For about twenty years now, starting in the early 2000s, I have been using steel stud benchwork for my layout construction. I learned about this method from an article by Jonathon Miner in the April 2000 issue of Model Railroader. The materials are readily available at most home and building centers and have the favorable characteristics of strength, light weight, economy, and stability. Once a few techniques which may be new are learned in using this material, one will find this a very satisfactory way to go about benchwork construction.
View of one section of benchwork with some risers and sub-roadbed in place.
To start, steel stud "plates," or "tracks" as they are called are cut to length
For the inside pieces, steel "studs" are used.
Cut the sides of the studs the length needed for the width of your bench with metal cutting shears.
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Fold the piece back on itself, keeping everything parallel. Crimp with a flat-nose pliers. Flex this joint a few times until it breaks away resulting in a nice straight edge.
Hold together the plate and the stud for the ends with a vise-grip pliers and a square with the flat side of the stud to the inside of the bench, I used washer-head self-drilling sheet metal screws, two at each end top and bottom. Similarly, cut and insert the the interior pieces of the bench at the desired spacing.
When finished, the bench may seem floppy; this goes away when attached to the supporting legs.
A view of the other end showing also diagonal bracing between the two end leg sections. Once attached to the legs, the bench becomes very stable and quite strong. The wood used in the leg assemblies and bracing is sealed and given two coats of paint to help insure stability.
Likely, one will be using more thah one section of benchwork. Sections are joined like this:
Blocks of wood are placed into the open ends of the frame and screwed in with self-drilling washer-head screws through the stud into the wood block.
The other section is then fastened to the wood block. If one is joining end-to-end where the open spaces are facing, the blocks would be placed in both open spaces and joined with longer screws.
It is surely likely that curves will be placed on your bench requiring a diagonal stud for riser attachment.
Pieces of stud are cut and fabricated to fit these situations.
The studs are cut long and then cut along the edge making"flap"bent to the desired angle with flat-nosed pliers. These are then screwed into place where needed as seen in the previous photo.
My risers are 3/4" plywood of length and width required for the sub-roadbed. A 1 3/4" wide cleat the required width is attached to the riser making an assembly.
The riser leg and cleat are glued and screwed together to form the riser to form this assembly.
To attach the risers to the bench, I clamp the riser in the desired location and height to the stud. I run a self-drilling screw through the stud into the riser on one edge of the riser. I remove the clamp and then move the riser until it is level and fasten with one or two more screws depending on the width of the riser.
It is easy to configure your sections as needed. Even making odd angles to fit your needs.
This is from my remodel project. The bench sections are easily disassembled for re-use if needed.
I hope this overview of using steel studs as a benchwork material has been helpful. Lightweight, no expansion and contraction, inexpensive, strong and I think easy to use are characteristics to promote with this method. In handling though, one must exercise common sense and work practices as cut metal edges can be very sharp. I have never been injured in my work with this, but just be aware.
In nearly two decades of use, I really can offer no negative comments in my experience of making steels stud benchwork.
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