Posted: 5/11/2015 4:36:51 PM EDT
|
I will be building a workstation that will encompass my contractor table saw and my router table. The workstation needs to be mobile, so I will be building a torsion box to stiffen the ¾" plywood base to which the six rolling and locking casters will be attached.
Question: What kind of material would be best for building the vertical stiffeners of the torsion box, more plywood, or hardwood? Needless to say, the plywood would be oriented so the plys run vertically (duh). Since I'm not sure if I will be using oak or maple for this, just assume that the plywood and hardwood would be made of the same base wood (i.e. - Maple plywood with Maple hardwood, or Oak plywood with Oak hardwood). Whatever is chosen will be glued and screwed to the base layer of plywood, which will measure ¾". That will very likely have another layer of ¾" laid over the top of it, glued and screwed. The second layer will be the bottom of the cabinets for,img the workstation. Thanks. |
|
I'm not sure how much weight the base needs to support or how stiff you want it.
Have you considered buying a smooth-sided door? These are light for their size, stiff, inexpensive, come pre-primed for painting, have a solid wood perimeter frame*,... there's a lot there for not much cash. The core only takes shear loads, so you can orient the wood in any direction you want. I've used these for table tops and shelving to hold my heavy audio gear. They work really well. * They also have at least one additional solid wood section where the lock would go, in case you want to cut it down a bit. |
|
Not hardwood for the internal gridwork. It will move and probably throw the surface out of flat.
1/2" MDF is good, as would baltic birch ply. You can put a hardwood skirt around the torsion box for appearance if you want. I built one several years ago as an assembly table, based on the design done by David Marks (professional woodworker and he had a good woodworking show on DIY before that network became useless). I used 1/2" mdf all around, except for 3/4" for the outer vertical spacer strips. It is heavy, and quite sturdy. It supported my roubo work bench and about 24 bessey k body clamps when I was building the bench top. That had to be at least 250 lbs, if not more. Unless you have a little jib crane or hoist, what are you going to put on there that weighs 500 lbs? DIY used to have a dowloadable set of instructions for building it, but it looks like the link has been taken down. There's not much to it really. The big thing is setting up a flat and level base that you will build it up on. If you search "david marks torsion box" you may still find some videos on line that shows how he did this. Otherwise you could buy the dvd for the season he did the show. It may be available for less from other sources. The internal grind on mine was about 6" spacing. http://www.djmarks.com/store/seasons/woodworks-season-4-dvd-set/ See if you have a rockler or woodcraft store nearby. Otherwise a specialty lumber /hardwood distributor or retailer near you probably has it. If you need a worksurface for beating stuff on, you should consider getting some 8/4 hardwood like hard maple or ash. Rip the boards so they are about 4" wide, and whatever length you need. Joint and plate the surfaces, and glue and clamp together to make your worksurface. It will be extremely rigid and tought. Then plane or sand (if you know of somebody with a wide belt sander) the surfaces flat. |
|
This unit will be holding a SawStop contractor saw with two cast-iron wings and a third cast-iron piece comprising the router table. The saw alone is damned heavy, and each wing weighs a good 50 pounds or so.
Additionally, the storage unit will contain saw blades, jigs, setup tools, etc., as well as hand routers, router bits and tools, a biscuit jointer, jig saws, circular saws, etc. All things considered, my weight estimate may fall short. She's gonna be a biggie workhorse. 
ETA: I will shamelessly be ripping off this guy: http://lumberjocks.com/comments/on/1128551/page/1 
Mine will be about a foot narrower because he has the 52" fence, while mine is only 36". |
|
Quoted:
This unit will be holding a SawStop contractor saw with two cast-iron wings and a third cast-iron piece comprising the router table. The saw alone is damned heavy, and each wing weighs a good 50 pounds or so. Additionally, the storage unit will contain saw blades, jigs, setup tools, etc., as well as hand routers, router bits and tools, a biscuit jointer, jig saws, circular saws, etc. All things considered, my weight estimate may fall short. She's gonna be a biggie workhorse.
ETA: I will shamelessly be ripping off this guy: http://lumberjocks.com/comments/on/1128551/page/1 https://s3.amazonaws.com/lumberjocks.com/lezt2f9.jpg Mine will be about a foot narrower because he has the 52" fence, while mine is only 36". I might have plans for exactly what you are building in an old issue of Wood Magazine. If you IM me a good email address I'll see if I can find it and will scan a copy to you. |
