To rebuild or not to rebuild?

[ocalicreek]

L-Girder is fine for some applications, but with a solid table top all you really need is good dimensional lumber on edge (perpendicular to the plywood). Glue'd and screw'd it should last a long time and be sturdy. Basic box frame construction is often poo-poohed by the L-Girder afficianados, but really each is a fine technique for its own purpose. If you are building a solid-top layout (4x8, 4x6, etc) from a solid sheet or sheets of ply, then a basic box of 1x4's or 1x3's will suffice. However, if you are planning to go with cookie cutter roadbed and many elevation changes then L-Girder has a few more advantages.

.02

Galen

[RobertInOntario]

L-Girder is fine for some applications, but with a solid table top all you really need is good dimensional lumber on edge (perpendicular to the plywood). Glue'd and screw'd it should last a long time and be sturdy. Basic box frame construction is often poo-poohed by the L-Girder afficianados, but really each is a fine technique for its own purpose. If you are building a solid-top layout (4x8, 4x6, etc) from a solid sheet or sheets of ply, then a basic box of 1x4's or 1x3's will suffice. However, if you are planning to go with cookie cutter roadbed and many elevation changes then L-Girder has a few more advantages.
.02
Galen

Thanks, Galen. Well, last night, I spent 1-2 hours adding some 2x4 wooden "braces" to the warped end of the layout. The warp is now practically gone -- it's at least a LOT better than it was.

I also followed Russ's advise for fixing the turnouts. I raised up some of the lower sections of an uneven turnout by putting shims under it. This seemed to work very well, so I was please with both results (so far, at least).

Now my next project is to fix some kinks / uneven areas in my flextrack (where two pieces join, etc.).

Thanks for the feedback,

Rob