of getting close to something like a Gresley A1 hauling a train of nails over a black board.

Edited December 15, 2022 by Captain_Mumbles