Good morning all, this is going to be my first post here.
Just ordered a 30x30 longmill and I’m super excited to get going into this new world of making. I’ve been working in the tool and die industry here in Canada for 20yrs and I’ve been deep into the 3D printing world for about 3 years. So my hope is CNC carving will be a good progression for me.
Anyway, now the intros are over. Let’s get to building my table. From what Ive read, keeping the table top flat is very important. So my plan is to build a torsion box out of 3/4 MDF. All internal stretchers will be cut so they can seat together.
One question for all those that have a built longmill sitting on a table. At this point my plan is to build a table 48 in x 48in. ( Size constraints in shop). Did you center the longmill on the 48inx48in top or did you move it to the side to make room for the stepper motors and drag chain?
@CMFaub Welcome to the group, Craig. I’m sure that you will get several ideas for table design and Mill placements. My table, like yours, is 48 x 48, on 4" rubber wheels. I have the same shop constraints. Facing my table, I have the Mill mounted as far to the right as practical. This gives me room on the left to mount the controller and the incoming electrical.
Hey Craig - when I built my table, I moved the Longmill as far right as I could so I would have a little more room for the controller.
In the end though, I mounted the controller onto a piece of wood, then mounted that to the side of the table.
If you do move the Longmill to the right, the controller will sit between the feet, but a part of it does hang off just a bit. It was too close to the rail for my liking so I mounted it on the side instead.
I guess I should have said my intent is on mounting the control board under the table front left along with the stop button. I’m hoping the wires will be long enough so I can mount the longboard below. My thought is to keep some of the dust off. I have read that some have found the Makita router plug to be short and may have to be spliced but other than that I haven’t found anybody saying any other wires to be short
I agree with you in CAD. I felt there wasn’t enough room for the longboard on the top of the table. But I’m looking at CAD and not at the real world yet. So thank you for verifying space is tight.
Do you actually use the three buttons on the top of the longboard I believe … play, pause and stop. Should I be considering having access for regular use?
I have a V2 Longmill which did not have the big stop button. I have used the buttons on occasion. Mainly I pause and stop in gSender (or whatever control software you use).
Steven, I built a 60" x 48" torsion box table top, but I used 1/2" MDF. This is strong enough and the weight is manageable. The 3/4" will be quite heavy and will add know needed strength. I chose 60" to give me room for stuff and a future enclosure. Its been perfect.
Your attachment doesn’t show it, but I’m assuming you will have a glued top and bottom to the internal half-lap grid. That’s where it gets its strength. The fasteners used are really only for the time when the glue is not set, but I used enough to get good and tight joints. That’s important, too.
I bought some molded legs for mine, that allowed a bottom shelf to be added. If you’re interested, there are photos somewhere.
Yes for sure there will be glue and screws. Only glue from the MDF table top to torsion box the waste board will only have screws so it can be replaced
I’m also preparing to order the 30x30 and build a dedicated table but want as much storage as possible under the top, any suggestions on table top height?
Height can be what ever you want. I made mine at 36", work bench height for me (I am kinda short). This works for me, and I have a shop-vac, and dustbuster (HD seperator) below, and plan to put a drawer in at a later date. Just my two cents.
