I followed the 2 series of assembling videos (the short one with Scott thatās like 15-20 minutes, and the LONG series with Chris - BTW it cracks me up everytime you crack yourself up!)
My machine is showing up in a week or so, and I need to build a bench because the one I was planning on is a little bit too short, and I kinda donāt wanna rebuild it because itās from my grandpa and I like it the janky way it is (probably not great for CNC though - a little too wobbly I think).
Since I am building a new bench for it - are there any āI wish I would have thought of when building my benchā type things? I saw the one video with the cool suspended vacuum. Anything else the community wishes they built into their bench?
Welcome to the forum @pkillur. I built a system to mount boards vertically in my table for doing dovetail and box joints. Iām really glad I did. If that interests you, I have some pictures of my setup in this post. You can see the vertical mounted board in the last picture.
If this interests you and you need more info I can post some more pics with the underside for my clamping system which is just a 2x4 with bolts at either end to clamp the wood.
Hey I love that holder for your wrenches and touchplate! Did you 3d print that?
Also - your enclosure sorta answered a question Iāve been kicking around in my head of āHow do I mount my vacuum hose without it falling down into the path of the toolheadā Might make the enclosure mandatory. Iām thinking of putting a camera in with lighting so that I can remotely view it while a job is running - itās going to either be in my basement or garage - that enclosure would help give enough clearance to properly view.
Yeah I 3D printed the holder and I made another one to hold my allen keys and some clamps since then. I can dig up the stl files for you if you want. I also mounted a camera with a 3D printed mount for remote viewing.
This pic shows that the front piece of the spoil board is removed to expose the vertical system. Also shows a little jig to help place board square from side to side.
This one shows that the top is 3/4" plywood with 3/4" MDF on top of that. This layer of MDF is not the spoil board it was just to be flat and increase the rigidity of the top.
This is awesomely detailed - thanks for sharing the pictures. If you had to guess - how many linear feet of 2x4 did you use? I was going to go buy lumber today or tomorrow. I also noticed you didnāt have it mobile - one of the videos Scott made was on a bench with wheels. My only wheel concern is that if it gets bumped in use and/or giggling itself around when itās in action and screwing up details.
I have a snapmaker 2 and the bench itās on has pushdown wheels like this. I am thinking I might go 4x4 with 6 or 8 posts with these things in case I do need to move it (https://amzn.to/3DMtqMA). THANK GOD lumber prices are somewhat coming down. Still way more than 2019, but oh well.
I think about 60 linear feet and the table is 4āx6ā because I wanted some room to the side of the machine. I recently move my table and machine and I really wish it was on casters! I do get some movement when the machine is rapidly changing directions but the table and the machine move together so it hasnāt been a problem. 4"x4" would be good for legs I think.
A picture of the printed holders. I used a cup hook to hold the wire for the touch probe and the 2 holders are mounted on the bolts for the control box
EDIT: Bear in mind that my table my be flipped right to left from what you want because I wanted the extra space on the right not the left so I mounted the control box on the right instead of the left. I wasnāt hard to do on the MK1 not sure about the MK2.
I recently added a door in the back of the enclosure so I can work on boards longer than the table. It also makes cleaning and checking the y motor mounts are tight a lot easier.
Great minds think alike - I was sorta noodling how to have the back drop down or move up for tiling!
Also might change my āwheelā plan to use these based on some chatter on a rockler forum I saw - https://amzn.to/3LBzPfs (this is the cheap amazon one vs the like $300 rockler one that looks damn near identical)
So - Iām glad I did a little looking - looks like the footprint of the mk2 is super wide on the x not y. Is it the opposite on the Mk1?
So it says on the Mk2 48 announcement page:
Part of the reason we chose a 48x30in working area is because the machine can sit on a 4ft x 6ft sheet (basically a cut down 4ft x 8ft sheet). To accommodate a 48Ć48 version, we would need to build a custom table as well, which is currently not a priority in development.
So I might need to build a little bit bigger of an enclosure for this puppy. Probably a bit more 2x2ās and hardboard but not too much I donāt think.
The logic (which I get after a minute of thought) is to be able to feed 4x8 sheets through with a passthrough. So itās pretty wide but not not deeper.
I have a 30x30 MK1 so, yeah, itās not as wide as yours. They didnāt have a 48" wide one when I bought. Suffice to say Iām a bit jealous . Maybe Iāll get and extension kit in the future. I like how they sell a 30x30 and itās like 33x32. I see yours will be 50" wide work area so you can easily put a 4x8 sheet through.
OK so - for perpetuity and since I asked this question in two places (here and on facebook group) - the overwhelming majority of users on facebook said āYes you want it mobile, unless you absolutely need 100% calibration forever and everā. Also - my screw down casters are nixed because someone pointed out you canāt get to the back screw if itās against a wall. Overwhelming majority of users say use locking casters which is my plan.
How often do you plan on moving it? I just use std leveler legs. The one time I did move it, my wife and I just picked it up (plywood torsion box so not very heavy) with lots of stuff on the bottom shelf. She said it wasnāt so bad.
@pkillur Mine is on 4" wheels. The front two swivel and lock. The rear two do not swivel or lock. It does not move until I want it to. I canāt get to the back of it otherwise. I check all the screws, motor mounts, etc often so the only way to go for me is for it to roll. Mine is definitely too heavy for my wife and I to pick up.
Interesting, so you could roll over the deep grooves the concrete goobers put in my floor. with those 4" casters. Got the wife some āconstructionā gloves
. Maybe Iāll get and extension kit in the future. I like how they sell a 30x30 and itās like 33x32. I see yours will be 50" wide work area so you can easily put a 4x8 sheet through.