[Madclicker]

This is a twist on the usual "use the first machine to make parts for the second".

Background:

We went through 3 hurricanes in 5 weeks last year. I was flipping a property at the time and had an active contract that kept getting stalled because of the storm damage. Upside was the beginning of this year someone gave me a hurricane damaged doublewide. Stipulation was that I had to move it, demo a Florida room and carport and prep the lot for the new home. Ended up being a new flip project. I more than paid for the day labor for the demo from the Al i sold to the crusher and ended up keeping several very nice windows, sliding doors and some very nice structural and cage Al that I'm gonna make my second machine from.

I say second machine, because of what I've learned on this site. I want my first machine to be MDF based and smaller than the Al based table I started with. Learn on the cheap! I always intended my Al machine to be a cnc eventually, but I built it to originally be a glue-up and outfeed table for my table saw and router table. I cut all the pieces for the final design but didn't put it all together at first (see the first pic of the skeleton). It worked well for the many months I've used it, but now that I want to make torsion boxes, the old slop won't do. I had (est) .020 droop between the 4' spans for the 3/4" melamine MDF. OK for the cabinet work I was doing, but not good enough for torsion boxes.

This is my first post, so I'm gonna see how it goes....won't be my last!

Steve

[Madclicker]

Don't have the pic attach thing figured out. Help?

[spalm]

Welcome to the Zone.

Your Mom had good taste in naming children.

Show us your stuff, we can probably help. Anyone from a town called Lakeland deserves a break from all the storms.

Edit: Click on the Manage Attachments button to upload a pic. It has to be 800 X 600 or less, and less that .5meg in size.

Steve

[Madclicker]

Steve,

I don't know yet how to post the pics i have taken....oh, smaller pics only (chair)

[2muchstuff]

Are the pictures downloaded from your camera into your computer yet.

[Madclicker]

OK, trying this pic post. This is my original glue-up table. Also serves as a great outfeed table.

[Madclicker]

yahoo!

[Madclicker]

I moved the top onto the router/saw table to do this.

[2muchstuff]

See how simple that was. Now you have to keep us posted with all kinds of pictures.

[2muchstuff]

To stiffen up that table for router use, I would add some diagonals between the legs and table, a couple more cross pieces under the table top and maybe a second piece under the other lenghtwise piece for support of the rails and gantry. Just an observation.

[Madclicker]

yep, gettin easier. here's how I joined the outside corners. Ripped the flatbar from the 3" square tube. You haven't lived till you did a kickback with Al on a tablesaw.

[2muchstuff]

Freud makes a nice multi tooth blade designed for non-ferrous metals.

Hope it didn't kickback into you.

[Madclicker]

my worst kick back was from a panel. The Al kick was bad, but just so so

[2muchstuff]

Are those bolts with nuts backing them up or self drilling screws. If they are self drilling screws that won't do. The constant starting, stopping and changing direction of the gantry will loosen up things for sure.

[Madclicker]

Not self drilling but lag bolts impacted into too small predrilled holes. Also, each corner has an angle gusset on the inside with 6 more bolts....making a total of 22 bolts per corner. Don't think it's going anywhere. We'll see.

You must be a mind reader 2much. The pic below shows the extra Al to beef up the table and support the top better.

Steve

[Madclicker]

I finished beefing up the frame and the first pic shows the structural and cage Al I will use to make the gantry and X motor and bearing posts....at least. The second pic shows how i use the lower table to store production parts and sub-assemblies. The extra storage is long overdue. Under the lower shelf I'll store my overflow tool boxes and free up even more floor space. Makes me happy as a dancing banana!

The last pic is the finished table. It is extremely solid, square, rigid, and more important to the first machine, it is dead nuts flat. You can see how I use it as an outfeed table for the tablesaw and router table. Also in the background is another freebee from this flip project. I made a nice clamp rack from some of the cage Al.

I guess this project will be on hold until I get my first machine in production. I'll start another blog for it soon.

Steve

[2muchstuff]

With all those small pieces of wood, what is it that you make.

[Madclicker]

LOL,

You pick up on 2much! I build custom router tables.

Steve

[2muchstuff]

I bought one from Rockler hardware with all the trimmings over the summer and have yet to assemble it. I will admit that I didn't get the fancy lift mechanism. I'm hoping to eventually get the big Porter Cable router, what is it something like 3.25 HP. Currently I have an older Craftsman 2 HP unit with a 1/4" collet. My end result here is to make new raised panel arch doors for the kitchen out of white oak.

What is your opinion of those quick change collets/bit holders. There is a Sears Hardware store cross town closing it's doors and they are 30% off for the kit.

[Madclicker]

I don't how much is too commercial on this site. I'll just post a few pics of the tables I sell. I bet some have seen them before on other sites.

Steve