Shop Project: Slab Flattening Table With Additional Uses

[Jim Becker]

Speaking of which, it was time to reassemble that sucker in said place. So I did. It ever so slightly overhangs the big door, but not enough to matter. It's far enough from the main bench that it will not interfere with that. It far enough from the infeed side of the slider when pulled all the way back to not get in the way and is about a half inch lower (with the rails removed) so there would be no issue with material over hanging if necessary to rip something on the saw that's long. A good spot and if I decide I like it, I'll mark the floor so there's no question about the position.

So up it went and then I check for twist which is certainly possible with a floor that's not perfectly flat...there is no such thing for the most part. It was about an eight inch out as there is a slight dip in the floor toward the big door. Shimming fixed that.

IMG_4267.jpg IMG_4268.jpg IMG_4269.jpg

So we can call this "done for the moment". I'll deal with the overhead dust collection at the same time as I do the extension to the lathe and also will put a power drop from above, too, for convenience. I think I'm going to paint the sides just to make it look more pretty than two-by material.

IMG_4270.jpg IMG_4272.jpg IMG_4273.jpg

I'll do a test run soon...I have some CNC work to do for a guy before I can get back to this as of the time of this writing.

[Kevin Jenness]

Seems like what you really need is a 4'x8' cnc router.

It's a bit late in the game, and maybe your router placement would make it impractical, but couldn't you flatten large slabs with your 4'x4' cnc by tiling with some outboard supports for initial levelling? I know from experience that pushing a router sled around by hand gets old fast.

[Jim Becker]

Seems like what you really need is a 4'x8' cnc router.

It's a bit late in the game, and maybe your router placement would make it impractical, but couldn't you flatten large slabs with your 4'x4' cnc by tiling with some outboard supports for initial levelling? I know from experience that pushing a router sled around by hand gets old fast.

I've used the CNC for flatting things that will fit on the ~49x49 table top, but it's not the best solution for bigger things as it's very difficult to shim things up and keep them in an even plane to mill the additional length. There's no financial possibility that I can upgrade to a larger CNC, nor could I justify it as woodworking is an avocation and I rarely do work for others at this point. (I have exactly one "customer" who is more of a friend at this point and it's only a few times a year) In hindsight, the cost to go to a 4x8 at the time I was buying my CNC was only $3K more, but that ship sailed in 2018. This more simplistic solution solves multiple problems for me and was funded with no new out of pocket expense because of selling a watch I had not used for decades. If I was flattening as a business, the solution would be different. But I'm not and I have the time to "enjoy" moving the router manually to accomplish the task. The indexing feature for lateral movement, however, makes for some interesting possibilities for straight cuts along the long axis.

[Ronald Blue]

Very interesting build Jim. As with most things I've saw you undertake (probably all) you think the design all the way through and execute it well. Details matter in something like this as well. Thanks for a well documented construction process as well. Even though it isn't something I need it's always a pleasure to see the skills of other in play.

[Cameron Wood]

That is a biggly table! Hope the dust collection is adequate, but maybe not hard to roll it outside.

[Jim Becker]

Yea..."Bigly" is a good description! LOL The dust collection will not likely be "great" but it absolutely will be better than none at all. I don't have a flat area to use this outside, but the shop floor is easy to sweep.