John Stevens
Member
- Joined
- Jan 16, 2007
- Messages
- 815
Ahh, my wavy basement floor. It slopes in two directions toward the sump in the corner, dropping as much as an inch over four feet. Back when I kept my jumbo MFT stationary, I had six leveling feet on the cabinets underneath, and that was that. Now my space is much more cramped and I need to be able to move the table around on wheels. The base for the table top is a typical workbench-type thing made of four 3x3 oak legs held together by dimensional hemlock studs that I jointed and planed flat and square. The long sides are about 42" and the short sides are about 39" On the uneven floor it twists like it was made of cardboard. I want it to stay dead flat.
Okay, I shoulda known better before I built the thing, but I was in denial. :
Now here I am, looking like a jackass and toying with three possible solutions--
(1) Mount the whole thing on a deep torsion box, but then I'd need to cut down the legs, too. A fair amount of labor there.
(2) Run plywood braces in an "X" pattern between the legs, with the edges of the plywood running vertically. The legs are about 20" tall, so the plywood could also be 20" tall (except, of course, at the edge lap where the pieces would cross in the middle). I think that would be pretty strong, but I've never tried anything like it, so I'm not sure.
(3) Ditch the short sides of the base, treat the two long sides like a pair of trestles, and join them together with a plywood box like a cabinet, but without a door--all screwed together. Reinforce the box inside sorta like a torsion box, but about 36" x 36" x 20" high. It would be pretty easy to screw the long sides to the faces of the box. How well do you think the box would resist wracking?
Your thoughts? Many thanks in advance, folks.
Regards,
John
Okay, I shoulda known better before I built the thing, but I was in denial. :
Now here I am, looking like a jackass and toying with three possible solutions--(1) Mount the whole thing on a deep torsion box, but then I'd need to cut down the legs, too. A fair amount of labor there.
(2) Run plywood braces in an "X" pattern between the legs, with the edges of the plywood running vertically. The legs are about 20" tall, so the plywood could also be 20" tall (except, of course, at the edge lap where the pieces would cross in the middle). I think that would be pretty strong, but I've never tried anything like it, so I'm not sure.
(3) Ditch the short sides of the base, treat the two long sides like a pair of trestles, and join them together with a plywood box like a cabinet, but without a door--all screwed together. Reinforce the box inside sorta like a torsion box, but about 36" x 36" x 20" high. It would be pretty easy to screw the long sides to the faces of the box. How well do you think the box would resist wracking?
Your thoughts? Many thanks in advance, folks.
Regards,
John
