[Barry Young]

Hi Group:

Here are a couple of in process pictures of the new bench I am building for the mill table from DeWayne. The wood comes from abandoned pallets used to ship sheet metal. They measured about 3 X 4 inches before I passed them through the thickness planer to make them uniform and smooth.

The wood was cut to length then two piece were bandsawn by eye to a pleasing shape for the feet. Then I hand chopped mortices into the feet to accept the legs which were tennoned on the bandsaw. This is not fine cabinetmaking after all and sometimes it is refreshing to simply hack away at wood when you are so used to making every cut count as in my camera work. So I eyeballed the tennons and mortices sometimes transferring dimensions from one to the other and almost never measuring. After the tennons were pared to the point that I could pound them into their mortices with a 32 ounce mallet, I drawbored them using some stinky hardwood dowels in 1/2 inch size. The drawboring locked the tennons into the mortices while the glue was drying so well that I did not even have to clamp the joints. This was a common technique in ancient Roman and Egyptian woodworking and lots of those joints are still strong.

The first picture shows the first end frame with the top rail finished and pinned. The second shows some guy doing the mortices. He looks like me, but I know it can't be me cause I am a lot skinnier than that guy. The third picture is a glimpse at the super slick aerospace quality CAD drawing which lead to the building of this bench. Actually, it is just a sketch to determine what type joints needed to go where.

More pics will follow soon.


Barry Young
Young Camera Company

[wadoman]

Hey very nice Barry. Ive been wanting to put together a bench for mine as well. Not sure how yet. I know its gonna be like you. Im gonna run some old beatup 2x4s on the jointer and through the thickness planer to get them all smooth and square. Just not sure how im gonna construct it though. I want to put a fluid tray under it so I have to design it to handle that as well. Im just to busy building some rolling tool cabinets right now in order to make room for the mill table. I've finished my grinder station and my dual tool miter/planer stand and the current and final one is a tablesaw/router workstation. Then I can build the mill stand and a lathe stand as well. All on wheels to maximize space. Nothing like a crampacked garage.

[Barry Young]

Hi Wadoman:

It makes you wonder just how many garages in the world are actually mini machine shops. Every time a project goes right it also makes you wonder how people without them get by.

Today the cabinet walls, sides, back and top go into the bench. I am hoping to get the wiring, computer, ventilation fan and air filters installed tomorrow. Then I just have to decide on a bench top.

Have you considered fiberglassing your chip trough and or backsplash? This is a good way to make easily worked materials water proof.

Barry Young
Young Camera Company

[dropride]

Has anyone had theirs ship yet? I was told a couple weeks ago mine was possibly going to be in last weeks run but haven't heard anything since.

[practicalcnc]

Has anyone had theirs ship yet? I was told a couple weeks ago mine was possibly going to be in last weeks run but haven't heard anything since.

I must be in the same boat as you. DeWayne is really good at getting back
if you email him directly. I was told this week it would ship. Sounds like
there was some holdups last week in production. Hopefully He's on top of it now. I guess we'll see. I ordered on Dec. 12th.

[dropride]

Ya i had e mailed him about two weeks ago on it, i'm sure he has enough going on so i didn't want to bug him. Mine was ordered in mid Nov.

[Harlow]

I am finishing a run now that I hoped would finish last week. The run I wanted for this week hopefully will finish next week. There were some other changes several weeks ago that meant more steel, sandblasting, and working steel, as in cutting to mill table length etc. I didn’t have a way of cutting 8” wide steel without torching it. Bought a DeWalt Radial arm saw, mounted an abrasive blade and water line on it. Works like a charm. Almost perfect cuts and nearly as fast as a torch. Still have to mill the ends but only about 1/16”. Had to build a 4’ x 8’ Blasting cabinet for prepping the steel. Could have just painted over the crappy surface that it comes with but most people know that would just lead to the paint peeling. Would have gotten them out the door faster but that isn’t how I work.

All this stuff takes time. Some things cannot be put off. They have to be done just to get the job done. All the setup that can be put off until later is. This is being done a fast as I can do it.

Someone mentioned earlier that this has taken a ridiculous amount of time. I agree. I have 20+ years in my business and have never been behind like this. I don’t like it and I am not going to let it continue. I have to get caught up, do the new column mount, do the new from scratch column and catch up on my computer client’s work.

One client asked if this product was going to continue to be built. The answer is a strong Yes. Not only is it going to be built but it will have a complete line of add ons that will make it a very professional unit. I have and will have more than I can do so anything I can show the customer how to do I will provide the info.

I don’t have a single client that has not been more than patient. I have given 5 refunds out of about 40 orders. Each of those that got a refund was very polite. Anyone wants a refund contact me.

I see some talk about benches. 3’ x 6’ works good. The bench I am using now is 36 inches tall. I am 6'1” and that bench is probably 4” too tall far me. 32” would be perfect. When I do build a bench just for this mill it will be solid concrete. I am going to do MDF forms coated with wax. It will be designed to be bolted together in sections. Included will be 2 drawers in the front for tooling. Under the drawers is the electronics, dedicated shop vac, flood cooling system etc. Plans and kits will be available.

Enclosure – I am working with my monitor to the right of the column and behind the table travel. Ignore the concrete blocks under the monitor. Right now, if it works, it’s used. My keyboard sits just to the right of the base. Works great. My plan is to have an enclosure for the monitor that keeps it at eye level and just to the side of the column. Under the monitor the enclosure will have drawer storage. A matching enclosure with drawers for the left side. Keyboard is on the right side of base. Working parts storage is on the left of the base. All this stays the same with flood cooling. Just need to control the flow. Plan on build those things with polypropylene. Those Plexiglas guards work great. I have Golden Retriever shop dogs so I can’t let anything get on the floor. The air nozzle and the Plexiglas keep everything back.

The vice in the pic is holding a small piece of black iron pipe. Those are inserts for both the column riser and the head spacer. They have to be cut to exact size before inserting. I buy 21’ sections of black iron, cut it to 2” lengths and then mill it to 1 7/8” for the column riser and 1 ¾” for the head spacer. These go between ¼” steel plates and the whole thing is cast with P/C. Very strong. You’ll notice I am doing one at a time. Not very efficient. What I need to do is build a jig so I can do 48 at a time. That’s is exactly the kind of scenario that is holding things up.

I can tell everyone here that I am disappointed in the time this has taken. Do I regret it? No Way. Would I do it again? In a heartbeat. Sometimes I look back at my decisions. The only regret that consistently comes to mind is when I walked out on a fine girl with big ti** about 20 years ago.

later,
Harlow
http://cncbridges.com/

[Harlow]

Dropride – I know who you are. You’re the guy that has contacted me once after all this time. Totally blew me away when I looked at our correspondence. I have several others that have not contacted me. Guess they are staying posted through this thread. Don’t ever think that emailing me or calling me is a bother. Feel free. I owe you. It would be very self-centered of me to think that is a bother.

thanks,
Harlow
http://cncbridges.com/

[alexccmeister]

I can tell everyone here that I am disappointed in the time this has taken. Do I regret it? No Way. Would I do it again? In a heartbeat. Sometimes I look back at my decisions. The only regret that consistently comes to mind is when I walked out on a fine girl with big ti** about 20 years ago.

HI DeWayne,

I feel for you on this one..... Nice to read your post from time to time and updating us on the progress. Good luck.

[nine 16]

Hey DeWayne, I second alexccmeister's comment above. Looking good.

[Barry Young]

Here are the newest pictures of the bench I am building for the CNCBridges table and X2 minimill column/head assembly. It should be stout.

The end frames that I showed you earlier were tied together by 2x4 stringers half lapped into the feet and glued and screwed. These only provide support to the bottom of the cabinet so they did not require a lot of strength. Next plywood was cut for the floor, cabinet back and cabinet top and screwed to the stringers and frames.

Next 2X3 front and rear top stringers were half lapped into the stubs at the tops of the frames with the tops of these stringers 1 1/8 above the tops of the end frames to come flush with the 1 1/8 flooring plywood that fills the field of the bench top.

End stringers made of 2X4 material were half lapped into the ends of the longitudinal stringers. All four stringers were dowelled with contrasting Walnut dowel because that is what was on hand.

Finally, a rabbet was routed all the way around the inside of the stringers level with the top of the end frames. This provides a nesting surface for the plywood infill. After cutting the plywood we slipped it in place and the bench top was complete except for a few screws. This technique makes the bench top easily replacable as it gets damaged.

Next time I will have the cabinet doors on and will have the finish applied.

Barry Young
Young Camera Company

[wadoman]

Wow Barry thats looking good. To bad I cant make mine so big. Im very short on space, but again looks good.

[Brass_Machine]

Not to steal this thread from Dewayne, but Barry, that table looks good. Any chance of releasing the build plans for it?

Thanks
Eric

DeWayne... as soon as I get the money, I will be placing an order. Plus I want to give you a chance to catch up.

[Cruiser]

Barry, a little stain and laquer and it'll look good in the office ...... but what will ya put the machine on ? ! Just thought that since i was kinda watchin this thread i'd comment on the table.

[BEARINGMAN]

It seems to me like this thread is getting a little long in the tooth, isn't it about time we had our own forum instead of continuing to post in the product announcements forum? I see this expanding a lot more once we all get our machines, and there will be a lot of questions and tips to pass along, just like the bench. It's been nice to have one place to get info, but now I want a home!

[wadoman]

I completely agree with bearingman. Might be a good idea.

[alexccmeister]

I concur with our our esteem colleagues above. +1

[Barry Young]

Hi Wadoman: Thank you very much. It is sturdy enough to park a towtruck on.

Hi Flood: Yes, I thought about publishing the plans, but most folks probably would not want to build this bench because of all the time mortise and tenonning and the cost of the hardwood and so on. It took three full workdays to make the thing. If there is enough interest and people want to pay around $10 per set of plans, I will make some nice CAD drawings and parts list and so on.

Barry Young
Young Camera Company

[Barry Young]

Hey Cruiser:

I thought maybe some banana boxes for the mill table so I don't muss up my purdy bench.

Tonight I will start to wire the thing and put in the "cooling system".

Barry Young
Young Camera Company

[Barry Young]

It seems to me like this thread is getting a little long in the tooth, isn't it about time we had our own forum instead of continuing to post in the product announcements forum? I see this expanding a lot more once we all get our machines, and there will be a lot of questions and tips to pass along, just like the bench. It's been nice to have one place to get info, but now I want a home!

Right On Bearingman. We are up to 25 pages now.

Barry Young
Young Camera Company