I have been watching Doug design and build his LR3 that has side tube extensions Upgrade path. A fantastic design process!
it has lead me to consider changing my choice of machines. I currently have a Primo on a table that is 36X48 inches. I have been cutting glider instrument panels as well as doing some pen-plotting and vinyl cutting. I’m just about to start laser cutting too, but have considered making a simpler machine for that operation.
So, the question is related to the current table and wanting to have the ability to “hang” something off the spoil board on one end. Several of the instrument panels are a sliding tray with a vertical front panel and a horizontal rear tray. Like this:
(I cut this one before assembling the tray to the front. I don’t have that option with many others.)
I was thinking that if I used the square tube sides, like Doug, and extended them past the end of the main table, I could hang the tray down and cut the face clamped down to the end of the table.
I’d put tubes on both sides of the existing table one to carry the Y alignment tube and the belts, and the other side to just have the belt and the rolling surface for the bearing wheels. Kind of like this:
I could still do all the operations I currently do, have a removable, storable table and have the ability to overhang part when I need to. This would be instead of making a drop-table in a U-shaped work table.
To be clear, the parts that would be cut in the extension area of the table would require less dimensional tolerance that things I would cut on the main spoilboard.
That’s my table. For the LR2, it was originally set up with 2X4 rails that extended 16" past the end on the home side, and 6" past on the other side. For the LR3 rebuild, I added “wings” to the table which the machine sits on to make the table a bit wider and provide a mounting surface at the same height as the spoilboard.
You can see in front of the vacuum hose the edge of the table. The router bit homes off the end by a fair ways. I originally intended to be able to do some end joints on wood with this setup, but I’ve never actually used it that way yet. This is of course still an option.
So long as your horizontal tray there isn’t more than about 40" this setup would work for that. (40" is the approximate height of the spoilboard off of the floor.)
Most of the “trays” are only 15-18 inches deep and so don’t really need a lot of space under the spoilboard.
Are your “wings” detachable or permanently mounted? I have a storage place for the current table, if it doen’t have anymore width.
I was thinking about putting inserts into the sides and making the rails removable so I could still use the same storage space when I’m not using the machine.
My LR2 table had unistrut rails to ride on. The ends stuck out past the table about a foot on either end. They were removeable, but I never did because getting everything lined back up is a pain in the ass.
I permanently mounted the wings on my table, They don’t need to be very big if you aren’t increasing the cutting area though.
The LR3 is very quick to take off of the table as-designed. It’s literally 2 screws to undo the Y belts and the whole machine lifts off. The table is then usable as a workbench with the one Y rail still on it.
