Ryobi FRAMEWORK Customizable Workbench Kit for Longmill Mk3

Community Discussion đź“„ General
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Hello!

I recently jumped into the CNC bandwagon after years of traditional woodworking as a hobby.

While I wait for my Longmill Mk3 48x30 to arrive mid October, I am planning for my CNC table and I have a few choices:

  1. Traditional wood frame workbench
  2. Steel tubing frame workbench
  3. Ryobi Framework Customizable Workbench Kit

All will have a 1in MDF top, and need to be on casters to be able to move things around in my small shop.

I was leaning toward the steel frame table for stiffness, but I then stumble into the Ryobi kit, which simplifies the build a ton .

I would like to have the community take on this possible option.

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Welcome to the group Francis!

I’ve seen the Ryobi legs before and always thought they looked nice but I don’t know anyone that’s used them.

My reason for posting is to mention that you might want to incorporate some type of leveling feet. Even though the concrete slab in my basement looks nice and flat it’s not perfect. My table is 2x4 construction and I ended up using leveling feet, the screw to adjust kind, and casters that lift up the table when I need to move it.

The feet and casters where upgrades after I about killed myself trying to move my table only to discover that it didn’t sit right in the new spot. Being level isn’t critical but having the top not twist a bit because of a slight high or low spot that a leg happens to land on is IMHO.

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The legs on the Ryobi are also plastic which is a huge negative in my book.

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I have bought ryobi when in need of a quick fix to proceed in a project, but always with it lasting no longer than the project at hand in mind. I still have a set of ryobi “work mates” I needed to be able to holding a single plank in place while planing them. They did the job, survived it even but they pretty much maxed out on the clamping force. One is stuck, and one leg bent when trying to fold it back.

Ryobi is a short term gamble, I would not recommend relying on. Even my longmill mk2 can rock the 2x4 framed table I built. I would not trust ryobi to stand that for years on end.

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@Flexter Kinda depends on your budget, doesn’t it?

Going the lumber route, you can have something cheap but stiff by using dimensional lumber and plywood. Alternatively, you could make a torsion box with plywood.

If you want to use a steel frame, you could use a Kreg table. Not cheap.

Those Ryobi legs could work but I’d probably want to use plywood panels on the sides and back to stiffen it up.

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