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Woodworking
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Haus
I am Big Balls!
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OK, stepping back from fancy schmancy CnC and resin projects....
I'm about to re-org things in my garage/workshop. This is going to free up a nice stretch of wall along the back. I want to have a nice workspace/bench there. Problem is I still need to be able to fit 2 cars in the garage when I'm not using it as my workshop. So I am thinking a fold down/fold up workbench top. Looks like this could handle up to a 5' wide by 3' deep if it folded down. But also I realize 2'-2.5' deep is probably plenty deep enough. Any of you guys done a similar project? Some plans online, but none of grabbing me as particularly compelling. Also trying not to over-fancy it, but at the same time some fancy wouldn't kill me. heh
Right now thinking fold down workbench, hinged/mounted against the wall. 4x4 posts for the front legs with hinges so they fold away as the workbench goes up, then 2x4 framing.
Concern is that it needs to be sturdy enough to handle me packing sandcasting molds on it. (Which involves frames filled with sand and be tamping/pounding sand down into them, which isn't a stupidly intensive use case I know.)
I'm about to re-org things in my garage/workshop. This is going to free up a nice stretch of wall along the back. I want to have a nice workspace/bench there. Problem is I still need to be able to fit 2 cars in the garage when I'm not using it as my workshop. So I am thinking a fold down/fold up workbench top. Looks like this could handle up to a 5' wide by 3' deep if it folded down. But also I realize 2'-2.5' deep is probably plenty deep enough. Any of you guys done a similar project? Some plans online, but none of grabbing me as particularly compelling. Also trying not to over-fancy it, but at the same time some fancy wouldn't kill me. heh
Right now thinking fold down workbench, hinged/mounted against the wall. 4x4 posts for the front legs with hinges so they fold away as the workbench goes up, then 2x4 framing.
Concern is that it needs to be sturdy enough to handle me packing sandcasting molds on it. (Which involves frames filled with sand and be tamping/pounding sand down into them, which isn't a stupidly intensive use case I know.)
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What is the bed size on that? - nm I looked it up. About 32" square. Do you find that limiting for table making? Do you ever do full sized tables (30 x 60+)? Mine is 54" x 70" and I wish I could fit more length in my shop sometimes.
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Bandwagon
Kolohe
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Something like 31in x 31in work area.
I'd like to upgrade to something that can do 3ft x 4ft or more, but there's a big price jump past this size. Most of the ones I want are 20k-50k, but i did find a brand that has one for about 8k. Don't remember the name though. I bookmarked it at work.
I'd like to upgrade to something that can do 3ft x 4ft or more, but there's a big price jump past this size. Most of the ones I want are 20k-50k, but i did find a brand that has one for about 8k. Don't remember the name though. I bookmarked it at work.
Bandwagon
Kolohe
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Enormously. Dining room tables and desks tend to be the high dollar ones. Maybe coffee tables. I can't do those in one go with this one. I can join tile pieces together, but I don't really want to.
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Captain Suave
Caesar si viveret, ad remum dareris.
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Something like the would be plenty sturdy (unless you need the bench to have mass for stability/dampening), with the bonus of having wheels and not being stuck to your garage wall.
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Agreed. 4x4 and larger are mostly commercial. Mine was almost 30k after tax and freight. 4x8 class is at least 50k if you want auto tool change and a 5hp spindle. But you get what you pay for. The accuracy and power is pretty crazy. Mine also has a built in CNC lathe.
I was actually looking at this to get into cncing:
sienci.com
$2100 with a 50" x 34" work area. I guess the reason its so cheap is because of less accuracy, power, rigidity? Is there some sort of minimum baseline I should be looking for?
LongMill MK2.5 Beginners Kit | Sienci Labs
Orders ship in 7-10 days The LongMill Benchtop CNC MK2.5 Beginner's Kit comes with everything we recommend starting for your first step in CNC! Learn more about the Beginner's Kit here.
sienci.com
$2100 with a 50" x 34" work area. I guess the reason its so cheap is because of less accuracy, power, rigidity? Is there some sort of minimum baseline I should be looking for?
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I was actually looking at this to get into cncing:
LongMill MK2.5 Beginners Kit | Sienci Labs
Orders ship in 7-10 days The LongMill Benchtop CNC MK2.5 Beginner's Kit comes with everything we recommend starting for your first step in CNC! Learn more about the Beginner's Kit here.
$2100 with a 50" x 34" work area. I guess the reason its so cheap is because of less accuracy, power, rigidity? Is there some sort of minimum baseline I should be looking for?
So I think there's a CNC thread somewhere on the forum where others may have opinions. I only build furniture and mine is a commercial product. I can tell you the major differences.
This unit is light weight and made from extruded aluminum. Mine weighs about 3,000 lbs and is made from heavy walled steel square tubing. The rigidity difference is night and day. This contributes to both accuracy and repeatability.
The motion mechanism on this unit looks like cogs/belts. Belts stretch and have some play in them. Mine runs on long 1.25" stainless steel lead screws like a lathe does. Again, higher accuracy and repeatability.
This unit comes with a makita 1.25hp trim router. I didn't look it up, but usually the speed range is 3000 to 12000 RPM. You'll be limited to 1/4" router bits. Mine is a 5hp liquid cooled spindle with a range from 0 to 25,000 RPM. I can use up to 3/4" router/shaper bits. This gives a much wider range of material and process options.
This unit uses a software controller that takes the g-code and translates it into motor movements. That unit has 3 (xyz) . Mine uses hardware controllers, one for each motor (8 synchronized motors - a pair for each of xyza)
Theres many more differences. But if you want a hobby / prosumer machine in this class, there's quite a number to choose from in the under $3k budget. You're just compromising on size, power, rigidity, accuracy, repeatability.
If you don't need this for business reasons, it looks like a fine option. There are plenty of those to choose from. Pick something with good support from the manufacturer or at least a thriving hobbyist community.
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Intrinsic
Person of Whiteness
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Saw this on Instagram and thought it was pretty funny. They gave a few other interesting things on their shop page too.
cwandt.com
McMaster-Card
Some projects start because we want a thing, others because we love a thing. 10 random cards in each pack.Since 2009 we’ve worn perfectly sized McMaster-Carr High-Temperature High-Purity Silicone O-rings on our fourth fingers. Taylor’s is part no. 9396K21, Che-Wei’s part no. 939K28. In our...
cwandt.com
Cutlery
Kill All the White People
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I don't want to buy a jointer.
I don't really have room for a full size one in the garage, and I don't really wanna fuck with a tabletop one. I also don't know how much use I'd get out of it beyond this walnut project.
But I have these live edge slabs that I wanna turn some into dimensional lumber, and for that, I need an actual edge.
How crazy am I to think that I can clamp this shit to a MDF sled and run this shit thru my table saw to get an edge? I can't see why it wouldn't work. I mean, it's gotta work better than a jointer, because I couldn't imagine running a live edge board thru a jointer either.
I don't really have room for a full size one in the garage, and I don't really wanna fuck with a tabletop one. I also don't know how much use I'd get out of it beyond this walnut project.
But I have these live edge slabs that I wanna turn some into dimensional lumber, and for that, I need an actual edge.
How crazy am I to think that I can clamp this shit to a MDF sled and run this shit thru my table saw to get an edge? I can't see why it wouldn't work. I mean, it's gotta work better than a jointer, because I couldn't imagine running a live edge board thru a jointer either.
Soygen
The Dirty Dozen For the Price of One
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As someone who has a tabletop one, avoid it. I have a "decent" midrange 10" spiral Wahuda(pic below) and it's taken a massive amount of work to get it really dialed in and squared up perfectly, and even then the length just sucks for any real kind of large size pieces. It has extensions, but they are just not even close to as good as the full size cast iron beds on the big jointers. It's good enough for making boxes and small cabinetry. A decent planer and a jointer jig is really the way to go for a home shop.
Do you have any lumber shops/yards around you? They might have some more industrial size planers/jointers to dimension stuff for you.
Burns
Avatar of War Slayer
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If you live in or close to a decent size city/metro you might have one or more places you could take it and buy some planner, jointing, and sanding work. Depending on the size of the item(s), it should be fairly cheap. Things to look for are wood mills or even call a place that sells hardwood lumber for woodworkers to see if they know some places.
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YEah there is a place by me, or there was, have not been there in a while. But they sold raw unmilled hardwood planks of all kinds of sizes. But their main business was making custom trim. Like, they would make a cutter to match your existing trim if you had an old house or whatever, or pick one of hundreds of profiles they had in stock. They would mill for you if you bought your hardwood there. They would ask if you anted it jointed and planed on 1 side. Usually thats enough for you to make square and parallel if you have a table saw and a planer. They also had those big 72" drum sanders and shit too.
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Intrinsic
Person of Whiteness
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I really don’t think it is that bad of an idea to use a track saw like suggested or a sled on a table saw like you suggested. In essence you’re just establishing or translating a reference to your new edge. I did it quite a bit on my table saw before having a jointer and even used a long level before making a sled. There’s a ton of YouTube videos showing how to do it on a table saw or with a track saw.
Granted there’s a reason jointers exist but for this I think you could do it and be just fine. If nothing else give it a shot on some scrap to see how the process works and your general feel for the results.
Cutlery
Kill All the White People
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No. That sounds like it takes up even more room than a jointer!
This is the kinda shit I'm working with (I know, been awhile since we talked about this project...working nights fucked up my whole life for a year).
A 1/2in endmill bit sped this process up A LOT. Some of this stuff is gonna be useable as slabs, but some of it is bowed/cupped to the point where I'd be hogging off so much material it's not worth it, and might as well just cut it down, use it for table legs, or drawer faces and shit.
I really can't see any issues with running this shit thru a table saw on a sled, getting a square edge, then ripping off that square edge, but that's why I'm asking here, to see how sound my logic is.
Captain Suave
Caesar si viveret, ad remum dareris.
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Table saw sled will be cheapest, but bulkier than a tracksaw. I recently bought a cordless tracksaw to help break down sheet goods, and it's amazing. Cost aside, I'd definitely prefer it to the sled as a jointer substitute. Faster, easier setup, more stable in use.
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