Layout stand, version 2

Two birds examine the remains of version 1 of the Loonar Module layout stand

Not all experiments are successful, although most are educational. My first attempt at a lightweight, portable, eye-level stand for the Loonar Module sure wasn't successful, but education did happen.

There were a few problems, but the one that sealed its fate was its smell. I used some ancient leftover black paint I had in the basement to paint it. After months of outgassing and attempts at smell remediation, it continued to have a strong paint smell no matter what was done. The only salvageable parts were the unpainted wheels.

In case you're interested, the other problems were that it needed to be shortened by 2" to 3" to properly accommodate the height of an average woman instead of being specifically designed to my eye-level when standing, and the wheels were too industrial for general domestic use. 

Version 2 minutes after final assembly. EyeChair in background

I didn't have enough leftover wood around the house to build another standing eye-level prototype (I'm trying to use up stuff around here as much as possible), but I did have enough for one at sitting eye-level*. And this time I looked up the standard eye-level for an average woman while seated, 46", to use as the dimension to design this thing around. The components were sized so that rolling stock on the track would be placed 46" above the floor. This is a tad too short for me, but I can  lower my chair or slouch a bit :-)

This height allows me to place the stand with the layout on top kitty-corner to both my desk and drafting table in the studio and be able to get an eye-level view whenever I want. Spoiler alert: this is working out quite well. The layout's calming to look at, and repeated viewing helps me figure out what should be added or removed. 

That's version 2 up there on the right. Like version 1, this one lacks diagonals for proper torsion and shear strength, so it's not up for rough handling. It turns out I have some leftover metal diagonal struts from an old, discarded Ikea shelf that are just the right length that I'll install once I've decided on what, if any, shelves to include. 

This one is going to remain unpainted until the spring, and only be painted if I can find some low or no odour paint. On the other hand, once I settle on a final design, I'd like to build a proper final version from some decent wood and components that are better looking and more generally house friendly.

One last thing. To make the controller easy to find and move around with the stand I screwed a cup hook into bottom of the stand's plywood top and glued a matching one to the bottom of the controller with J-B Weld epoxy.

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*Digressions

You might be wondering why I've got lots of wood sticks lying around? They're the scraps and leftovers from making various types and sizes of backyard squirrel cages. They're not for keeping squirrels in, but keeping them out; out and away from plants and herbs they find irresistibly delicious. These cages get used for lots of things ranging from protecting potted plants while they get some rare fall sun to springtime service in the planting beds keeping young seedlings from being devoured. We're overrun with ravaging squirrels and there's not much that can be done to keep them out of the backyard, but there's plenty that can be done to keep them out of the salad bar. And doing so produces timber for squirrelly model train layouts :-)