 Hi, I want to share a somewhat unusual benchwork construction technique with you. The design for browning on my Bear Creek and South Jackson Railroad calls for joists cantilevered out from the main helix table. The joists are 8 inch wide pieces of 3 quarter inch plywood. They are attached to the helix table using 16 inch tall 2 by 2 cleats. The cleats are screwed and glued to the side plates of the helix table. The joists attach to the upper 8 inches of the cleats, while the lower 8 inches of the cleats attach to the helix table. The first joists were disappointing. They weren't stiff enough and the ends moved up and down too easily. The biggest problem occurred at the 2 by 2 cleats between the joist and the helix table. I thought I could eliminate excessive flexing by attaching the joists to the full 16 inch length of the cleats. Then there would be no place where the cleat was unsupported and could bend. I installed an 8 inch tall gusset under each of the joists, making the effective height of the joist 16 inches at the cleats. Gluing the gussets and the joists together avoided cutting a complex shape from the plywood with lots of wasted material. I decided to use woodworking biscuits to attach the gussets to the joists. They'll make the joint very strong. When I cut the joists I labeled them with letters of the alphabet to identify each one of them. I also labeled the helix table where the joists would go and my bench work plan with the same letter. Because the joists are different lengths this avoids confusion. I decided to taper the ends of each joist. This gives better under the layout visibility and reduces the height of the fascia board required to hide them. I marked the tapers in pencil and a jigsaw made quick work of cutting them. Referring to my bench work plans for the correct length I marked each joist where it would cross the edge of the helix table. The back edge of the gussets should line up with this point. Now it's time to glue the gussets to the joists. Here's the stuff I used. Clockwise from the far left there's a rubber mallet, a pile of pre-cut gussets, yellow carpenters glue, some number 20 biscuits, waxed paper, and my biscuit joiner. I lined up a gusset with the line marking where a joist crosses the helix table's edge. Then I laid out a pair of biscuits and marked their position on both the joist and the gusset. Biscuit joiners have a guide surface to keep the biscuit slot a constant distance from the working surface. This ensures the two pieces being joined will line up correctly. The joiner works by pushing a small circular saw blade into the work surface cutting out a slot for the biscuit. I lined up the red line on the joiner with the pencil marks on the joist. Hold the joiner firmly in place and cut the slots. Then I cut two more slots in the gusset to match the ones in the joist. A biscuit adjoint needs lots of glue. I filled the biscuit slots in the joist with yellow glue. Then I applied glue to the entire joint edge on the gusset making sure lots of glue filled those biscuit slots too. I needed to use my rubber mallet to encourage the biscuits to seat properly. It's a good idea to use waxed paper underneath the joint while mating the joist and gusset. I used a bar clamp to squeeze the two pieces tightly together making a solid joint. A bunch of yellow glue leaked out of the joint during the clamping. I used a damp rag to wipe off the excess. Where there is room I let the inner end of the joist extend onto the helix table and add a horizontal cleat. I'll use a carriage bolt to attach this to the helix tabletop to further increase the joist's rigidity. The bottom surface of the horizontal cleat and the bottom edge of the joist need to be flush with each other. I glue and screw the cleat to the joist for strength. I drive one screw in part way, drive the other screw home, then finish the first screw. If I screw the first one home right away the pieces I'm working on might twist from the force needed to seat the screw. Here are three of the finished joists waiting for the glue to dry before I install them. Let's install the joist labeled I. I set joist I in place then secure it with a clamp. I want the tops of the joists to be flat so I use a torpedo level to check. Yes that looks pretty good. I'll secure the joist in place with 6 2 inch deck screws, 3 through the joist and 3 more through the gusset. I could have glued the joists in place but I may need to remove them for access when I build more of a layout. Joist I has a horizontal cleat, now it's time to install the carriage bolt that will secure this cleat to the helix table's top. With the joist fully secured in place I checked how much flex was present. The new method is clearly much more rigid than the old.