Outfeed/assembly Table with Planer "Elevator"

[Mike Sharpe 175]

Finally got a project (mostly) done that went on for a couple months, and thought it was worth posting.

This is my new outfeed/assembly table, with a probably overcomplicated, but unique way to store my 12" planer. I'm currently set up in a one car gargae, and space is pretty tight, so a dedicated planer stand was pretty much out of the question, and I was pretty sick of lugging the 80lb. thing around. The initial concept was to simply create a counterbalanced lift that would use a counterweight to elimate most of the effort of lifting the planer. The final design wound up with me motorizing a hand cranked winch to get the motion I needed. The end result turned out better than expected, even with the hiccups along the way, only need to add some doors for the cabinets now, but that can come later. Thought I would try and put together a fairly in-depth thread on the build and the 4 or so revisions on the lift mechanism. First, here are a few shots of the completed table to show the basic concept.

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[Mike Sharpe 175]

First, I knew that I had around 3' by 5' for the entire table, I drew up some rough skecthes, and started assembling a base frame for the cabinet base. I used the planer as a reference to make sure my size was right.
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I built the base from jointed and planed 2x4s, I added a levelling foot at each corner to help get it level with the TS down the road

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I then started on the cabinets, I used some 3/4" cabinet grade pine, and I did not care too much about them being perfect, nor are they entirely traditional.
My plan included a right side, full depth (18" x 31") cabinet, and a wide, shallow (5" deep x 25" wide) left side cabinet, with a compartment for the planer lift behind the shallow cabinet, and a tall, narrow cavity between the cabinets to house the "mechanicals"
The front panel for the "mechanical" portion would be screwed in place for any later adjustments or repairs.

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I assembled this structure with pocket screws and glue, and it went together pretty smoothly

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With this all done, I attached the cabinet structure to the base frame, and it was starting to feel pretty sturdy
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[Mike Sharpe 175]

My original design called for the planer to sit on a platform that would be large enough to support it with the outfeed table extended, and the infeed table folded up. The platform would ride up on 4 drawer slides, one at each corner. I had the rough dimensions figured out, so I went from there. I started with a sturdy base, a piece of the 3/4" ply, with a frame of cleaned up 2x4s and 2x6s.

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I then started with the "horns" to mount the drawer slides on, which I'll admit, I did not have really well planned out before I started. I figured 4 strips of 3/4 ply would work OK, as the metal drawer slides being screwed down should help stiffen them, and keep them relatively flat. Based on some measurements and dry fits, the "horns" had to be run through the planer for a few very light passes (around 1/64" at a time) to fit just right.

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I knew that getting all 4 of the drawer slides aligned properly would be a challenge, so I devised a scheme to at least get the spacing of each left/right side pair correct. I made a plywood spacer template, whcih spaced each pair of slides based on the outermost set of rails, so I first screwed each slide on to the platform, with the entire slide assembled. This took some planning ahead, and sliding things around to expose the right screw holes as I worked.

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I then was able to disassemble the drawer slides, and attached the cabinet sides with the same template, as the template was based off of the outer most rail sections. I used the back wall (the left in the below photo) as a measuring point to get both sets of slides aligned with each other.

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All in all, I somehow managed to get the slides installed squarely enough, and the "elevator" functioned pretty smoothly. The hook that can be seen in some of the pics was there so I had some sort of handle to grab onto to raise the thing manually for testing.

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[Mike Sharpe 175]

My original idea was to attach a set of ropes to the right hand side of the platform, and via a pair of pulleys, attach a counterweight of around 80-90lbs. of sand orsimilar, which would ride up and down in the center, hollow box portion. The problem was, I initially just sort of took a SWAG at what volume "80-90 lbs" of sand would be, and I was pretty far off. Below is the counterweight box I built, and all the sand that would fit in there, around 30 lbs

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My first thought was to make a new box, and make it taller for some additional volume, but after taking some measurements, I figured out that if it got much taller, it would hit the floor before the planer reached its working height, so that was out. My next thought was to ditch the sand and look for something denser. Concrete was not dese enough for the limited volume I needed, but lead shot would work. I started pricing out lead shot, and quickly realized I didn't want to spend quite that much on this project.

My next thought was to switch to a system of counterbalance springs, I figured some gargae door springs might work, but the dimensions on those were not looking workable. I finally caved and gave into the idea that the best way to move the platform through the about 23" of travel I needed would be to use some sort of cable/winch system. So I eventually went to HF and got a dirt cheap hand-cranked winch.

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That's where things started to really get out of hand

[Mike Sharpe 175]

With my new winch in hand, I had to figure out a way to mount it that would work out. The wich just barely fit width-wise into the slot I had boxed out, but without the crank handle attached. So then my next goal was to find a way to remote-mount a crank handle for this thing, without spending a whole ton of money on it. My first step was to ditch the wire cable that came with the winch, and use the nylon rope I had already bought for this project, as the wire was pretty stiff, and about 10x the strength needed for this sort of load.
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After spending a whole lot of time looking for different low-cost power transmission options, I eventually settled for a secondary shaft running from front to back, with a hand wheel crank attached, which would sit on the front of the table, and few inches below the top. The crank on the winch would be replaced with a v-belt sheave, and then a small, round cross-section belt would link that to a driving sheave on the new crank axle. I figured the round belt would be better suited to making the 90eg. turn that was required for this layout. I bought some spare sheaves as well, in case I needed to add a tensioner later. At this point I was getting pretty far in cash wise, and that lead shot idea from earlier might have cost less

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As can be seen in the photos, I had to add a "shelf" for the winch to mount to, I wound up screwing this into the sidewalls. I also added some 2x6 blocks to mount bearings for the shaft, and mount the main pulley. Fortunately I was able to "borrow" the shafting and the hand crank from work, and I also had to take in the small sheave to work and face around .100" off one side on our old Hardinge lathe, so the winch and sheave assembly would clear the gap between the walls. When assembling this whole mess, I realized I would have to remove the winch drum, install its frame, and then re-install the drum once the frame was installed, so I wound up having to bore out some holes in the sidewall so the drum's axle bolt could be installed through the side.

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Once I got all this assembled, I did a quick test run, and it seemed to work out good, the clacking of the winch pawl was quite loud inside that plywood box though. My only issue now (I thought) was to find a way to add a remote lever or handle to the winch pawl, so that I would be able to change the winch's direction externally.

It's getting late now though, so I'll have to continue on this after work tomorrow.

[Jim Becker]

That's an incredibly good idea, especially for folks who are, um..."spatially challenged" in their shops! Great job!

[David Falkner]

Well executed plan and also well written story - good job, Mike! I have contemplated something like this for quite some time because I'm getting tired of dropping to my knees to use the planer, which is under my table saw extension, or for higher volume planer jobs having to lift the 80+ pound planer on top of the table saw extension. Like you, I don't have room to build a stand and have it dedicated to the planer.

Eager to see what else you come up with to augment what you've already completed.

David

[Malcolm McLeod]

..., even with the hiccups along the way, ...

Looking good. I suspect anybody with a workshop has been down this road, and had to adopt some manner of 'git 'er done!'.

I'm a big fan of all things automation, so will be waiting on the next installment.

[Wayne Jolly]

That is just too kool to be legal. How much for the plans????


Wayne

[Mike Sharpe 175]

With the winch and belt drive crank installed, I gave it a test run with no load on the elevator. It went up and down pretty smoothly. Once I was satisfied with that, I lugged the planer up on the platform, and gave it a try. The winch was able to hold the wight effectively, but the belt would slip when I tried to lift the planer. I thought this might happen, so I began building a belt tensioner for the belt drive.

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I quickly found that this layout interfered with the belt, so I made some quick modifications...

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I was able to get this iteration installed in the right location

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But after cranking this thing all the way over till it about hit the opposite wall, I found the belt was still slipping, and it was getting pretty hard to turn the handwheel as well So at this point I was looking for different ways to drive the winch, I figured sprocket chain was the next logical choice, but this would dissallow the right angle bend, unless I added in some sort of right angle gearing, which is usually pretty costly. I then came up with some odd ideas for making the crank handle axis run parallel to the drum's axis to keep everything in line, and a set of levers, shafts, and a second loop of chain to make the crank fold-away. This might have worked out, but it was starting to look pretty complex, and would need a fair amount of power trasnmission parts that would add up in cost pretty quick.

So then I finally figured it was time to start looking at an electric drive.

[Mike Sharpe 175]

So that I was now looking for an electric motor, I had to figure out what to get, and how to mount it. I figured a small enough worm gear motor would be perfect, as the worm drive should help prevent the thing from dropping back down. I also suspected that I could rig up a belt or chain drive with a non-geared motor if I mounted the motor parallel to the winch drum and placed it below the elvator platform, as there were a few inches of space left there. I started looking around in the surplus catalogs for something, but even then it was looking like a little more than I wanted to spend. But then as luck would have it, we were cleaning out the store room at work, and I found a small, probably 20+ year old, but still in the original box Dayton right angle gear motor, which after a little research, looked to be used in welding positioners among other things. It was aquired though "eminent domain"

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The RPM and torque were pretty much exactly where I thought they needed to be, and I figured I would add a slight gear reduction on the drive for a little added torque. I went to TSC and got a length of #41 sprocket chain and some weld-together sprockets, whcih I welded up a work. The winch side sprocket was a little bit too wide to fit in 4-7/8" wide cabinet opening, so it took a trip to the bridgeport for a little shortening. I also had to devise an adapter for the sprocket, since the winch came with a metric threaded double flat end on the input shaft. I wound up turning a threaded bushing on the lathe, and pressing it into an enlarged hole in the sprocket. My work is ok with some "government projects" so long as they don't interfere with the real work, so doing all this machine shop work wasn't much of a problem. I also went ahead and welded the now threaded sprocket to the shaft, as I got concerned it would eventually try to unthread itself.

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I then went to modifying the "shelf" I had built earleier to accomodate the chain drive, I need to notch out a section for chain clearnce. Fortunately, the motor could easily be mounted a few inches over.

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Finally, I was able to get everything mounted back where it needed to go

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While going through these iterations, I also realized that having the rope pull up on one side of the elevator would tend to allow the platform to lean to one side when at the top. To counter this, I eventually determined I should run the rope undrneath the platform and over to a tie down on the opposite wall, I added a pair of pulleys and a cross member to the bottom to allow for this.

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Now that I had everything mechanically connected, I jury rigged a wiring job just to get things tested. I then went ahead and gave it a test run, and finally, the thing worked!

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I now had something that mechanically worked, but it still had a ways to go, the wiring was not all done, as I had to unplug and swap wires to reverse the motor at this point, and there was no good way tell it when to stop at either end of the travel. That would all come together soon.

[Mike Sharpe 175]

Now I was ready to add some switching and control. I found some micro switches in a surplus catalog, and a reasonaby priced DPDT, ON-OFF-ON switch on Amazon. My plan was to wire the two limit switches as N.C. interruptors on the hot side input to shut the motor off at the top and bottom positions.

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Of course, I would need to be able to adjust precisely when the switches are tripped to make sure the rope wasn't over stresed or came loose of the pulleys at the bottom. For this, I attached a short strip of 2x4 on the side of the elevator, with a pair of 3/8-16 barrel nuts threaded in, in there I added a pair of 3/8" x 4" all thread bolts with some nuts to lock them in position, which act as dogs to trip the limit switches.

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I then added limit switches near the top and bottom of the travel, in convient places,and fished wire up to about where the switch would sit.

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Wiring the motor was a little complicated, it was a 4-wire motor, and two connections had to be reversed to switch the direction. I don't have a great way to draw up the schematic at the moment, but here a few photos at least.
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The neutral went straight into the yellow wire, and the hot wire was split out to the two limit switches, and went back to the main switch. The hot input switches between the black and blue wires, with the red being tied to the other (if that makes any sense). I added a little electrical tape to all the switch terminals for some more safety. When I had it all wired up, I mounted the switch to the front panel and screwed it in place.

[Mike Sharpe 175]

Now that the elevator mechanism was all done, I started on getting the rest of the cabinet and top completed. First, I mounted the some basic face frames to the cabinets, I used some of the plywood, pocket screwed together.

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I added a cap panel to the left hand cabinet tp keep chips from falling down in there

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My plan for the top was to use a double layer of MDF, and to place it across a pair of jointed 2X4s to form as level of a surface as possible without having to go to the effort of a torsion box. The end result turned out pretty good, but it did warp out a bit when I split it later. Here are the 2x4s being attached. I got the table perfectly level with the levelling feet prior to this to make tyhe job a little easier.

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The top was going to be split for the planer to pass through, so my thought was that the hinged section would be bale to lie flat on the 2x4s and maintain a reasonable level of flatness. With the support boards in place, I started on the top, the boards would help support it and keep it flat as it dried. I laminated the two layers with a huge amount of Titebond, applied with a window squeegee. I placed the two sheets crown to crown and clamped around the edges with all of my clamps (looks like I need more )

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The edges were not exactly square when I got the panel all glued together, so I then used a straightedge and a square to clean up the edges with the circular saw

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[Mike Sharpe 175]

The next step was adding a replaceable hardboard top. I screwed it down with countersunk screws, I found the countersink bit left a burr, so I had to go and carefully remove the burrs with a knife to keep the top flat. When it was attached, I ran a router with a laminate bit arund the edge to trim it even with the MDF.
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Then the scary part.... time to saw it in half.
After taking some measurements, I found it made most sense to cut the thing about down the middle.

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My original plan was to hinge the top towards the right, to fold back over on itself, but I couldn't find any hinge that looked like it would work, so I decided to hinge it the other direction. I found a decent set of heavy duty looking hinges, and I found they would work as I had intended, so I mounted the hinged section first

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With that in place, I then removed the hardboard from the other half of the table temporarily, and screwed it down to the support boards with some deck screws. With the top mounted, I then added some red oak 1x3 edging around the top, which needed some jointing and planing, as it had been sitting out in the garage for over three months at this point. This project went off and on throughout the whole winter as I had time and cash.

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I then added a 3/16" roundover to the oak to dress it up a little bit.

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[Mike Sharpe 175]

At this point the last major thing to do was to add some sort of stop for the hinged section so that it sat just beyond vertical. I though about adding blocks to the underside, but it looked like this was going to put a ton of stress on the hinges, the half table top weighs at least 30lbs. So I added a pair of chains to distribute the load back into the frame.

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To finish things off, I filled a couple minor gaps and the nail holes, then finish sanded, and gave the entire top a coat of paste wax to make it slick. Looks a bit blotchy, but may try adding a couple more coats.

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So that's about it, the lift mechanism has worked well after a a couple dozen test runs, and I've successfully planed a few boards with the planer sitting on the stand. All in all, I spent a lot more on this project than I originally planned, but getting some freebies and buying surplus did save a good deal. The next step will be to add some doors for the cabinets, and I also need to add some slots for my crosscut sled to clear, but it's a very solid table, will probably be a pain to move when it comes time

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