The New Northern Central

[Ed Kapuscinski]

I think the secret to successful appliance purchases is to avoid Samsung like it's a tire spike across the road.
I've heard their fancy electronics fail pretty consistently (and expensively), and the local repair guys around here refuse to even work on them.
Lee

I'm glad the word about this is getting out. Do not buy anything from Samsung that has a motor or a burner. A bunch of the appliances that came with the house have been Samsung and we've had to replace most of them.

Garbage all around.

[SAH]

We purchased Maytag side by side front load washer and dryer when we moved to the new house last Spring.  Amazing machines.  My Wife loves them.

[C855B]

Interesting about Samsung; never gave it much thought. It's incredibly hard to avoid their products since they all but "own" the big-box stores, or at least consume the greatest amount of floor/display space, by far. The trainwatching TV at the studio might even be a Samsung, so I guess it's jinxed now. Gee, thanks.

As far as local repair techs not wanting to touch 'em - it is probably because they can't get parts, and when they can, they're too expensive to simply keep on hand. I repair our own appliances, so I know the drill. The "traditional" US makes used a common parts pool. If you had XYZ motor or ABC valve in your truck, you were covered for 80-90% of your service calls. The offshore brands change all that.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Interesting about Samsung; never gave it much thought. It's incredibly hard to avoid their products since they all but "own" the big-box stores, or at least consume the greatest amount of floor/display space, by far. The trainwatching TV at the studio might even be a Samsung, so I guess it's jinxed now. Gee, thanks.

I've had a bunch of Samsung TVs. They've always been ok for me. But they pass the test: they don't have motors.

[MK]

I think the secret to successful appliance purchases is to avoid Samsung like it's a tire spike across the road.
I've heard their fancy electronics fail pretty consistently (and expensively), and the local repair guys around here refuse to even work on them.
Lee

+1000!  And let's not forget about their sister company LG.

My brother-in-law's Samsung washer and dryer and a friend of mine's LG refrigerator have been nothing but trouble and damn expensive to fix.  I would go with the American brand even though they are mostly made with Chinese parts.

Knock on wood, all GE appliances (except the fridge) when we had the house custom built.  The builder insisted on it.  20+ years later, not a single issue with any of them.  The fridge we got ourselves.  Maytag side by side.  There have been some minor issues but nothing I couldn't fix myself with inexpensive parts.  Though lately the compressor has been making some slight noise when running.     But even if I need a new one soon, I still got 20+ years out of it.

As for Samsung TVs, I know many of my friends have them and I used to have one (sold it to my brother-in-law) and no one has reported any problems.  Now a days, the lower end models and even the mid-line models, they are pretty  much throw away commodity items.  A repair bill (including parts) will approach 50% of the cost of the item, if not more.

[nuno81291]

Had a Samsung oven control pad stop working, and a refrigerator that ran too cold and couldn’t be fixed by their tech. Had a tv fail in the first week, and another that had a good run (3 years or so) before it bit the dust. We replaced with an LG.  Never again for the kitchen appliances.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Ok gang. While I'm still noodling on the staging situation, I also want to think about benchwork.

There are three general benchwork areas:
1. Multi-deck areas with towns.
2. Open multi-deck areas.
3. Single deck open areas.

Here's my plan for multi-deck areas. It's not to scale, but it's pretty straight forward.



Tell me what I'm getting wrong.

[davefoxx]

Gotta love TRW thread drift.  I'll add that in a former career as a kitchen designer, I sold Whirlpool appliances.  Whirlpool also manufactured Kitchen Aid and Roper brand appliances.

I generally recommend that if you go with one of the big brand-name companies that you recognize, e.g., Whirlpool, Kitchen Aid, GE, Frigidaire, or Maytag, then you'll probably be okay.  I also suggest that your purchase minimize the extraneous options that you know that you'll never use, which, hopefully, allows the appliance to last longer.  My wife and I were really disappointed when we bought laundry machines for our home in 2012, and we found that you could no longer just go get a plain ol' super capacity top mount washer anymore.  Now it's all HE ("high efficiency") and bells and whistles, which is just more to break down.  The washer we now have is a top mount, but it lacks the center agitator, allegedly for fabric care.  Meh, it washes just the same as the old washers at probably double the cost.     And our dryer?  It has a water line hooked up to it!  Yes, it has a steamer option for wrinkles, which I admit we do use from time to time.  But, for the cost, I could easily forego this option, as it doesn't justify the significant price increase from my days in sales.

In 2002, when I left that job to go to law school, I could get a super capacity washer and electric dryer for probably $700.00 with all the options you would ever need.  In 2012, I think we spent over $1,300.00 or $1,500.00!   That's BS for appliances that don't operate any better, have more that can break down affecting maintenance costs, and will likely not last as long.

DFF

[davefoxx]

Ok gang. While I'm still noodling on the staging situation, I also want to think about benchwork.

There are three general benchwork areas:
1. Multi-deck areas with towns.
2. Open multi-deck areas.
3. Single deck open areas.

Here's my plan for multi-deck areas. It's not to scale, but it's pretty straight forward.



Tell me what I'm getting wrong.

I think that design will work fine, although, depending on the quality of the plywood, you may want to consider 3/4" cabinet grade plywood.  I'll let the others with more experience than me chime in on that, because my benchwork is 2" foam over 1/4" lauan plywood over 1" x 2" framing (irrelevant to your shelf construction).

DFF

P.S. I'm still loving the Barrina LED lights.  Thanks for the heads-up on those!

[Ed Kapuscinski]

P.S. I'm still loving the Barrina LED lights.  Thanks for the heads-up on those!

All credit is due to @DeltaBravo . He turned me onto them. I just kicked the hype machine into full speed.

[DeltaBravo]

I think that design will work fine, although, depending on the quality of the plywood, you may want to consider 3/4" cabinet grade plywood.  I'll let the others with more experience than me chime in on that, because my benchwork is 2" foam over 1/4" lauan plywood over 1" x 2" framing (irrelevant to your shelf construction).

DFF

P.S. I'm still loving the Barrina LED lights.  Thanks for the heads-up on those!

I think you're fine with the sanded plywood. No need to over engineer for NScale. You don't plan on walking or sitting on it do you?  I used 1inch foam over 5mm sanded underlayment.

[nuno81291]

Any plan for foam or other material to allow for below ROW height scenery?

[davefoxx]

I think you're fine with the sanded plywood. No need to over engineer for NScale. You don't plan on walking or sitting on it do you?  I used 1inch foam over 5mm sanded underlayment.

The concern is not weight, but warpage.  Plywood curls, too.  A lot also depends on how far apart Ed is placing the shelf brackets.  Now, if he's gluing 2" foam to the top of the plywood, then what he's got is likely more than sufficient.

DFF

[DeltaBravo]

The concern is not weight, but warpage.  Plywood curls, too.  A lot also depends on how far apart Ed is placing the shelf brackets.  Now, if he's gluing 2" foam to the top of the plywood, then what he's got is likely more than sufficient.

DFF

True, but if he stays on 16 inch centers for his supports he should be fine. Going to 3/4 adds a lot of weight.

[MK]

In 2002, when I left that job to go to law school, I could get a super capacity washer and electric dryer for probably $700.00 with all the options you would ever need.  In 2012, I think we spent over $1,300.00 or $1,500.00!   That's BS for appliances that don't operate any better, have more that can break down affecting maintenance costs, and will likely not last as long.

DFF

So true, so true!  I just want to wash and dry my clothes, not have my appliances talk to my WiFi network so it can tell my phone to beep and tell me how many more minutes before my clothes are dry!   Or tell me it's done when I'm at a store shopping.