I see a lot of shop tables with 4"x4" stock for the legs.
*Where* do you get non-treated 4x4 stock nowadays? The best thing I have been able to come up with is to cut the centers out of 2x8 southern yellow pine and glue them.Ripping SYP on the unisaw is like going through butter, but there really there ought to be a better way..
Our neck of the woods is undergoing a building boom - lumber yards abound. However, everyone assumes that if you want 4x4, you want treated.
~Pike~
Have you no Cedar Fence Posts offered where you live. A "decent" fence company should be able to help you out.
Glue up a pair of 2X4 legs. This would allow for rabbets to simulate thru tenons. Much easier to do and a lot cheaper.
--=20
PDQ
-- =20 "Pike" wrote in message = news: snipped-for-privacy@lisp.secretlab.net... |=20 | I see a lot of shop tables with 4"x4" stock for the legs. |=20 | *Where* do you get non-treated 4x4 stock nowadays? The best thing | I have been able to come up with is to cut the centers out of 2x8 | southern yellow pine and glue them. |=20 | Ripping SYP on the unisaw is like going through butter, but there | really there ought to be a better way.. |=20 | Our neck of the woods is undergoing a building boom - lumber yards | abound. However, everyone assumes that if you want 4x4, you want | treated. |=20 | ~Pike~ |
How true. I use two 2x4's and glue them together. There's two advantages over using a 4x4. First, the glued up post is stronger. Second, lap joints and dados are very easy.
My local lumber yard has them in cedar, Ipe, mahogany, cypress and maybe others. Try a place that sell a lot of decking materials.
I agree 100%. It is much easier to make the base out of 2x4s and much stronger as well. See
TWS
Sat, Jan 1, 2005, 7:05pm (EST-1) David snipped-for-privacy@NOSPAMrrdsl.net (Pike) claims: =A0Our neck of the woods is undergoing a building boom - lumber yards abound. However, everyone assumes that if you want 4x4, you want treated.
Either start at a "real" lumber yard (which does NOT mean Home Depot), and if they don't have any, then ask them where you might be able to get some; AND/OR look in your local telephone book, and start calling.
Apparently you're from a different universe; asking something like that "here" would come right after I asked my mother.
JOAT People without "things" are just intelligent animals.
Take an axe, hack down a tree, then carve out a 4x4 with an adz. Easy.
Been thinking about it. We have some large pines and one of them has been dropping limbs and looking bad. Two problems: I don't like dropping 60' trees that are only 30' from the house and a woodmiser isn't on my list for another 3 years.
~Pike~
And, if I could find 2x4 dimensional lumber around here that I was happy with, all would be good. That is why I am ripping the heart out of 2x8 SYP planks.
~Pike~
We have a Lowes about 15 miles away. They have some of the trashiest, nastiest dimensional lumber I have ever seen. There is a Home Depot 30 odd miles away. I should drop in there sometime and see what they have. Most of the local yards are *extremely* contractor oriented. The area is undergowing such a growth spurt that new construction is the only thing on folks minds. We live in a small town of 3000 but the growth is creeping up on us. They have just finished paving the streets for a 450 house subdiv in what was a cow pasture across the road from us.
It is a good time here to be a backhoe operator or a cabinet maker.
~Pike~
Yeahbut it's Top Choice, so it HAS to be good. Why else would they call it Top Choice? Yeesh.
Oh joy.
My Menards has untreated pine 4/4 of various species. I even got a couple of eastern white 10' types for Christmas ornament turning. My bench stands on 2" hard maple legs, however.
Maybe you could use some review on "Wood as a Structural Material." Free pdfs here:
Maybe it's like olives and condoms, the smallest size is "large".
We moved here from further out in the country because we thought it would be good to live on the outskirts of town. Just a few blocks to the only grocery store in town, etc.
That was in April of '04. In June, the cows across the road were replaced by a herd of bulldozers and scrapers.
On the upside, it looks like it is going to improve our property value by about 40% (it is going to be an upscale subdiv - big houses on big lots.
So, we are planning on moving back to the country in about 3 years. This time we are looking for approx 60 acres with a pond and/or live water.
That should be enough room for an adequate shop.
~Pike~
I like your project pages -- slide show and all. (And I especially appreciated your efforts on the boards for the kitchen counter -- and even more so the finished product.) PLEASE could you provide some more details of the system you use for raising/lowering the casters under your workbench? Assuming you are unwilling (gee, why not?) to empty the damn thing and turn it over for some photos, any other info would be appreciated. Maybe it is just I, but from the simple lever you show it is difficult to see how you can apparently lift with some ease all 4 casters under 300# of table and stuff -- and by _lifting_ the lever. Please do not think I am doubting you; I just want in on the engineering. TIA. -- Igor
Thanks for the compliment. The lifter mechanism uses 2 inch angle iron located in the center of the bench. I have a 1/2 inch steel rod going through wooden bushings in the front and back and the rod is screwed to the angle iron and to the wooden lever in the front (a prototype tapered table leg I no longer needed). At rest the flat of the angle iron is parallel to the benchtop, as you rotate the lever the angle iron is rotated until it is vertical creating a 1 1/4 inch lift at the center. The casters are mounted on four lever arms made out of 2x4s under the bench with about a 3 to 1 mechanical advantage so the casters are only moved about 1/4 of an inch but this is enough to lift the bench. You can see the steel rods for the 2x4s sticking out of the front of the bench base.
Details not shown is a 1/4 inch thick metal strap I have floating between the two opposing lever arms, one set in the front, one in the back, and this is what the angle iron actually pushes on rather than pushing on the 2x4. I greased this liberally with white lithium grease to reduce the friction. The lifter works well but the coupling to the casters is a bit springy due to the weight of the bench, the flex of the 2x4s, and the tilt of the metal bar coupling the two 2x4s, etc. so if the weight is not generally balanced then there is a tendency for the heavy side to drag and I have to shove it a bit to get the casters balanced before it will roll smoothly. If I had to do it over again I might put the shafts of the 2x4 levers closer to the center so I get more lift because the mechanical advantage is more than I need.
I can post some pdfs of the bench drawings on abpw if you are interested. TWS
If these are existing drawings, then YES, that would be great whenever you get a chance. -- Igor
Done, enjoy. TWS
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