Building a flexible module Fig. 10 Fig. 14
Leg (I), leg guides (J) and leg clamps (K): The leg portion of the module includes the 2″×3″ legs, two leg guides for each of the four legs and one leg clamp for each leg. Each leg is 38⁵₈″ long. (Your module requirements may differ.)
Fig. 14: When being transported, the hooks and eyes hold the two permanent top sec- tions together. Fig. 15: Two 6″ sections of track are installed at each end of the mod- ule as per club standards. To keep the wire from catching on the moving pieces, most of it is on top of the module.
Fig. 15
Fig. 10: The top of the leg has a slit cut in it to permit the leg clamp bolt to pass through it. Fig. 11: A bolt in the bottom of each leg is used to adjust the module’s height.
Fig. 11
The leg guides are designed to keep the leg in place before the leg is fully attached. The leg guides are 1″ to 1¾″×3″.
The leg clamp will act as a vise to hold the leg in place once the bolts are tightened. The leg clamp is 3″×3½″. Each leg assembly also requires two
⁵₁₆″×4″ hex bolts, four ⁵₁₆″ washers and two ⁵₁₆″ nuts or wing nuts. The bottom of each leg requires one
⁵₁₆″ tee nut and one ⁵₁₆″ hex bolt 3″ long. A slit is cut in one end of the leg to allow the top of the leg to fit over the leg bolts. The slit is ³₈″ to ¹₂″ wide and 2¹₄″ deep (Fig. 10). A ³₈″ hole 3¹₂″ long is drilled in the bottom of each leg, and then a tee nut and a ⁵₁₆″ hex nut are inserted into each leg to allow for height adjust- ments, if needed (Fig. 11). I added a small screw and hot glue to ensure the tee nut stayed in place.
Fig. 12
Figs. 12: The leg guides are attached to the wings leaving just enough room for the leg to slide between them. Fig. 13: Once tight- ened, the two bolts running between the wing and the leg clamp will hold the leg (not shown here) in place.
Fig. 13
with a 90° 1″×4″ block. All joints were glued and screwed together (Fig. 7). (The wing will support the top and the legs.) Top (G): The top of the module is made up of two sections of ¾″ birch plywood. Each piece is 24″×21″. The top is screwed and glued to the end cap and the wing. (Do not attach the top to the slide bars or clamp bars.) Once the top is in place you should be able to open, close and shift the module as shown (Fig. 8). Top filler pieces (H): The two per- manent pieces of the top are in place, but in order for the module to expand from 42″ to 54″, and every inch in be- tween, additional pieces are needed. Using the same ¾″ plywood I cut two 6″×24″ pieces, two 3″×24″ pieces, two 2″×24″ pieces and two 1″×24″ pieces. I did not cut any fractional or angled
pieces, as a small gap can be easily cov- ered by the track. Other sizes and shapes can be cut to fit your situation. To secure these extra sections to the module I used large binder clips from an office supply store. To make sure that it would work, I extended the module using four top filler pieces and binder clips on both sides. Note that the binder clips are also clamped onto the permanent top as well as the top fillers. I put a 35 lb. weight on the edge of the module for two hours and noth- ing happened. Although my trains are properly weighted, none of them come close to 35 lbs (Fig. 9).
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The leg guides are nailed and glued to the inside of the wing with enough of a gap to allow the leg to fit easily between the two leg guides (Fig 12). Two ³₈″ holes are drilled in the wing and the leg clamp 1″ from the top and
Fig. 16
Figs. 16 and 17: Short styrene pieces are used to hold the flex track in place. These are screwed down over the edges of the ties.
Fig. 17
AUGUST 2013
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