Mianne Customizable Benchwork...

John, if Mark drives like me, he has to add that extra hour!  LOL

Mark, well you graduated from high school one year after I graduated from mine.

 I have been at York twice, and talked with Tim once.  I did not place my original order at that time, but sent it in A few months later and then called too.

Hey Steve,

Mianne Benchwork looks great! Gotta be a huge time saver and I can see it's very well done.

However, as an old carpenter,  I would never miss the satisfaction of overbuilding my own benchwork.

Like you, I am just getting started. I look forward to watching your progress. I will be posting mine as well.

DL

@rtr12 posted:

Steve, to add a little to Bob's great idea above about shelves below the benchwork, here's a simple example of one way to customize the Mianne benchwork.

After talking to Tim a couple of times about what I was wanting to do, I decided to add some extra holes in the legs for more shelves later on.  You can see the extra holes (middle ones) in the second picture in my post above. I think they were 12" below the upper holes as I recall. He just added those in for me when he was putting together my order after we had talked about it.

Shortly after I got the benchwork assembled, I ordered the extra cross braces and parts for the extra shelves. I also ordered one of Mianne's transformer carts at that time. I'll see if I can find another picture of the added shelves for you. 

Found a couple of pics, shelves and transformer cart.

How do you add shelves and how was the transformer cart modified.  Did you have Mianne do that.

Thanks for your help.

WaynePa,

I talked to Tim at Mianne about being able to add some shelves for storage later on. We decided on a height for the shelves and Tim added some additional holes in the legs of my original kit for more cross braces for the shelves. A month or so after assembling my main kit, I decided to order a Transformer Cart and also ordered all the cross braces and parts needed to complete the shelves at that time. 

The Transformer Cart is a Mianne kit, should be in their catalog or on the website somewhere. As I recall, I talked to Tim about that one too and he also added a lower shelf and all the required parts at the time I ordered. 

It's all very customizable and Tim will work with you to get you what you want. Almost anything can be modified to fit your needs and they will work with you to get what you want. I talked to Tim a couple of times and he helped me get things just the way I wanted them.

@Mark Zeigler posted:

Hey Robert,

I have never had the pleasure of meeting Tim in person. Actually. I've never been to York. I was born and raised in York Pa until I joined the Navy in 1975 right out of high school. I used to live off of West Market street about a 5 minute drive from the fairgrounds. I moved away and now have about a 6 hour drive to get there! Hopefully I will get to York in the near future. Anyway. I did mail my order request yesterday. I only need I-Beams 30" and 48". I have enough of everything else. I am expanding and got a bit carried away with the right of way!!

Mark

Mark,

Did you receive your Mianne parts order yet?  Mine came yesterday, and I have them all installed.

 @MELGAR

I hate to impose on you for more information on your Mianne benchwork but the space you used seems similar to what I have to work with,  Could I trouble you for your track plans and Mianne dimensions?  Email is in my profile  and thanks for the help

@hokie71 posted:

 @MELGAR

I hate to impose on you for more information on your Mianne benchwork but the space you used seems similar to what I have to work with,  Could I trouble you for your track plans and Mianne dimensions?  Email is in my profile  and thanks for the help

Picture shows the Mianne table frame on my 10’-by-5’ layout.

The plywood top consists of two pieces of birch plywood – each piece is 5-feet by 5-feet (a 10’-by-5’ piece cut in half for portability if the layout must be dismantled for moving). Table length 120 inches, table width 60 inches. Track is just an oval with Atlas O-54 on the curved ends connected by 5 feet (60-inches) of straight track on each side. No track cutting required. Width of oval is 56-1/4 inches and length of oval is 116-1/4 inches. This leaves just under 2 inches from the edges of the track to the table edges on the curved and straight parts of the oval.

The Mianne legs are 1-3/4 inches square by 42 inches in height. On my layout, the dimensions across the outer faces of the legs are 106-1/2 inches in length and 50 inches in width. From the picture, you can see that I used three legs along the length and two legs across the width. The two beams along the length are each 50-1/2 inches in length and the single beam along the width is 46-1/2 inches. There are two intermediate (46-1/2 inch) cross-beams to support the middle of each piece of the plywood top. I also included a leg in the center of the table and lengthwise and crosswise beams to make the frame more rigid.

On my layout, the top overhangs the frame by 5-inches on each side and by 6-3/4 inches on each end. I did this to reduce the amount of floor space taken up by the frame.

Tim Foley at Mianne Benchwork will assist you and recommend whatever pieces are needed to make your track plan and table size.

MELGAR

Thanks Melgar, that is a big help.  I have been exploring  Mianne layouts like this one and stangtrain's,  I appreciate the shots you posted.

Has anyone built a 2 or 3 level Mianne Benchwork  free standing layout?

If you can afford Mianne benchwork buy it. It will save you from the headaches of dimensional lumber.

2011 6x16 layout:

Main level.

Subway level.

Engine yard level.

Peter

Fast Forward to 2021......new space, bigger layout. Sent Tim at Mianne the plan. He already knows what I have and sent me what I needed......

Lots done.....but, lots to do!

Love Mianne Benchwork......I am a poor carpenter (and that's an overstatement).

Peter

@dennis32 posted:

Has anyone built a 2 or 3 level Mianne Benchwork  free standing layout?

Dennis,

Check out my two posts with pictures of my Mianne Benchwork going up......the 2011-2021 layout may be what you are asking about.

Don't hesitate to ask any question and I'll do my best to answer it.

Peter

Peter, your 2011 layout photographs are the best I’ve seen of a multi-level Mianne layout.  Still, I’m not quite understanding how the lower level stringers are attaching to the tall legs.  I’m familiar with single level Mianne.  Are those joints as sturdy as the joints to the top of the legs?  

Peter, thank you, this was exactly what I needed. Can you tell me the heights you used for your 3 levels?

@Mark Boyce posted:

Peter, your 2011 layout photographs are the best I’ve seen of a multi-level Mianne layout.  Still, I’m not quite understanding how the lower level stringers are attaching to the tall legs.  I’m familiar with single level Mianne.  Are those joints as sturdy as the joints to the top of the legs?  

Tim added another row of holes about 1/2 way between the floor and the main level. This may not be answering your question. There are special stringers for the cantilever section…….let me find a picture.

Peter

@dennis32 posted:

Peter, thank you, this was exactly what I needed. Can you tell me the heights you used for your 3 levels?

I can’t remember exactly. The Main level is standard Mianne. The 3rd level is about 16-20” above the Main level and the subway level was about 1/2 way down to the floor. Tim would have the exact specs.

Peter

@Putnam Division posted:

Tim added another row of holes about 1/2 way between the floor and the main level. This may not be answering your question. There are special stringers for the cantilever section…….let me find a picture.

Peter

No, you answered it fine.  I think I wasn’t thinking when I first looked at it!  🤔 😄