brewdexta
The biggest tool in the box
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I decided to make a better holey table, and eventually combine it with a mitre saw table. Phase 1 is just a MFT style bench with hinged rail. Phase 2 will be to add the mitre saw at one end on a separate mobile table, that will use the holey table for its main fence.
Phase 1 is nearly complete, first I was given a steel bench, the top was a bodge so that went and I welded some old angle iron on to the lower back to provide support for an under shelf.
A coat of black smoothrite
Then build a top, I overhung it 4" at the back and about another 6" at the front as I wanted at least a metre width. I used a bit of 12mm OSB for the base as it is just to stop sawdust falling onto the stuff on the shelf and some 4 x 2 and 5 x 2 left over from other jobs.
The bench was quite low so adding the 5 x 2 meant I get my arm underneath the table to push out stubborn dogs and get stuff that drops through the holes and the top finished off at just over 900mm high which is about right.
Then build a hinge for the rail
This is mark 1, height adjusted by putting shims under the hinge, it will start at 20mm so a 2mm shim will make it 18mm. I'll make a mk 2 with better height adjustment later. I'm using Bosch/Mafell rail with really shallow t-slots underneath, M5 countersunk bolts slide in nicely
so tapped some holes in the 10mm aluminium plate that the hinge are on, tightened the bolts until the fit was tight and slid the rail onto them. I may use 4 bolts and drill holes on the top side so I can tighten them but for the prototype they work fine. This is only 600mm rail, I have a 1.1m rail on its way from a garden centre in Spain as even with postage it was 25 quid cheaper than anywhere else
Works nicely, even though I drilled the plate the wrong tapping size for the M5 bolts the first time, doh!
Just waiting for the rail and a longer length of 4020 profile for the hinge to slide on and some 2020 for the front. The front rail will have a plate with the inverse of the cross section of the underside of the rail in it so once the rail is squared with the dogs and the hinge locked down horizontally, the front of the rail will also be located so it can't move when you are using the track saw.
Cheers
Andy
Phase 1 is nearly complete, first I was given a steel bench, the top was a bodge so that went and I welded some old angle iron on to the lower back to provide support for an under shelf.
A coat of black smoothrite
Then build a top, I overhung it 4" at the back and about another 6" at the front as I wanted at least a metre width. I used a bit of 12mm OSB for the base as it is just to stop sawdust falling onto the stuff on the shelf and some 4 x 2 and 5 x 2 left over from other jobs.
The bench was quite low so adding the 5 x 2 meant I get my arm underneath the table to push out stubborn dogs and get stuff that drops through the holes and the top finished off at just over 900mm high which is about right.
Then build a hinge for the rail
This is mark 1, height adjusted by putting shims under the hinge, it will start at 20mm so a 2mm shim will make it 18mm. I'll make a mk 2 with better height adjustment later. I'm using Bosch/Mafell rail with really shallow t-slots underneath, M5 countersunk bolts slide in nicely
so tapped some holes in the 10mm aluminium plate that the hinge are on, tightened the bolts until the fit was tight and slid the rail onto them. I may use 4 bolts and drill holes on the top side so I can tighten them but for the prototype they work fine. This is only 600mm rail, I have a 1.1m rail on its way from a garden centre in Spain as even with postage it was 25 quid cheaper than anywhere else
Works nicely, even though I drilled the plate the wrong tapping size for the M5 bolts the first time, doh!
Just waiting for the rail and a longer length of 4020 profile for the hinge to slide on and some 2020 for the front. The front rail will have a plate with the inverse of the cross section of the underside of the rail in it so once the rail is squared with the dogs and the hinge locked down horizontally, the front of the rail will also be located so it can't move when you are using the track saw.
Cheers
Andy
