Drill Press cart

[briman87]

Hey everyone. I am planning on building a drill press cart. The drill press is an old Walker-Turner drill press from the 40's so it is old heavy cast iron. I have a lot of MDF probably about 8'x4' of 3/4 MDF. Do you guys think the MDF would support the drill press. Figuring a 24"x22"x26" with 4" casters on the bottom for mobility to bring the total height to 30". Had planned on doing some small draws in it for storage. But i want to make sure the MDF would support the weight of the DP. I have some 6"x3/4" Poplar that I could use for extra support.

[Handplanesandmore]

The wood itself isn't an issue. What matters is the structure of the "box."

Simon

[briman87]

I had planned on doing some rabbit on the sides and back so the top and bottom would fall into place. The bottom I figured would be 2 layers of mdf so I have enough material to screw the caster wheels in.

[JohnnyEgo]

For what it is worth, my floor drill press is mounted to two 3/4" pieces of ply sitting in a mobile base with a cabinet on top. I haven't had any issues. With MDF, my worry wouldn't be whether or not it could support the weight; people build several hundred pounds of mobile cart out of a torsion box, and I have metal shelves with particle board centers that are rated at 500 pounds. As long as it is well supported, it will be fine. The bigger issue would be how well MDF holds screws or mechanical fastenings under that sort of load. I think that unless you carefully support all your joints, you will end up splitting the MDF at the screw. So while I wouldn't hesitate to use MDF for a base or for a cabinet, I wouldn't trust any sort of butt joints to be load bearing for significant weight. I would also use two layers of MDF to form a weight-supporting rabbet rather than just running a rabbet in one piece for the sides.

[briman87]

So Johnny you are say to use 2 pieces of mdf for all of it so each piece is 1.5” and then at the parts that would be rabbits just make the pieces shorter so it has the full 3/4” sheet to support it?

[iclark]

If it is interior-rated MDF, I would not risk making the top out of MDF unless you are in an extremely dry environment. I have had MDF slowly sag under weight over time in our humidity.

If you must use MDF fr the top, I would treat it as a top skin and put structural supports under it.

[briman87]

If it is interior-rated MDF, I would not risk making the top out of MDF unless you are in an extremely dry environment. I have had MDF slowly sag under weight over time in our humidity.


If you must use MDF fr the top, I would treat it as a top skin and put structural supports under it.

I’m in NJ. I actually didn’t know there was different types of mdf.

[iclark]

I’m in NJ. I actually didn’t know there was different types of mdf.

I could be wrong, but I thought that I remembered some MDF or HDF that was exterior-rated because they use a different binder.

[JohnnyEgo]

So Johnny you are say to use 2 pieces of mdf for all of it so each piece is 1.5” and then at the parts that would be rabbits just make the pieces shorter so it has the full 3/4” sheet to support it?

If your drill press is going to sit on top of the MDF cabinet, then yes, that is exactly what I would do. If you have a floor stander like I do and the cabinet is built around it, but not bearing it's weight, then you are fine with single sheets of MDF for the top and sides. As Iclark mentioned, MDF can accumulate water weight from humidity and start to sag eventually. You can put it off by painting the MDF so that it is somewhat sealed, or you can change your top design to something like a torsion box which will be better supported.

If a torsion box isn't something you are familiar with, it's like a support grid sandwiched between two skins, in your case made of MDF. You could actually make the whole thing out of MDF and after you glued it together, it would be very rigid and you could park a car on it. A very good way to make a base that can take a lot of weight, or in your case, a top. Which is again much like iclark is describing.

I don't want to talk you out of what you are doing, so much as making sure you know the limitations and options. I've made all sorts of things out of scrap MDF over the years, some of which have worked out better than others. But they have all been valuable experiences, as I am sure this will be for you.

[briman87]

If your drill press is going to sit on top of the MDF cabinet, then yes, that is exactly what I would do.  If you have a floor stander like I do and the cabinet is built around it, but not bearing it's weight, then you are fine with single sheets of MDF for the top and sides.  As Iclark mentioned, MDF can accumulate water weight from humidity and start to sag eventually.  You can put it off by painting the MDF so that it is somewhat sealed, or you can change your top design to something like a torsion box which will be better supported.  

If a torsion box isn't something you are familiar with, it's like a support grid sandwiched between two skins, in your case made of MDF.  You could actually make the whole thing out of MDF and after you glued it together, it would be very rigid and you could park a car on it.  A very good way to make a base that can take a lot of weight, or in your case, a top.  Which is again much like iclark is describing.  

I don't want to talk you out of what you are doing, so much as making sure you know the limitations and options.  I've made all sorts of things out of scrap MDF over the years, some of which have worked out better than others.  But they have all been valuable experiences, as I am sure this will be for you.

I’m not familiar with a torsion box. I have some 8ft lengths of 3/4x6” poplar that I had thought of putting them inside to support the top layers or I could use it for the top and glue them horizontally so the joint doesn’t run under the drill press.

My drill press is a bench top.