Wiring with Mianne

Never had a problem attaching anything to my Mianne bench work. Even drilled larger holes where needed for wires to go thru. 

The mianne bench work is top notch, it's the best I ever found. 

I've had no issues either; the holes in the I-beams are perfect for routing wire, and like David1, I've drilled additional holes where needed. Great product and going with Mianne was one of the best decisions I've made for my layout. 

John

Mianne would be a very good choice for your benchwork. I really like mine and plan to add on to it with more. I have many things (relays, terminal blocks, power supplies, outlet strips, etc.) fastened to my Mianne benchwork below the layout. There is a solid poplar frame around the MDF on all of the cross bracing. I have not had any problems finding a place to fasten things below the layout.

As others above, I also drilled larger holes through the MDF for all my wiring runs. I used 2 hole plastic conduit straps fastened to the bottom of the plywood top for between cross brace wiring supports. So fastening to the plywood top also works well. Works great and nothing shows when you are finished. You won't have any problems finding a place to fasten things.

I have used Mianne modular benchwork on my two O-gauge layouts. It is absolutely the easiest-to-assemble (and disassemble if you ever must), and the most dimensionally accurate there is. It is also light weight. My 1st such layout was built 18 years ago and the benchwork is like the day I put it together (which takes only a few hours using the supplied cam-lock fasteners). You can mount electrical components on the cross-beams, vertically on the solid wood legs, or on the underside of a plywood table. You can also glue wood blocks to the beams for mounting whatever.

MELGAR

I used Mianne Benchwork on my prior layout in PA. When we moved, I packed it all up, reconfigured all to my new plan and set up a 12 X 17 layout in our (truly) great room on the advice (believe it or not) of my wonderful wife. Being in the living space, I stained all components and trimmed down the legs a few inches. Here are a few pictures of how I dealt with wiring as well as terminal strips on my power distribution center. The shelves installed are from Glenn Snyder. I added the liftgate from Mianne which has saved my 67 year old knees by reducing the crawling. Take a look that their website for a demo. 

stangtrain posted:

 

 

 

I really like this idea. I am going to copy your idea here when I expand my layout. All of my term strips, relays, etc. are now under the layout and every year it's getting a little more difficult to get in there to them. This is a great idea to have everything accessible in one of the between the legs bays as you have done here. Thanks for posting.

I think I have told you this before too, but your stained Mianne looks even better than the natural look as it comes. Very Nice!

RTR12:

The power distribution center with terminal strips is along the side of the layout facing a wall (windows) so is very accessible yet not visible from the room. By the way, each terminal strip has a TVS attached.

Good luck to all with your layouts!

Thanks guys for all the responses. You have sealed the deal - I'm going with Mianne.

Good plan, I'm sure you will be happy with your selection to use Mianne. Good luck with your layout and keep us posted with your progress and some pictures as you are building it. And most of all Enjoy!

I'm just now assembling my Mianne layout.  What an enjoyable task.

Keep us posted on how your layout comes together.

Rthomps, I'd love to see pictures of your Mianne benchwork too! I like looking at all the configurations that others come up with. And I agree it sure is enjoyable to work with. 

rtr12 posted:

Rthomps, I'd love to see pictures of your Mianne benchwork too! I like looking at all the configurations that others come up with. And I agree it sure is enjoyable to work with. 

I'm hoping to have it in place this week.  I have the outside posts and I-beams put together (and now sitting against a wall outside the train room...but i'm installing new lighting for the layout as well as reassembling trains storage shelves that go under the layout.  Once those projects are done, then the benchwork can be finally assembled.  

Thanks, I will be watching for pics, and Good Luck!

rtr12 posted:

stangtrain posted:

 

 

 

I really like this idea. I am going to copy your idea here when I expand my layout. All of my term strips, relays, etc. are now under the layout and every year it's getting a little more difficult to get in there to them. This is a great idea to have everything accessible in one of the between the legs bays as you have done here. Thanks for posting.

I think I have told you this before too, but your stained Mianne looks even better than the natural look as it comes. Very Nice!

I agree this panel looks very nice, but doesn't it conflict with the "bible" regarding the suggestion to use Star wiring for DCS?

No DCS here, but all wiring to tracks includes both a hot and common (equal length) wire using OGR wiring connected to the terminal strips.

Nor sure if this is "star" wiring or not, I'll leave that to others to advise.

Actually, that was meant for RTR12 since I believe he runs DCS.

All of my control wiring is brought via cat5 wire to the rear of my miane layout.   Power is star wiring brought to central distribution blocks under the layout.

dick

How large a layout has been done with Mianne?  I see their example and think HO or N. Anybody done a large around the basement layout, and then, is that cost effective? (vs. 2x4's, sawdust, and noise)

Dave, I couldn't really tell from the picture, but from Strangtrain's description it sounds like the proper wiring and he could easily add DCS if he ever wanted to. It's the easy access part that I really liked about the way he has it wired. I can roll out my transformer cart, but all my terminal blocks, switch wiring, light wiring, etc are under the benchwork and not as easily accessed as Strangtrain's.

Flyboy62, That is really some setup you have there as well. Also nice and accessible. I can't make out control boards, but are those all Atlas signals and 6924 switch control boards? I would love to see more pictures of your Mianne and you layout and the items on the other ends of all those control boards.  

My layout is 50x30 with walkways.  Not the least expensive but I consider it money well spent.  Dick

My prior basement layout was about 30' X 15' in PA (where they have basements).

Cost effective, yes, since I was able to take apart, pack easily, move to my new home and re-configure to become my new layout which is 17' X 12' here in CA.

colorado hirailer posted:

How large a layout has been done with Mianne?  I see their example and think HO or N. Anybody done a large around the basement layout, and then, is that cost effective? (vs. 2x4's, sawdust, and noise)

I would imagine there are some large Mianne layouts out there. Some pretty good sized ones have been posted here on the forum including some on this thread. You can make it as small or as large as you want. I suppose 'cost effective' would be up to the person spending the money and what they wanted to spend their time doing. For me it was just what I was looking for and I am very pleased with it.    

I started with a 6'x16' Mianne kit and was ready to lay track in about 8 hours, very easy, no mess, no measuring, no cutting, each leg includes a leveler, all hardware is included etc. For me it was well worth it. I would do the same thing all over again. I added some things to it about a month later. I am also planning another expansion using more Mianne. It can also be easily re-configured and changed around if you don't like what you have and want to make changes. It looks very nice too. It really is a very well thought out system and very flexible.

Once I posted the picture I couldn't figure out how to add text.   What you have here are some representative pictures from early assembly up until today.   All of the circuit boards are Atlas 6924 (45) plus Custom Signals (105).  We have the entire layout wired with these and it truly works well.  Dick

rtr12 posted:

Dave, I couldn't really tell from the picture, but from Strangtrain's description it sounds like the proper wiring and he could easily add DCS if he ever wanted to. It's the easy access part that I really liked about the way he has it wired. I can roll out my transformer cart, but all my terminal blocks, switch wiring, light wiring, etc are under the benchwork and not as easily accessed as Strangtrain's.

Looking at the photo of the layout, it looks to me like some runs go from the panel all the way around one side of the layout or the other to locations on the far side. If I read the "bible" correctly, some of the terminal strips should be located on each side and on the far side with branches off them to support those areas. I assume each terminal strip supports a given area, so at least the individual branches are probably similar lengths. I'm not up on the terms, but this seems more like Home Run wiring to me. I like it, so I'm not saying it won't work, just wondering, like many others, how closely we have to follow the "bible" when it comes to wiring. I tend to agree with what Tom Tee said in another thread that we should be more concerned with the gauge of the wire considering the length of the run, etc. My permanent Christmas layout will be small enough that I think I can use a central panel like this, even with 3 DCS blocks on the upper level. It wouldn't be that hard to run 2 wires to a terminal strip vs 6 wires to 3 blocks, but it would be hard to reach the strip in the event of a problem.

That is a good size layout Flyboy62 and well done. I like those simple pillars for the elevated run and might steal that idea.

Flyboy62 posted:

Once I posted the picture I couldn't figure out how to add text.   What you have here are some representative pictures from early assembly up until today.   All of the circuit boards are Atlas 6924 (45) plus Custom Signals (105).  We have the entire layout wired with these and it truly works well.  Dick

That's really quite a layout! Very nice. I'm not sure I have seen Mianne benchwork with the changes in elevations like you have done. A lot of planning must have gone into that. In addition to the Mianne I am a big fan of Atlas track and their signal system. It would sure be nice if someone took over the Custom Signals business. I hate to see it end up being gone for good. You have a really nice layout, thanks for the pics.

DoubleDAZ posted:

rtr12 posted:

Dave, I couldn't really tell from the picture, but from Strangtrain's description it sounds like the proper wiring and he could easily add DCS if he ever wanted to. It's the easy access part that I really liked about the way he has it wired. I can roll out my transformer cart, but all my terminal blocks, switch wiring, light wiring, etc are under the benchwork and not as easily accessed as Strangtrain's.

Looking at the photo of the layout, it looks to me like some runs go from the panel all the way around one side of the layout or the other to locations on the far side. If I read the "bible" correctly, some of the terminal strips should be located on each side and on the far side with branches off them to support those areas. I assume each terminal strip supports a given area, so at least the individual branches are probably similar lengths. I'm not up on the terms, but this seems more like Home Run wiring to me. I like it, so I'm not saying it won't work, just wondering, like many others, how closely we have to follow the "bible" when it comes to wiring. I tend to agree with what Tom Tee said in another thread that we should be more concerned with the gauge of the wire considering the length of the run, etc. My permanent Christmas layout will be small enough that I think I can use a central panel like this, even with 3 DCS blocks on the upper level. It wouldn't be that hard to run 2 wires to a terminal strip vs 6 wires to 3 blocks, but it would be hard to reach the strip in the event of a problem.

You are better at wire tracing than I am! However, I suppose some would probably have to go to the far side. I am not sure how critical that would be on a 17'x12' sized layout? My layout is a little smaller and I ended up cheating on it and not putting the MTH terminal blocks where I had planned. They are pretty much both at one end and it still works just fine. I would agree that wire size matters and for more reasons than just DCS signals. 

With a 50'x30' layout like Flyboy62's one might want to be a little more particular where the terminal blocks go, but I have no hands on experience with anything that big. I would think it would sure save a lot of wire to place the terminal blocks around the layout though. I would definitely give something like that a lot more thought than I did with mine though. 

I think your layout will be small enough that you probably won't have any problems if you locate all your terminal strips in a central place that is easily accessible. It's also small enough that using a little extra wire will probably not add that much to the costs either. However, wire gets used faster than you think and you will probably use more than you planned as well. The other important thing with DCS is the number of track joints per block and the blocks themselves.

RTR12, I don't expect too. I don't subscribe to the literal interpretation some are putting on the recommendations in the "bible". I'm really just trying to clarify things to better my understanding. On a large layout, I would probably divide the panel into 2 or more around the layout based on how long the runs would be. Like you, I've never had an experience wiring a large layout and that's something I didn't really look at when I've visited them, something I'll at more closely next time.

My personal feeling is to follow the 'bible' as closely as you possibly can and you will probably have a better performing DCS system. I don't think it has to be perfect, a little fudging here and there is probably fine. I did that, but I cheated a little on locating my terminal blocks. Even so, I have had no DCS problems at all in 2-1/2 years. Not even an error, unless I try to start an engine without turning on the power to the spur it's parked on.

That wiring and the nice layouts just make roar, very very neat and professional looking. I hate you guys!