Hey folks, thought I’d start a build thread since that seems to be The Way.
I’m planning a 4’x4’ build though that may change to a 4’x8’ if I can devise a way to hoist it up to the ceiling in my shop. I don’t really have room for a 4’x8’ build even with a tilting table. A 4’x’4’ build on a tilting table is doable though.
I will use a Fluid Dial with a Jackpot 3 controller. I have printed all the parts (I think) in black PLA. I have already flashed the Fluid Dial and will build that first till I clear space in my shop to start building the table etc..
I have two car projects that I need to get done before I can reclaim my shop.
I’m also have a PrintNC that I’m going to expand from a 13” x 24” cutting area to 24”x24” cutting area. I think the two machines will be good complements to each other.
Oh it’s already Pro-level Tetris!
I have a CNC mill, a 12x37 metal lathe, welding cart with MIG and TIG welders, drill press, 14” bandsaw, horizontal bandsaw, 16x24 wood lathe, the aforementioned PrintNC router, Dewalt planer, thickness sander, 40W laser and a Delta Unisaw
Take a look at the Kokoracker overhead storage system. It’s rated for 250 lbs, so a full size table and LR4 should be in that range.
I used one to hold a couple of poker tables (including one that I built with my LR3). I’m pretty happy with how easy it was to install, and how well it does the job. Only down side is that you will lose about 12" of overhead clearance in your garage.
Just be sure to take a look at your truss drawings (if prefabbed; otherwise get out the books and a calculator). Bottom chords are often only rated for 5-10psf, including drywall and insulation, and definitely not for point loads (you’d want to spread the load across a number of adjacent trusses).
A guy on my curling team owns one of the two largest truss manufacturers in the province and brought in a bunch of photos throughout last winter of bottom chord failures all caused from loads that exceed the truss design. People got away with bottom chord loads for years… until the weather loads (wind, ice, and/or snow) approached (but did not exceed) the design loads, leaving no capacity for the bottom chord loads that were not provided for in the design.
I have to admit it was fun sleuthing the estimated actual wind or snow loads on those roofs to estimate the bottom chord point load amounts that caused the roof collapses. They usually weren’t much. You just need a single nail plate to pop or a member in tension to explode.
Be careful. Lots of people get away with it. Not everyone gets away with it. Approach it with some thought.
Definitely aware of the dangers of overloading trusses. Fortunately my shop ceiling was built as a load bearing floor for the attic with 2x8 bottom joists.
The Fleximount GL1 uses very short individual mounting brackets, so the weight is distributed very much as a point load. It looks like there are only two screws per bracket.
With the Kokoracker, the load is distributed over a 48" span, with at least 10 screws per span (20 screws total).
If I was to consider the GL1, I would want to attach a 2x4 span along the joist with screws every 6" or so, and then attach the brackets to that, rather than to the joists themselves.
