I need to get some friends

I have a tonne of model trains, about 60 engines, and 300 cars - yet I had no place to view them and they were all stuffed in boxes. So I decided to make a small (ahem) display case that could show them off. At least I could see them.

Then I thought, "Well that's dumb, I mean, it would be so much better if I could run them." Since I live in California, and the stupid builders don't put basements in houses here, I didn't have any place to put a train set. Included in this was the fact that I have two clawed cats that shred anything that moves - cat toys, pens, socks, exposed toes etc. Combining these frustrations, the Overhead Acrylic Train Layout was born.

The layout was to go from the kitchen to the dining room area, over to the fireplace and back. I figured if I was going to put up all the brackets, cut all the plexiglass and install a full train set, I should make it 2 tracks wide instead of just 1. I measured the appropriate distance of plexiglass width to be 4.5 inches. This would give me plenty of space to put 2 HO scale tracks side by side.

Yeah I know, I really need to get some friends.

The first thing I needed to do was obtain all the skills and run tests on if this would work or not. I needed to design the brackets or at least figure out where to buy the suitable brackets.

The design of the layout was done in Photoshop, with a 1 foot grid. This gave me the chance to play with radius and distance and see how it all works out. While designing it, I could figure out how far from my cat tree it needed to be so that cats wouldn't jump on it, and how far it needs to be from the door.

This also showed me which areas would be suspended, and which could be mounted with an L bracket on the wall. The final design had 180 feet of track, in two 90 foot routes.

When I looked around for wall brackets, I didn't find anything that would be suitable. I could only find fancy L shaped brackets that were too expensive, and nothing for the suspended area. I was planning on using two 1 foot bolts on either side of the track to hold the suspended area (you can buy 4 foot threaded rod at Home Depot), but didn't like the idea that the track would be enclosed.

Then I came across 1" flat stock aluminum in the store, and thought of the idea for the C shaped bracket. I bought one 6' length and took it home. From this, I practiced making a bracket, and tested how strong it would be and how much it would flex.

From my tests, I determined that brackets would have to be 2 feet apart MAX, and that I needed to pre-stress them to compensate for the weight that would be placed on them.

However the initial tests showed that the C brackets were VERY springy, and really bounced around when I put a 4 foot piece of plexiglass on it - even without a train. At first I was really worried about this, and thought my brackets wouldn't work. But since the train set has many curves in it, the brackets all hold themselves together and there is no bouncing in the final setup.

The plexiglass also posed problems with bouncing. Even though I had 3/8 inch plexiglass, it still sagged in the middle when I tested trains on it. I put blocks under a test piece of plexiglass spaced at two feet, then put some sample engines on it. I needed to put supports on the backside.

The supports made the plexiglass very sturdy, but it posed a secondary problem that I didn't expect: Since the plexglass was 4.5" wide, trains would have room to curve without hitting each other as long as the track was placed right near the edge of the plexiglass. But now with a backside support, I couldn't put the track on the edge, and the trains were in danger of colliding.

If I was to do the train set again, I would make the plexiglass 4.5 inches on the straights, and 5.5 inches on the "curves that require backside supports". Not all curves required supports, only 90degree curves had supports. The 45degrees curves were short enough not to sag. The straight parts had backside supports, but trains going straight have no problems colliding when they get close.

The final combination of C brackets and "plexiglass with backside support" is very strong and sturdy.

I put 6 re-railers around the set. If the train comes off the track, which it will, at least it has some chance to get back on. The set also included a double-crossover that I can switch trains from one track to the other. I bought a double power supply off of ebay that matched the type my Uncle had on his basement set, 25 years ago.

The wires are all encased in plastic tubing to continue with the clear plexiglass theme. The control panel is also made out of plexiglass, and mounted with aluminum cylindrical spacers.

All the track was soldered together - everywhere. I soldered it together in 9 foot sections before putting it on the plexiglass, then each piece once installed. This was a real life-saver as soldering it together was a pain in the ass once it was 8 feet in the air. Soldering it together is important since the furthest point is 45 feet away from the control panel and track resistance can slow the train down. On my set it does slow down and you can notice it - even being soldered.

Here's a tip when soldering flexy-track on curves: Solder it together straight, THEN curve it and put it into place. If you solder it in place on an angle, it will have a kink in it and your train will wobble at that spot. My track has 3 kinks in it before I figured this trick out.

San Diego Indistrial Metal Supply: www.imsmetals.com (1" x 1/8" x 12 foot aluminum flat stock)

San Diego Plastics: www.sdplastics.com (two sheets 3/8" Clear Acrylic. One sheet pre-cut into 10 strips 4.8" each)

A bit on safety with Plexiglass. Plexiglass is easy to work with and acts like wood. It cuts like wood, sands like wood and drills like wood. But unlike wood it heats up. This is easy to forget as you're working with it, and dangerous too.

If you get a piece of sawdust in your eye, it disolves with your tear, and you can go get it out. No big deal. But a small piece of acrylic from the jigsaw in your eye is disasterous - hot sticky man made material stuck in your eye!

Therefore, even though everyone knows about safety, let's cover it just to make sure:

1) Always wear safety goggles. Not just glasses.
2) Never touch the blade of your jigsaw or circular saw after cutting. Even 3 minutes after cutting. For example, if the blade gets jammed, or of it breaks off, or if you want to change blades. It is easy to forget that plastic is not wood - it heats up itself and everything it touches, and it stays hot long after cutting.
3) Never touch the plastic after cutting - see above.
4) Flame-polish the acrylic in a well ventilated area.
5) Do not blow on the acrylic "sawdust" to clean the surface or work area. It will get in your eyes and you will cuss and swear and then you will make a webpage telling everyone else not to do the same.
6) Always wear a mask when sanding acrylic.

The accident rates in industry for people working with plastic is 2.4 times higher than those that work with wood or metal.

When cutting the plexiglass, I used my jigsaw on the highest speed. I found that a low speed setting, while pushing it though would cut faster, it would also chip the plastic and leave an unsightly edge. So I switched to high speed jigsaw setting with a very fine toothed blade. This took more time to cut each piece, but left a nicer edge.

The opposite technique is to be used when drilling plexiglass - use a slow drill setting, with very little pressure, and move slowly through until the hole is drilled. This gives a nice clean hole on both sides of the material. Place a block of wood on the exit side when drilling, so the plexiglass will not chip.

After cutting each piece, I belt-sanded the edges with 60 grit, then 120 grit, and then flame polished them to give them a nice professional looking edge. An orbital sander is better, but I only have a belt sander. Flame polishing is nothing more than taking a propane torch from Home-Depot, and heating up the edges until it glosses over. This was much easier than I thought, and left a really nice professional finish to the Acrylic.

I practiced flame polishing on a sample piece to get it right, but basically all you need to do is sand it with 120 sand paper, then run the flame over the edge. It is really easy once you get the hang of it.

The only issues were to make sure not to hold the flame too long on a spot or it will catch fire and bubble (ug), and also if you polish an area, but it doesn't look good, wait until it cools before trying the same spot again.

You can also use the torch to get rid of any scratches that may occure on the surface of the Acrylic while you're working with it. Just gently blow the torch over the scratch and it magically disapears. Again, don't hold it too long or the surface will ignite and bubble. Make sure the surface is clean and oil free (from your fingers) when you do this, or the oil will actually melt into the surface and cloud the plexiglass.

When putting screws into plexiglass, always pre-drill a hole. Unlike wood, plexiglass does not flex and will not bore its own hole just by putting a screw into it. Practice on a sample piece of plexiglass to make sure your drill size is appropriate for your screw size, as there is very little tolerance when putting screws into plexiglass.