Originally Posted by
HakBot
Hey Danno,
I'm currently at the stage of my build where I need to start thinking about the slats and water table. I want to build my slats in a similar way as you so that when they get worn they are easy to replace. From your images it looks like your slats are 1.5"x1/8" flat stock with anywhere from 2-3" from the bottom of the slats to the bottom of the water table. My first question is why did you build the water table at an incline? Also what is your water depth? I cant seem to find much info about how much water to put in.
Second your slats appear to be just held in by gravity and the pressure of the slight bend. What I'm curious about is do the slats sag any when material is placed on them? There isnt anything other than the sides holding them up. I probably wont be cutting anything more than 1/8" mild steel with my table, max of a 4'x4' sheet so I'm not too worried about this but just curious.
Thanks!
I built the water table at an angle so that all the water would drain to one point, and also to empty the table faster. The water at the back (which will rarely be used is 3 inches deep. At the front it's 4" deep.
I was always planning on having a support for the slats at mid point. If I don't need it, I won't bother.
If you look closely, you'll see that the slats fit into 1/2x1/2x1/8 angle pieces about 2 inches long. This locates the slats nicely.
I put a slight curve to the slats for 2 reasons. One is to hold them firmly, the other is in case I happen to cut a straight line allong the "y" axis, and didn't want to be directly above a slat.
The one that dies with the most tools, WINS !!
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