Tool stand

[Coop]

My concern with your design is that there are only the two pieces of 1/4” ply that connect the two sides. That and your banding. Although the rigidity of your machines, 1/2 bolted to each side will offer some support. Take a child’s see-saw and have all of the board 8/4 and narrow it down to 1/2” at the pivot bar. Maybe I’m missing something? 

[SawDustB]

7 hours ago, K Cooper said:

My concern with your design is that there are only the two pieces of 1/4” ply that connect the two sides. That and your banding. Although the rigidity of your machines, 1/2 bolted to each side will offer some support. Take a child’s see-saw and have all of the board 8/4 and narrow it down to 1/2” at the pivot bar. Maybe I’m missing something? 

Fair enough, it's a valid concern. The edge banding is 3/4"x1 3/4" ash on edge, so it should add significantly to the rigidity. I did also get some 1/8" thick steel mending plates to go across the gap, and they'll go just on the inside. The assembly should still be reasonably stiff even without that, because it ends up being almost like a torsion box with the plywood skins on the top and bottom. I was careful to fill in most of the interior, so nothing can flex very much.

The other reason I'm not too concerned is because this isn't going to be a workbench I pound on. The drill press and planer both are quite stiff in how their bases are constructed, so they'll contribute to the overall structure once bolted down (and I am planning to through bolt with washers). This is a bit of an experiment, and I'll add another layer of ply if I really need to.

[SawDustB]

To illustrate what I mean, this is where the steel will go, on top and bottom. You can also see the ash edge banding, which is glued and screwed to the inner frame.

 

[SawDustB]

So after test fitting with the drill press, it looks like my drawer can only be 4". I guess it's still worth adding. I managed to drill the holes in the frame 1" away from where they were supposed to be, so the pivot point is off center in the stand. I had been considering adding a piece of maple there to take the abuse anyway, so it looks like that's now required . 

[Chestnut]

This is an awesome project so far. I think your design is goign in the right direction with the top and you should be more than fine.

[Jonathan McCully]

Just looking at this thread for the first time. Like what you’ve done so far. I too recently built a flip top based on the Wood article that multiple people have mentioned.

Ended up a bit bigger than I wanted, but I’m also planning to extend the infeed and outfeed support on both tools in the future. Cart is on casters which is necessary for nearly everything on the floor in my small shop. Finished it by spraying shellac.

[SawDustB]

1 hour ago, Jonathan McCully said:

Just looking at this thread for the first time. Like what you’ve done so far. I too recently built a flip top based on the Wood article that multiple people have mentioned.

Looks good. Mine is the absolute minimum size I could get away with, just because of floor space. I bet yours is probably pretty stable. I expect that I may end up clamping mine to the work bench if I have large work pieces.

[SawDustB]

Moving right along... I measured for the supports and added them using pocket screws, to speed things up a bit. I also put in the plywood side panels. Those will come into play with adding some storage. I'm loving the new compressor. It's quiet, so I can now use my Brad nailer at night. Next is the bottom panel and some additional support in the corners, then the tool attachment and the drawer. I may end up painting it, since I'm using up random unmatched scraps.

[Coop]

That is really looking good. Will you be adding castors? 

[SawDustB]

7 hours ago, K Cooper said:

That is really looking good. Will you be adding castors? 

Thanks! Yes, I think I put a picture of them somewhere on the first page. They're 3" castors, and add 4" in overall height. For now, I figure it's easier to work on without them. One nice thing about using the pine frame is they'll be easy to attach.

[SawDustB]

I added a couple more braces from front to back. They should stiffen it a bit, and they give me a spot to attach the plywood bottom that will keep dust out of the drawer. I attached my tools and took it for a test spin. Seems to work well. The balance is really good, so it doesn't take much effort to flip. I bolted through with t nuts, which should be secure without protruding too far on the opposite side.

[SawDustB]

I'd probably get through this quicker if I had more than an hour or two at a time. I installed the castors, and put in the drawer slides. I went with self closing ones from Lee Valley that hold it quite firmly closed once you get within the last 2" of travel. I also added a back on the drawer compartment as well as a top, which keeps out dust but also stiffened up the whole frame. I've rounded over most of the sharp bits. Next up I need to build a drawer. I'm debating what method to use. I want to be done, so I'd like it to be quick, but I should probably use the opportunity to practice a method I would want to use on furniture. I'm also thinking about finish - should I paint it, or throw on a coat of varnish? I may do a combination, painting the pine and underlayment plywood...

[Bankstick]

Good  project! Sets me thinking on doing this to save floor space.  I have a chop saw that is on an old BBQ cart. Don't use it much so it could be stored somewhere else.

SawdustB, your DP looks like my Delta DP.

[JohnG]

It's coming right along! I'll probably start a similar build this winter.

 

[gee-dub]

On 11/12/2018 at 12:00 PM, SawDustB said:

So after test fitting with the drill press, it looks like my drawer can only be 4". I guess it's still worth adding. I managed to drill the holes in the frame 1" away from where they were supposed to be, so the pivot point is off center in the stand. I had been considering adding a piece of maple there to take the abuse anyway, so it looks like that's now required . 

I actually used plastic shoe boxes.  These are about a buck, have snap on lids that keep dust out and can be pushed to one side or the other as required.  One holds all the Ridgid spindle/belt accessories and the other holds spare abrasives, sleeves and belts.

[SawDustB]

11 hours ago, Bankstick said:

Good  project! Sets me thinking on doing this to save floor space.  I have a chop saw that is on an old BBQ cart. Don't use it much so it could be stored somewhere else.

SawdustB, your DP looks like my Delta DP.

I think I'll like having it. The drill press is a little 9" one that is one of the local store brands here. They likely all come out of the same off shore factory.

10 hours ago, gee-dub said:

I actually used plastic shoe boxes.  These are about a buck, have snap on lids that keep dust out and can be pushed to one side or the other as required.  One holds all the Ridgid spindle/belt accessories and the other holds spare abrasives, sleeves and belts.

That's a good idea. I might have gone that route if I hadn't put in the drawer slides and planned for it. I think the drawer is just going to get made out of pine/plywood as well. I've got a surplus that I've been trying to work through from some painted projects I did a couple of years ago (and then switched to using nicer wood).

[Bankstick]

Shoe boxes or storage boxes from the discount stores are great....up to a certain point. Example- My wife bought a bunch of plastic boxes with locking lids and even labeled them. Now I have to go all over the basement to find things that hadn't been moved in 26 years! Daddy's little helper? FWIW, I make custom pens; the plastic containers from the grocery used for deli meats are great. I can put the kit and the blank in it, ready for turning the blank and assembling. Plus they stack to save shelf space.

[SawDustB]

I built my drawer last night. Laziness won the day, and I opted for rabbets and screws. I didn't have any plywood big enough for the bottom, but I had a lot of 1/4" ply that is in long 4" strips. I glued it back together into a panel. The bottom is in a 1/4" groove that's 5/16" up, so I have room to put more strips going the other way glued on the bottom. It ended up with the box being 19"x20", so it should add a good amount of storage.

[SawDustB]

The drawer is now installed, and has a front. It operates well, and is exactly what I wanted. I did double up the bottom by gluing on more 1/4" plywood. Everything now has its round overs, and I sanded it up to 220. I think we're just about ready for finish.

With the pipe, I'm thinking I'll cut it off so it's entirely within the frame and then put a couple of screws to stop it rotating. It wants to spin in the platform, not the frame anyway. That'll solve a couple of things for me.

For keeping it in position, right now I'm thinking of just having pins that get put in. I bought barrel bolts to do it but they don't really fit. I didn't build around the standard method everyone uses with the eye bolts.

[SawDustB]

So I've started finishing. I threw a coat of Enduro var on the drawer front, to keep it light. I remembered seeing a post by @wtnhighlander about the Varathane wood aging product to make wood gray, so I decided to try it when I came across it in Home Depot. I was originally going to paint the frame (and I still might  depending on how this goes). I've applied it to everything except the drawer front. It looked cool on my test pieces, but they didn't have any glue on them... Because I was going to paint, I didn't worry about squeeze out, and just got it smooth. I think this might be a minor disaster, but we'll see. I'm making myself wait the hour before I go back out and look at it.

If it looks awful, I'll just blame Ross. And then quietly paint it. 

[Coop]

Brian, looking good so far. I reread this entire thread and I don’t find what you are using for a locking device for the top? The design that @gee-dub and I used from the Woodsmith plans not only locks the tray top in place but also pulls the sides snug to it. I don’t know about his but there is a space between the top and sides when not locked in on mine.

[SawDustB]

41 minutes ago, K Cooper said:

Brian, looking good so far. I reread this entire thread and I don’t find what you are using for a locking device for the top? The design that @gee-dub and I used from the Woodsmith plans not only locks the tray top in place but also pulls the sides snug to it. I don’t know about his but there is a space between the top and sides when not locked in on mine.

Thanks Coop. That's the one part of the design that has turned out to be a little harder than I thought. My current plan is to install 4 barrel bolts on the corners. There's an arrangement where they're on the bottom with the front corners, and on top with the back corners that lets me use all 4 in both positions.

Currently, there isn't a space on mine between the platform and the sides. It's basically an exact fit, but the frame has enough give that it can be rotated. I may just add a little wax to it so it rubs by itself easier. The axle will be locked to the frame, which means it will be unable to spread apart.

I can't use the mechanism on yours with how I did the platform, and it would have required notching a big piece of my frame. If it's an issue, I can use something like a couple of sash locks to pull the sides tight on the platform.

Here's where it sits after applying the wood weathering solution. I think I needed to sand it to a coarser grit, and the glue squeeze out is an issue. I got much better color on a test piece that was rougher. I'll decide tomorrow if I try to fix it, or just paint it.

[SawDustB]

Well, my wife looked at the stand with me and visibly cringed because of the wood weathering. I think I'll give it a sanding tomorrow and try one more time, then the paint is coming out. Oh well, no big loss on a pine shop project. 

[Chestnut]

Why not clear? Too many odd species of wood together?

[SawDustB]

I didn't pick the wood combo for its looks. All of it came from the scrap bin. I figured I'd try the weathering effect since I was curious. Here's what it looks like right now:

It looks worse in person than the picture. I don't think I'd get it all off without a lot of sanding. My original plan was to paint the pine/ply and clear coat the edging. I may go back to that.