I'm a keen cabinet maker hobbyist. I'd like to make supports for supporting long pieces of wood while machining them. They have to be height adjustable
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I'm a keen cabinet maker hobbyist. I'd like to make supports for supporting long pieces of wood while machining them. They have to be height adjustable
Hi etie1009 - welcome to HomemadeTools.net :welcome:
Good question; I'm going to ask some of our woodworking guys if they have ideas for you.
The best designs I have seen involve a tripod base and telescoping "T" on top. It is easier to make a 4 legged base with crossed 2x4 s which will allow diagonal braces for additional stability. Usually there are 2 2x4 attached vertically to the base with a clamped or pinned slider to adjust height. The slider is capped with perpendicular 2x4 "T" top.Quote:
Originally Posted by etie1009
Hope this is helpful, and enjoy the work.
I use an adjustable height garment rack (something like this: https://www.amazon.com/Tatkraft-Adju...e+clothes+rack ), to support the outfeed table of my Shopsmith and to hold up the end of long boards for the chopsaw. One of my tenants left one when he moved out, so mine was free, but they are pretty cheap, easy to stash and they are sturdy. Downside is that it may be too tall for some applications, although I'm sure it can be fairly easily modified to a lower height range and still retain the adjustability.
I'm honored to be thought of as someone with an answer to this question, but I would like to know the answer too. I hope I can travel along and see how this turns out. Thanks you.
I also prefer the 'tripod' style, but use 3/4" plywood rather than 2"X4"s to save a little weight. Plywood is also much less likely to warp, twist, etc. In addition, I would suggest mounting either transfer ball bearings or a conveyor roller (I prefer the ball bearings) to the top rail. That way, you're never fighting wood-against-wood friction on your outfeed. Hope this helps!
Hello, You can buy telescopic metal feet, there are many in the trade. OR, make simple adjustable wooden feet. Or a little more sophisticated, make a hollow square foot in which an adjustable post slides.
Attachment 18076
I put steel channels made from two pieces of angle iron welded together and bolted to the sides of my table saw. I have a 20" or so extension made of MDF and 2x6 that plugs into the channels I can use as a router table if on the front or a table extension if slid into the motor side. I'll take photos if you want.
I looked at those roller stands available in many places and think they would not work well. They are too light if a board hits the small roller below center it will push the stand over. For a long board you need something that's anchored, maybe with a sandbag as ballast and a larger diameter so the board is gently guided over the top if it droops. You want something that either has a continuous surface off the back of the saw or a large diameter. I made some 5" radius supports from heavy cardboard from a cable reel but never came up with a good way to hold them in place except by clamping in a workmate which is awkward.
I have a couple of roller stands that I was lucky enough to find at second hand and pawn shops. But have built three myself. The way I see it you can spend about $50 in material and 3-4 hours of welding plus some engine lathe time. Or spend a little bit more and buy one from anyone of half dozen companies. There is a simple way to make versatile supports. First just this week someone posted adjustable wooden legs. Combine that idea with a couple of saw horses. In my younger and poorer days I made saw horses and screwed wood to the top till I got an acceptable height. If you want to know how I would make steel, adjustable roller stands. Let me know I would be happy to help. Mike
I have two different ones that I use for my table saw and my metal cutting bandsaws. They both started out as bases for stand fans. The one fan gave out, the other is mounted on the ceiling now. The bases are great and adjustable via the locking collars, though I have replaced one with a large 1/4-20 knob. I use rollers that were taken out of the x-ray processing machine at work as part of routine maintenance. The rollers do not really need bearings though these would be cheap enough to procure if desired. I have a metal working shop so cobbling the other parts together was easy, although simple iron pipe and pipe flanges from the hardware store would work great. The pipe from the hardware store could also replace the rollers though you would have a weight limitation if plastic pipe was used. Good Luck.Quote:
Originally Posted by gfabs001
This is my 8 1/4" Craftsman saw decked out with home made wings.
Attachment 18099
I have a roughly 3' square steel cabinet that I picked up somewhere that sits on the out-feed side of my table saw. I built drawers into the side of it to hold all my routers and accessories for the router table that sits in one of the wings of my table saw. On the far side of the cabinet from the table saw is a fold down top. Both the cabinet top and the fold down top are covered with Formica to provide a slick sliding surface. For shorter stock, I leave the folding top down. On longer stock I fold it up and support it with a single let in the center. This gives me a surface around 6' long to support my stock. It works very well, and quite often I find myself using it as an assembly table or work bench. I built the table so it could be easily moved to another spot in the shop if need be, but in reality, I've never moved it, so that feature was a waste.
Steve
