Connecting rod for T-Tracks, or equivalent piece of hardware?

[ear3]

I'm starting to plan out my mitre saw cart for home shop use of my Kapex.  The UG Cart is great for site work, but the extensions don't provide enough support for my taste for boards 9"+.  I'm going to use design of [member=11196]Peter Parfitt[/member] as a base, but I'm thinking of modifying the extensions so that they can be longer.

I still haven't decided on design.  The easiest would be to get the FastCap bracket and have a dedicated 1x12 board and leg.  But I wanted to experiment with a design that would be integrated into the cart itself -- like a couple of boards that were hinged together (I was thinking piano hinge, with the cylinder on the underside) so they could fold up and hang vertically off the side of the cart when not in use.  For this design, though, I would need to build in some sort of support mechanism that could slide in place when they were extended and so give them some rigidity.

Off the top of my head I thought why not install some T-tracks on either edge, and then have some sort of key stock that could slide in place and then be secured with set screws -- basically the same concept as the connecting rods for the Festool guide rails, only longer.  So my question is, do they already make a steel bar like this that would slide into any T-Track?  If not, then I suppose I could just use standard key stock with approximate measurements of 1/4" x 3/8" (max 7/16"), then drill and tap some holes for set screws.

I would still have to build a leg assembly to support the boards at the end once fully extended,  but presumably the connecting rods would provide enough rigidity so that there would be no bowing at the hinged joint between the two boards.  If the T-Track idea sounds dubious, I would be curious to hear other solutions for what I'm trying to do.

Thanks.

 

[Stone Message]

Hi Edward

If you do decide to use my design or your own variation of it you should be able to increase the length of the fold down flaps.

The constraint, as you rightly identify, is the increased support needed. My fold out supports can be made longer up to the point where they can no longer fold out of the way neatly. They could be increased even further if each support was in two parts hinged together. In this concept the hinges between the two parts of the support have to be very strong and I would be tempted to make up something that resembled finger or box joints with a 8 or 10 mm rod through.

If anyone requires any of my plans please be sure to PM your email address. I get 20-30 requests for plans every day and my work is doubled when I have to go back and ask each person for their email address.

Peter

 

[Corwin]

As to your thought of using T-track, here's the first thing that comes to mind:

Incra's Miter Slider

Not exactly T-track, I know. But, it might fit with your idea.