Construction of Homemade Work Centre

[joiner1970]

Nice one Jonny  [big grin]

As Bono sang "even better than the real thing"  [laughing] and cheaper too I imagine  [laughing]

 

[Alan m]

love the workcenter.. nice sander hanger. seeing your thread inspired me to make 1 my self. i saved a lot of money aswell .
heres a few pics

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[richard.selwyn]

Well, if you're going to screw up and melt the hose you did it a good place.  You can easily cut it off and you won't lose too much.
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A couple of years ago to avoid all of that I bought the combined hose. It lasted about 2 weeks before it got too close to one of my halogen work lights over the bench which melted right through it. Being in the middle of the hose it is pretty much scrap now - although I did patch it. During the short time I used it I found the reduced interior dimension a nuisance.
Jonny has now motivated me to make my own for the mini VAC I take to site. First question - will the cable and wrap make the hose too difficult to coil to fit in the hose space on the top of the VAC?
Second question, would self blending (don't know what it's really called) electrical tape be a safe replacement for the heat wrap?
Nice job by the way Jonny. Any idea how long it took to build from start to finish? My problem is that as I am busy at the moment I too easily convince myself that it's viable to buy some overpriced thing that I could easily make myself ( I just got some Bowclamps from the US)
Richard.

 

[agarwalsa]

Very nice ideas here. I might try to do something similar and try integrate some kind of boom arm in it as well.

 

[jonny round boy]

Jonny has now motivated me to make my own for the mini VAC I take to site. First question - will the cable and wrap make the hose too difficult to coil to fit in the hose space on the top of the VAC?

No, it will still coil. I have a Mini, and did the first hose for that. There's still room in the top for the hose with plug-it cable and the vac power cord, too.

Second question, would self blending (don't know what it's really called) electrical tape be a safe replacement for the heat wrap?

Do you mean self-amalgamating tape? That black sticky rubber-like stuff? That would probably do, but I don't know if it remains sticky afterwards. Might be a bit messy...

Any idea how long it took to build from start to finish?

I didn't keep an eye on the time, and did it a bit at a time over several days, but I reckon probably somewhere between 4 and 6 hours total for the woodwork. Probably anouther 2-3 hours for the painting and bending the wirework. The shaped end pieces took the longest time. Other than that, it's actually very straightforward. Two shaped ends, 4 rectangular pieces, and 9 pieces of softwood edging.

 

[Alan m]

i built mine in about 4 hours but its not sanded or painted yet, althow this involved setting everything up in the shop and designing this ad hoch as i went allong. ihad no fancy augmented reality testing done. i am happy with it  so far . still neads a sander hanger and finishing and a few hooks here and there. i realy like the dc hose support thing i found at ikea on friday, realy tidys up the hose.

 

[cje]

love the workcenter.. nice sander hanger. seeing your thread inspired me to make 1 my self. i saved a lot of money aswell .
heres a few pics

Great concept! I particularly like your abrasives store: a coffee filter hanger. [thumbs up]
Another piece of work to do for me. The creativeness of this forum causes headaches, my to do list keeps growing  [scratch chin]

I see you let your work centre is standing over the systainer. How do you connect the WC to the systainer and/or the CT?

 

[Alan m]

the WC is not attached to the sys yet it is just sitting there. i let the sides down to give more support front to back and i will put a piece the size of the sys at the back. i will put a sortainer instead of the systainer and put a piece across the front if posible and still let the drawers open.

 

[cje]

I've got a CTL Mini.
I think I might carry the design a step further, partly because the Mini might not be stable enough due to having a smaller wheelbase, partly because the casters of the Mini might suffer from the amount of weight the WC will be carrying,

So I think of a WC that sits on casters on the floor, and has place to store the Mini+cyclone. Further I think about including detachable holsters, like the ones in some other threads to hang a TS55 or Trion on the MFT. The backside of the WC can store the holsters with the unused tools, the front side will allow for one or two holsters for the used tools. Because the base becomes larger than the Mini, I can include a boom arm as well. I've seen the magnet strip on Alan's version.

Whow, I get completely carried away by this thread and by my own ideas. [eek]
It's getting into the direction of those tool-carts used by mechanics in a garage.

 

[jonny round boy]

For those that are interested, I've modified my original SketchUp drawing (the design changed slightly as I went along) and I've posted it on the SketchUp Warehouse. Here's the final design, along with an exploded view:

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Also attached below are PDF files for the template of the curves on the end pieces for anyone interested. Just be sure when printing to set 'page scaling' to 'none' in Adobe Reader.

 

[Alan m]

cant wait to see what people make them selfs or make for the festool one. i can see the WC changing the way we work.

 

[raiderone]

For those that are interested, I've modified my original SketchUp drawing (the design changed slightly as I went along) and I've posted it on the SketchUp Warehouse. Here's the final design, along with an exploded view:

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Also attached below are PDF files for the template of the curves on the end pieces for anyone interested. Just be sure when printing to set 'page scaling' to 'none' in Adobe Reader.

Hello, how is the "workcenter" secured to the systainer?  If it is placed on top and secured by weight, how secure is it if bumped into at the top?  Thanks.

 

[Alan m]

i dont know about johny s one but it looks like it just sits there similar towhat paul marcel has done in  his WC. mine is just sitting there also but the sides go down as far as they can on a sys 3 . i will put a back piece on it and a front piece once i get a sortainer, this will trap the WC on top of the sys/ sortainer.

 

[Boatman]

I don't have the time to build a whole center, but I like the idea of hanging the sander. So, here is my Quick and Dirty solution.

 

[bjeppson]

How was this attached to the systainer or does it just fit over the systainer lid?

Nice job!  [smile]

 

[Alan m]

[welcome]bjeppson
you should start a thread in the members section and tell us about your self and you work or play etc
mine just sits there but the wait is on the ct 22 . johnys sits on the vac and has a lip all around the top of the systainer.  you should build one of these or buy one as they are very handy.

 

[bjeppson]

Thanks for the info.  Plan to make one of these work centers.  You have a picture of port as part of your profile, can you direct me to a thread that you may have posted on this that includes photos?

Thanks,

 

[Alan m]

hi all .
i dont think i posted a thread on my router table syport. i will do so now . post a few pics of your workcenter

 

[kelauben]

Does anyone have the original photos from this thread?  They appear to have all been lost.

Thanks.

Karl

 

[semenza]

Probably gone forever due to a system problem a few months ago.  [sad]

Seth