Prometheus
Well-known member
- Joined
- May 17, 2006
- Messages
- 104
I'm in the early stages of designing and building a stand on which to put my radial arm saw (a MBF), hopefully a bench top DP, and my granite surface plate. What I'm envisioning is the RAS in the middle flanked by the surface plate and bench top DP. Removable pieces would then go over the base of the DP and the surface plate to make the entire surface the same height as the RAS table. That part I think will work, but I also would like the front of the stand totally open and unobstructed so I can easily store other items under the stand - I'm thinking shop vac and trash can or my tablesaw workstation.
I have access to a welder, but I'd like to make the two ends and the back portion 3 separate pieces for ease for transport (the welder is not at my house nor easily transportable). So, my hope is to make a solid stand and prevent racking as much as possible.
I'm planning on something like this for the ends all welded together:
For the tops of the square tubing I'm thinking a bit creatively - weld a weldnut to a piece of flatbar, then invert the assembly and weld it to the top of the square tube serving as a leg. Exploded like this:
This would give me 2 end legs with threaded nuts on the top (total of 4 bolt points). I could also just weld the flat bar to the square tube and tap the hole, but I'm sure the weldnut would give me more thread length and they're something I haven't used before, so a chance to play with something new
.
The design piece I'm struggling with a bit is how to do the back and prevent the racking. I could do something similar to the leg tops - take a piece of tube and put weldnuts on both ends, then bolt through the side legs into that piece. I'm not sure that would prevent racking the bench much though. I thought about using a piece of sheet metal 6-8 inches tall, but I'm afraid over the span of the bench (5ish feet) the sheet metal would just flex. I've also considered using 2 pieces of threaded rod the whole width of the bench set a foot or 2 apart vertically and held in place with jamb nuts and fender washers. Any other ideas I'm missing here? I know the easy solution would be to just weld a piece of tubing between the ends but I wouldn't have any way of transporting the stand when I complete it that way. Thanks in advance.
I have access to a welder, but I'd like to make the two ends and the back portion 3 separate pieces for ease for transport (the welder is not at my house nor easily transportable). So, my hope is to make a solid stand and prevent racking as much as possible.
I'm planning on something like this for the ends all welded together:
For the tops of the square tubing I'm thinking a bit creatively - weld a weldnut to a piece of flatbar, then invert the assembly and weld it to the top of the square tube serving as a leg. Exploded like this:
This would give me 2 end legs with threaded nuts on the top (total of 4 bolt points). I could also just weld the flat bar to the square tube and tap the hole, but I'm sure the weldnut would give me more thread length and they're something I haven't used before, so a chance to play with something new
. The design piece I'm struggling with a bit is how to do the back and prevent the racking. I could do something similar to the leg tops - take a piece of tube and put weldnuts on both ends, then bolt through the side legs into that piece. I'm not sure that would prevent racking the bench much though. I thought about using a piece of sheet metal 6-8 inches tall, but I'm afraid over the span of the bench (5ish feet) the sheet metal would just flex. I've also considered using 2 pieces of threaded rod the whole width of the bench set a foot or 2 apart vertically and held in place with jamb nuts and fender washers. Any other ideas I'm missing here? I know the easy solution would be to just weld a piece of tubing between the ends but I wouldn't have any way of transporting the stand when I complete it that way. Thanks in advance.