Thank you everybody. This project doesn’t seem like it will ever be finished. I don’t know if work benches ever are, though.
Wooden Skye - Yes, I will post some detail pics of this stuff this week. It was a lot to shoot. I have another recent post about my MFT jig that shows the expanding “bench anchors” as Lee Valley calls them. These keep the hole system fences in place. Instead of the Lee Valley type, I made my own for a more specific purpose. I rounded over some 1.5” long 3/4” dowels, then put a bullnose groove around the shaft right where the fence meets the table, so right in the middle. That allows the dowel some relief to hinge and expand on the ends. Then, I drilled a countersunk 1/4” hole in the middle. Then, I used a dovetail saw to cut the end of the dowel into eight slices up to the relief groove. I used a countersink head machine screw to act as the wedge. Knob on the other end to tighten. I drilled a 3/4” hole in a 2x4 and put the dowel in it to use as a miter. Twisted it an 1/8 turn four times until I had the eight slices. Lee Valley’s bench anchors only expand in one direction. These expand in eight, so self centering. There is an issue of the bolt wanting to spin sometimes, but it seemed to work better after it was broke in. I am trying to talk the wood shop that CNC’d the MFT template for me to make and sell the templates. If so, I will make the anchor pegs used in it. The template is 4’x4’. To extend that beyond 4’ in a given direction the template needs to move and be aligned. I use these to realign them.
As far as the ripping guides, I’ll have to show in pictures. It’s just a thin piece of oak that sits in the t track and a t bolt, though.
Bob D - Yes, I considered putting the saw tray on the right, as I’ve seen others do. I’m a lefty, though, and this feels better for my work flow.
Uncle Joe - Yes, I’ll take some detail pics of the case tops. It is essentially a t nut underneath to hold a 3/8” set screw. Under that I screwed in a wood screw with a magnet as a washer to use as a hard seat in the case itself, magnetized because magnets are cool.
I use 3/8” set screws and 1/4” socket cap screws as they both use the same Allen head driver, 3/16” I believe. It’s whatever Incra uses on their stuff. I love Incra products and just want to have one tool that works on everything in the shop.
Svar - Yes, it could easily prove to be more effective to attach a measure to the fence. I’ll have to figure out an easy way to register the fence to the hinge plate in that case. Either way, the laser was something I thought of one night when I couldn’t sleep. Saw it was only $11 and wanted to try it. The laser is another thing to have to keep square, though. I just want to play around with an easy to mount laser for a bit.
Thank you everybody else. This has been a fun project. But, it started off as just the cases and the rolling bases. It keeps evolving and nickeling and dining me to no end. This is my first experience with a hole system, though. I love the functionality of hole systems. I want to get the router milling aspect operational soon, because I want to start making an assembly system with it. I am blessed with a great boss that wants me to rebuild and streamline his shop. If anybody has any links for assembly jigs, I’d love the information. I see tons of youtubes of people showing off their freshly built assembly tables, but I haven’t seen anybody use them. I don’t see why a large MFT’d assembly table can’t assemble carcasses, face frames, or whatever. That’s what I’ve been mentally tinkering around with lately. Speedy dynamic set up, speed assembly, perfect squareness. To be honest, this is my first real cabinet making job. I’ve built props in the entertainment industry and done residential finishing work mostly. Lots of furniture for fun. So, production cabinet assembly is new to me. I’m sure there’s tons of speed tricks, though. And, I’d love any help with this. It’s a small shop. So, making everything as dynamic as possible is the goal.
