Hi All, I have parts rolling off of the 3D printer and flat parts landing in the mail this week (Thanks Dan) and am prepping to start construction on a new build. I have a small shop, just as one-car garage, so I’m doing a build that will fold up against the wall when not in use and sit on casters so I can move it around. I want to be able to :
Cut full size plywood sheets with end goal of producing some big kits that I can sell.
Have enough precision to make half blind finger joints between parts and make kerf cuts for curved surfaces.
Have enough flexibility to do big signs, or other random stuff that we might want to produce.
The rough design is attached (diagonal bracing omitted).
The work-bed will have wheels or something that will ride up and down the back of the frame, and a cable, probably, will hoist the back end up when I want to put it away. It'll lower down to a lip and be held in place with a pins at each end.
I'm thinking to make the work-bed with 2x6 perimeter and galvanized half-slot channel along the edges for the wheels to roll along. I'll use mdf to make a torsion box between the 2x6 perimeter that will hold the spoil board and working material.
Can have spoil board flush with the rails or set below them if that's better.
Please bring on the constructive criticism if anyone sees anything I'm missing or not thinking about. I've done a bit of 3d printing, but am totally new to the CNC stuff. I'm looking forward to learning the whole new suite of tools to do this type of work.
(2nd try posting; not sure if I accidentally deleted the first post)
I think it will work better as a structure, than a drawing. 2D is flimsy
Seriously though, this looks pretty neat. I think no matter what way you make it move around, as long as you put some strong pins in it or something while you’re running it, it should be plenty strong. It will be reeeealy heavy. The machine isn’t heavy, but the table will be.
Building the table flat is important. More important that making the whole base rigid IMO. I built my table surface from plywood, not 2x4s, because I am worried the 2x4s will bend or twist with the seasons. If you want to do half blind finger joints, you’ll probably want to surface your spoil board, and so you’ll probably want that to not change. I modeled mine after this assembly table from the new yankee workshop: https://youtu.be/8BXHB3xOZVo
There is another flip up low rider in the forums here. It’s attached to a wall though.
Generally though, this looks neat. I hope you share your progress.
Looks like an awesome idea, looking forward to seeing the build!
You might consider ultralight MDF (if you can find it) to keep the weight down. It’s not cheap, but I saw it at my local hardwood supplier (Crosscut hardwoods in Seattle) and have been thinking about it.
I decided to just build a super simple table to start out (although I have the machines to mill 2x4’s flat) and get up to speed with some basic stuff before building ultimate table 2.0 action (see my build photos.) I like the idea of using Unistrut steel as the Y rails as well, but don’t have a plan in my head for that yet. Even though I only wanted a 4x4 cutting area, the table needed to be 63"x56" which is still pretty dang huge (I’ll flip 4x8 sheets for parts that exceed that 4’ length.)
Good idea on the ultralight MDF. I found a source for it a few miles from here and will do that!
Jeff, good point about the pine boards. My reasoning for using 2x4 was just that I could get it longer than 8 ft… but I realized I can buy 10ft long plywood at the Lowes in the next town over, so I’ve come up with a design to try to keep weight down and do everything with plywood.
Standard torsion box setup. Built in 3d for strength!
I can use one 4' x 10' sheet on the bottom, and split two sheets to cover the top, and use the extra from those for ribbing in the middle.
And holes in the top and bottom sheets to cut weight. MDF would set in the raised stuff on top.
CNC stuff rolls on the overhang on the top, and I'd add little wings below on each corner to attach the belt tensioners.
[attachment file=116705]
I’ll put it together with glue and pocket screws for the bottom, and glue with staples for the top. I think if I’m careful about how I assemble it, I can keep it flat. And I can always surface the table as well as spoil board!
If I build this from 15/32 ply, how thick should I make it to avoid flex? 3 inches? Any other thoughts?
Just think of how nice a table you could make if you had a full sheet CNC to make it with?
The printrbot did this. The first job you would run is building a table for it. Those initial parts were just the plywood on some 2x4s across some saw horses.
I figured out that I can’t cut a straight line in a table saw, at least with my little rig moving through line pieces of plywood. Won’t be a problem soon though! I’m just hoping that this thing isn’t so warped that it is unusable when it’s done!
Slowly coming together. Have had the printer going most of the last few days.
[attachment file=116946]
Probably will have time tomorrow to finish up the base of the table. I’m looking forward to using the CNC to cut the holes in the top and not having to do that manually!
[attachment file=116947]
I think I’ll get a flat surface out of this thing!
Make sure it’s flat before putting the top skin on! I found out the hard way that if it droops a bit, once you get both skins glued on, it will droop a bit forever after.
Been lurking on the site for a while now. Planning to build a lowrider in the coming months and this table build is what I’ve been looking for. I have a small garage and don’t think I can spare all the floor space, but if it could fold up that would be awesome. Keep up the good work! Looking forward to copying some of what you’re doing
Cool, Brandon. Hope this is helpful! I’m looking forward to seeing what you come up with.
Will do! I have a 6’ level and will check the assembled base carefully and then glue the top on. My plan is to set each half of hte top down and use a pneumatic stapler to secure it while the glue dries. I’d like to let the plywood keep itself flat so going easier on the fasteners for the top, letting gravity and glue do most of the work.
Most of the hardware is assembled now. I’ll install the belts and stuff once I finish the table and am able to move everything into the garage.
[attachment file=117431]
I can’t wait to power-on and start testing the motors and stuff!
Oh yeah, you’re down in Tracey, aren’t you? I was pretty impressed when the kit arrived at my doorstep less than 18 hours after my order was submitted!
Little bit of a drive, but not bad. You’re welcome out if you’d like to see hands-on what it looks like when some dope from the internet tries to put together one of your kits.
Alright, I had some time today to put the rest of the bench together! This works better that I hoped. I can tilt it up it back down flat with one hand and hardly any force required.
It’s been slow-going here for a couple of weeks, but there is progress. I got a couple 9 ft lengths of 2" aluminum angle to use for the edges of the table so I’d have a guaranteed flat rolling surface. You can kind of see them in the photo here. I figure I’ll get the rig set up and working, plane down my table and cut out some squares from the top to reduce weight and make it flat, and then shim up the aluminum angle with a couple strips of ply and add my spoil board. That should be the working setup.
[attachment file=120981]
I had to go through and clean my garage… this was my big roadblock to making progress on the lowrider. I added casters to my workbench and built in a drill press and miter station. I feel like a pro now. You can tell from the size of the garage that I do most of my construction in the driveway.
And tonight I finally got the motors all wired up and working for the first time on the kitchen floor! The pre-loaded firmware on the rambo board makes this feel very plug and play.
[attachment file=120980]
Next steps:
Screw down the aluminum rails
Put the rig back on the table and route wires
Attach belts and rig up an adjustable stop point
Flash an RPi3 with a couple of setups to try
Figure out how to zero the rig and draw the crown with a duct-taped-on pen
More garage purge and organize
Rig up the vacuum system (shop-vac and cyclone separator on a bucket)
You can tell from the size of the garage that I do most of my construction in the driveway.
