# Retractable Layout in Garage...IT WORKS!



## wesleyb420

Hello everyone! So i have been wanting one of these layouts for quite some time but didn't want to relinquish the space of a room and i do not have a basement so i needed something i could put away but was big enough for me to really do something with.

Here is what i did and pics are attached. the table measures 12x5

1x6 frame with 1x4 spars spaced 18" apart and 2 diagonal 1x3 to tie all the spars together and keep the frame from twisting.

Put the 2" foam in snugly and glued in place with locktite then put 1/2" on top of it and finished it off with the trim so it looks fancy.

there are 4 1x6 board tying two of the spars and the diagonal section together and that is what the eye bolts are hooked into. The eye bolts are totally secured with T-nuts. The 1x6 is also what the table sits on when lowered onto the saw horses.

I attached two sections of speed rail to the ceiling and tied them both into 4 joists with lags. Put the speed rail nuts in and then the eye bolts. Hooked the pulleys up and ran the paracord (550) through and hooked onto the hand winch hook. FYI, there are two separate sets of paracord per eye bolt just incase one decides to fail. Bowline on each end hooked to the table. I might replace it with steel cable later but for now, this works great and is very secure. Below are the photos and yes, my jeep fits with the table down which is fantastic. It is a bit of a squeeze because i only left 18" on the left side but oh well, with the jeep out, there is plenty of room and still over 24" on the back side. Any questions, let me know as i had a lot and found almost zero info.


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## gunrunnerjohn

That's too neat to be a garage! 

Nice solution, good luck with it. :thumbsup:


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## DonR

Your excellent camera work is playing tricks on me.

I'm saying that has to be HO, but the trains look
bigger than HO in front of that Jeep.

Say it is HO so I can sleep at night.

I hope that you removed the trains before
raising the layout. They're pretty close
to the edge of the layout.

Don


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## wesleyb420

The engines get placed in the center when it's up. There is a 1" lip on the trim but I still take them to the center just to make me feel bettwr

It is an ho layout...now sleep! 

I have to keep my garage clean between projects or I would go crazy.


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## thysell

I did something almost identical with a 6x12 table in my garage. I didn't think to double the paracord. I guess I'll have to go back and double up! I have to park a minivan under my table. What did you use to raise and lower your table? You mentioned a hand winch, any plan to power the raising and lowering? Great looking table, setup, and garage!

Pete


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## Rip Track

Nice setup. Kato unitrack?

I wish I could keep my garage that neat.

I wonder how difficult it would be to make the cables detachable, and add casters to the saw horses. Then when it suits you, with the jeep parked outside, you could position the layout where you can have more elbow room.


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## tjcruiser

Love this! It's a bit "Frankensteinesque", but very clever and functional, indeed. Thanks for sharing!

TJ


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## dirts4racing

My minimum track from the edge is 3 3/4 inch...6" is better! No drayage on the floor for me! My kit/RTR/detailed rolling stock deserve that much. I love the Kato though!


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## Big Ed

Nice layout and nice garage.:smilie_daumenpos:
I hope you have that anchored up there real good, it would be quite a headache if it came down while you were standing underneath.

I wish my garage was that clean!:thumbsup:
I have been trying to achieve that look for the last 15 years.

What did you spill on the floor?
Can you clean that one spot up please.


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## SD90MAC

I think that will be on my to-do list.I have a whole bunch of train and no room,lol.
Great idea.


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## Shdwdrgn

Haha beautiful! I've actually been considering something just like this as the only solution available to get a decent sized layout set up. I'm lucky because I have 10' ceilings in my garage, and enough space to hang a 12x12 layout. One of these days I'll get a basic frame hung up and work out the details to raise/lower it with an electric winch.


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## ianb26

Newbie here 

Great Idea!!!!!. Just what I'm looking for.  Would it be possible to add photos of the actual mounting on the ceiling showing the pulley layouts, and the rope/s to the winch?

Also I notice that you appear to have the lifting ropes permanently attached to the base. I was thinking of using eyebolts in or near to the corners and hooking pulleys to them that can be removed when it is down. Is that doable? In that case I take it the pulley/rope method would be slightly different.

Would it be possible to also sketch the rope/pulley layout to the winch?

Thanks for any reply.


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## infernisdiem

I told my wife that when we get a house (hopefully with tall ceilings) I want to make a christmas layout that when retracted, it goes into the ceiling and blends in. Come to think of it, I would probably have to have drop down ceiling tiles in my living room and cover the bottom of the layout with the tiles and use the rails that hold the tiles up to make it all blend in lol.


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## mwpeber

You mentioned used speedrail for hanging your table from the ceiling. Could you show / describe how you did that a bit more. I think that's an excellent idea and have some items hanging from my garage ceiling but have used modified ceiling bike hanger pulley systems to attach the items (car-top-carrier).

Great start!


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## ianb26

mwpeber said:


> You mentioned used speedrail for hanging your table from the ceiling. *Could you show / describe how you did that a bit more.* I think that's an excellent idea and have some items hanging from my garage ceiling but have used modified ceiling bike hanger pulley systems to attach the items (car-top-carrier).
> 
> Great start!


I second that! *Yes Wesley*, would it be possible to show your ceiling fixings and how the cables connect to the hand winch. My idea looks like being the same *EXCEPT* that my hand winch is mounted on my work bench at one end because I needed the room to have the handle on the outside. I could mount it in the centre of the bench (but I don't want to do that unless absolutely necessary) on a raised platform that would have to be at least 250mm high. In centre of bench means the centre of the layout, between the cable fixings. BTW my layout is 1800mm x 1200mm. (6' x 4').

I have attached photos of 2 of the corner fixings and the location of the winch. The location of the winch is in line with the right hand fixing. I think this where I'm not sure of and where/how to hook all 4 cables onto the winch hook. So any suggestions would be appreciated. I will post more photos of the overhead fixing setup later. (Because I haven't fitted them yet.)


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## ianb26

wesleyb420 said:


> Below are the photos and yes, my jeep fits with the table down which is fantastic. It is a bit of a squeeze because i only left 18" on the left side but oh well, with the jeep out, there is plenty of room and still over 24" on the back side. Any questions, let me know as i had a lot and found almost zero info.


Hi Wesley,

Would it be possible to put some photos up of your winch setup, such as locations of the pulleys and the way the ropes go to the winch? You can see what I am trying to achieve from the photos in the previous post. The photos look a bit "out of whack" do to the perspective angle they were taken at! I'm about to put the fixings in the roof in the next few days.

Thanks.


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## VVARADY

*Photos of pulley and winch system*

Hi,
This looks great, but could you post some photos of the pulley system


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## ianb26

VVARADY said:


> Hi,
> This looks great, but could you post some photos of the pulley system


Did you mean Wesley's or mine? I have only just installed the fixings for mine.


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## Cycleops

Looks like you could pull a tank with that pulley and winch setup ianb26!


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## ianb26

Cycleops said:


> Looks like you could pull a tank with that pulley and winch setup ianb26!


Well it was cheaper than an electric winch! $AU40.00 on Ebay.  It's actually a boat winch!
I'll post some more photos later. I need to have another look at my pulley setup.  Wife's cousin's son in law is calling round next weekend to advise on the best course of action.


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## Big Ed

Wesley posted this thread 12/04/ 2014 and has not been back (logged on) since 12/08 2014.
I guess he has e mail notifications shut off?
You can try sending him a PM with a link to this thread?
Here send him this, http://www.modeltrainforum.com/showthread.php?t=25819

Maybe he will come back and answer.


Maybe he was collateral damage from the site dropping bombs on spammers?
I am talking about this,
http://www.modeltrainforum.com/showthread.php?t=41874

I wonder how many are affected when this is done, it would account for some who never come back to the site.
Maybe they just give up?

Try to send him a PM to entice him to come back and post some more pictures.


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## ianb26

Yay! Winching system all finished. Only have to install some chain now to hold the layout and take the weight off the pulleys when it is raised up. Don't want it dropping on the bonnet of my car!!!!!

Had to change the mounting of the pulley at the winch end as the pressure started to bend the fixing, replaced the eye bolt with a short length of 25mm x 25mm x 3mm angle iron. (see photos 0093 & 0094).

I can now start on the underboard wiring. 

Latest photos attached.


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## Cycleops

Impressive mechanism! Wish I had a garage like that.


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## gunrunnerjohn

Nicely done. I inserted the pictures in-line for you.


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## ianb26

gunrunnerjohn said:


> Nicely done. I inserted the pictures in-line for you.


Thanks John. I am quite pleased with the result. It's taken awhile (and a bit of that thing they call money)! BTW How do you get them in line like that?

Thanks


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## gunrunnerjohn

Once you have attached the pictures to a post, just click the paperclip icon on the top of the toolbar. You'll see a list of your pictures, and at the bottom you'll see the *Insert All* link. If you click that, it'll insert all the pictures at the cursor location in the message. You can also click them one at a time and insert them in various locations in the message.


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## SantaFeJim

[QUOTE
























*I hope the brakes are good on your Jeep.*


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## RailRider777

Wow, looks like a very cool idea, and well executed! Good work!


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## ianb26

To SantaFeJim: Those picture you reposted are not of my layout. It only gave me the idea for my lifting system.



RailRider777 said:


> Wow, looks like a very cool idea, and well executed! Good work!


Thanks, I presume you mean my pictures and not the ones reposted by SantaFeJim?

Once I have the safety chains fitted I will post another couple of pictures.


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## VVARADY

*winch and cable info*

Hi,
Thanks for responding with all the nice photos.
Could you tell me the cable gauge and info on the winch(type, where purchased etc.).

How much does your layout weigh ?

Thanks again,

Vic


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## ianb26

VVARADY said:


> Could you tell me the cable gauge and info on the winch(type, where purchased etc.).
> 
> How much does your layout weigh ?


Hi Vic,

I'm not sure of the cable gauge, but it is 3mm diameter wire rope. The winch is a hand operated boat winch which I purchased on eBay for $AU40.00.

The layout weight I don't know, but it is easily lifted by 2 persons, one on each end. I attempted to weigh it at one stage but I couldn't read the scales as they were not visible under it. 

I'm not sure how to weigh it so I can read the scales. 

Hope this helps in some way.


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## wesleyb420

Hey everyone! I will post some photos of the whole system tomorrow and thanks for all the complements and glad some people have gone out on their own journey.


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## wesleyb420




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## wesleyb420

So I didn't use wire to suspend the table...too cumbersome and paracord does the job very well...and you can put in a second line for a backup. It can be disconnected easily and the knot is a boline...so it isn't going anywhere. Pulleys with an eye hook to combine all the line onto the winch hook. I think all the stuff cost me under 60$


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