torsion mft build, kinda

[raylaray]

[member=81019]raylaray[/member] how tall did you make your "windows" on the sides?

I think I am headed in this direction, so thank you again for sharing. The Kreg base I bought for this is 64x28". Though the top can easily overhang on the sides, I might actually go with this size given the ease of extending the surface. My count of the holes along a long edge suggests that yours is 5-ish feet wide.

Re crosscuts: For my use case, I'm unlikely to go with a rail hinge, though the idea of a dedicated crosscut line is attractive. I have a Parf guide so should be able to make a good perpendicular grid, and figure on doing my final trim of the top with the grid as a reference. Still, I'm imagining that any fence mounted to a rear rail is going to have to be calibrated.

yeah, I made the top just a bit smaller than half a 5x5 sheet of baltic birch - trim a few mm on the edges to clean and square things up, and then I'd have my larger top and bottom pieces from one sheet. If I'd started w a 4x8 sheet then I suppose I'd have worked out a plan to get all my pieces from a single sheet. About 5 feet long seems like a comfortable/useful size generally, and then with the outrigger I'm fine making reasonably large off-cuts when needed.

I centered the upper row of dog holes at 28mm down from the top edge of the side panel - so 18mm from edge of dog hole to the top sheet of plywood; that would give a bit of meat above the dog hole and if I want to clamp anything vertically (clamp something down against the top of the table), then I can put a scrap of 18mm ply inside the table between the clamp and the top sheet (i.e. something solid and consistent thickness to use a ratchet clamp against). I cut those larger openings at whatever I thought was convenient to be able to get my hand or a hand tool through without struggling and whatever approximately fit without getting too close to the rows of dog holes. I did make them wide enough to slide a rail in there if I wanted to, otherwise there wasn't much reason for a particular size. Size of those depends on how tall you make the sides of your table and what/where other holes are made. It's also offset since I allowed for t-track all the way along the table sides; I really only need t-track for the rail hinge; if I were to do this over again, I'd probably just put t track in the area of the hinges and make most of those side openings taller. The bottom row of dog holes wasn't at any particularly important distance from the top row, as long as I had consistent spacing then I knew I could build and attach jigs that would fit anywhere universally along the edge of the table. I think I started the dog holes 64mm in from the edge on each long side, and since I'd made the width of the table a slightly non-32mm-multiple size, I just centered my collection of dog holes on each end section, measuring outward from the middle.

 

[ajs123]

Here's what I built.
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The dimensions match Ron Paulk's design, except the openings are just a bit smaller to make up for the holes in the sides. I cut 5" off of the legs of the Kreg bench to get my preferred height.

I'll be adding a router table that attaches in a manner similar to how Ron does it. But I want it to be close to dead flat and also want decent dust collection. I'll probably use a thick MDF top and add supports that double as side walls of a dust box.

Thanks again for the inspiration.

 

[waho6o9]

Excellent work ajs123!

 

[raylaray]

looks great ajs23!

 

[ajs123]

Following [member=81019]raylaray[/member] 's example, my first auxiliary pieces - cantilevering a router table like Ron Paulk does, but using a traditional thick laminated top.
[attachimg=1]
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