The Tom Mann Design Challenge

[pnolan48]

What a lot of work! But I could climb on it without worry.

...serious ? and what was the story about the ladder all about ?   ;D ;D

43 years in age. Not the same balance. Different physics. Stupid mistake.

If I had built the layout with the same technique as the lawyer's shelves, the fall never would have happened.

I got lazy in my advancing age. Encroaching Alzheimer's--at least in model railroading affairs--didn't help. I rarely climb on anything any longer, and try not to whine when I do.

[tokenbrit]

.. It almost sounds like you guys are under their spell . Have they offered you a , all you can drink Kool Aid party in the mountains yet . The Enron boss made Loads O Dough , was he perfect ? Just because , ..... oh why bother .

I like IKEA but I am not under their spell: they offer sharp design at cheap to decent prices... sure, some of their stuff is too cheap, & some of their stuff is a little too designed, but they definitely have some pretty damn good stuff for the pretty damn good price point that they sell to... & suprisingly durable too as 2 relocations of a household of mostly IKEA but still fully functional furniture will attest.

No Kool Aid offered & none drunk - just far better bang for buck, value for money, & style received for relatively little outlay, & I haven't had to replace any of it yet. Can't beat that - leaves me with money to spend on other things .. like trains ;D

What surprises me is that they really have little to no competition yet, but are still doing very well thank you, & have done for quite a while.

Like most things that are surprisingly succesful, there are people who knock them from a position of ignorance: 'it's all crap, isn't it?', people who object on principle: 'it's all foreign crap', & others (like you?) who base their objection on grounds of quality from a position of education & expertise if, maybe, not from experience: 'that looks poorly designed' ... or do you dislike them "Just because, ... " ??

There are also those who like their stuff: 'it serves a purpose' (including shelf layouts :-*), & the IKEA evangelists who really love their stuff because a voice inside their head told them too ;D :

Now back to designing that layout... for LACK of anything better to do

[up1950s]

As I mentioned I have 8 objects I bought from them that are wonderful , and 1 that needed to be strengthened . I like Ikea . I don't like the floor plan , or the names they use that describes nothing to me . I did not buy this shelf , nor do I have to , to understand its limitations which common sense is all thats needed to apply . >>>> All I was stating is , everything made by Ikea isn't perfect <<<< .
I will now close the book on this , as the above statement will not be changed because those are MY FACTS and OPINIONS .

[tom mann]

Richie, you make like this ;D

http://www.theonion.com/content/node/30546

[Ian MacMillan]

We went to Ikea yesterday at their new store in MA....I've never been there before and... WOW I love that place! I'd like to thank D'a Judge for telling me to get the meetballs!

Dropped a lot of money there.....thank god we only brought the car and a cranky baby...or my wife would have spent more!


The design of the store is pretty basic... other than the "cutoffs" which are generally not very obvious, you HAVE to walk through each section, which generally causes you to buy more. Supermarkets do the same thing by placing milk, bread, eggs and butter towards the rear of the store.  I didn't care for the item or brand names as I expected them to have a Sweedish ring to them because of where the store is from. I just wrote the brand name on that paper they give you and then a half assed Ianized name like "silver brushed stainless steel lighty thing for night stand."

[tom mann]

We went to Ikea yesterday at their new store in MA....I've never been there before and... WOW I love that place! I'd like to thank D'a Judge for telling me to get the meetballs!

Dropped a lot of money there.....thank god we only brought the car and a cranky baby...or my wife would have spent more!

Did you get a LACK shelf for the Challenge?

[Ian MacMillan]

We went to Ikea yesterday at their new store in MA....I've never been there before and... WOW I love that place! I'd like to thank D'a Judge for telling me to get the meetballs!

Dropped a lot of money there.....thank god we only brought the car and a cranky baby...or my wife would have spent more!

Did you get a LACK shelf for the Challenge?

They did not have it at ours that day. They had the regular ones with the big beefy brackets. I'm gonna order on line.

[Chris333]

N scale shelf layout:
http://lsvedberg.se/rail/index.htm

Another:
http://www.railroad-line.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=10418&whichpage=1

[tom mann]

So, let's see what you got!

 ;D

I bought the shelf, and ... well that's all.

[ljudice]

I like Ikea's meatballs, and some of their products, but not the shelving...

We had a near disaster with the I-var system, the fault being one of the
metal screws or rivets that were holding a shelf up, which simply sheared
in half, dropping a television set on the floor. It was well within the
stated design limits...

[tom mann]

Plans look great guys...

The HO layout in the most recent MRP was a foot deep, so the 10 1/4" depth of the Lack shelf would work just fine for N scale (or Z).

I suggest a double track mainline with the center at about 4" from the front.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

I like Ikea's meatballs, and some of their products, but not the shelving...

We had a near disaster with the I-var system, the fault being one of the
metal screws or rivets that were holding a shelf up, which simply sheared
in half, dropping a television set on the floor. It was well within the
stated design limits...

Ikea's hardware sucks. I was assembling our new couches, and sheared a screw right off. Luckilly it was only on a bracket that should hold two "sections" together, but still, weak.

But I love the sofas now that they're all done.

Tom, just build something already, dammit.

You know it's bad when I say that...

[Iain]

43 years in age. Not the same balance. Different physics. Stupid mistake.

If I had built the layout with the same technique as the lawyer's shelves, the fall never would have happened.

I got lazy in my advancing age. Encroaching Alzheimer's--at least in model railroading affairs--didn't help. I rarely climb on anything any longer, and try not to whine when I do.

My youth means I can still climb.  Your (all of you) wisdom tells me what to do and what not to do when it comes to layout design and building.

Ikea's hardware sucks. I was assembling our new couches, and sheared a screw right off.

Try dealing with the screws I that come with all the ceiling fans, lights, etc. that I put up.  You don't know how annoying it is to have a screw almost all the way in, and have half the head break off with just a hand driver, then have the same thing happen again with the replacement screw.

[tom mann]

Ed, Ikea hardware also has a tendency to loosen up over a short period of time.  Target furniture, on the other hand, is great.

[Denver Road Doug]

OK, I had to pad my post count up to 25 to get in to see this damn thread, and now it's degenerated to how married people don't, umm...couple up....anymore.  Geez.

Well, I like the concept anyway, even if it is (possibly) rather David Barrow-esque.  It might be easier for some guys to sell a "clean look" layout so this idea has merit, maybe even so much as to be a MRP type of article, methinks.