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Most all of my shop furniture starts with a torsion box as the base. Either 3/4 or 1/2 inch MDF on the top skin and 1/4 luan on the bottom. Inch and a quarter or inch and a half internal grid height. Everything is on wheels. By extending the top skin and internal longitudinal grid on each end it gives me a place to mount the wheels with the majority of the torsion box hanging below the wheel mounting level. This keeps height of the base to a minimum.
None of my bases are less than 20 years old and zero structural failures One 6' bench of drawers has a 500LB metal bench lathe on it bolted to a 1/4 inch steel plate as the base between the lathe and counter top along with a minimum of a couple hundred pounds of tooling in the drawers. It has wheels at one end and an eyelet at the other where I hook a two wheel truck on a handle to lift and move it around. It takes a lot to get it moving but it does not flex at all when going over my old cement floor.
Proud maker of large quantities of sawdust......oh, and the occasional project!
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The bridle joint I mentioned in post #17 for the corners is one way, but I recall reading an article in Wood magazine that recommended a common half-lap joint. To my surprise (and theirs) a well-made half-lap tested to be as strong as any corner joint that you can make in the shop. They tested a bunch of different corner joints before drawing that conclusion.
Rip to width. Plane to thickness. Cut to length. Join.
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(01-07-2023, 03:31 PM)Edwin Hackleman Wrote: The bridle joint I mentioned in post #17 for the corners is one way, but I recall reading an article in Wood magazine that recommended a common half-lap joint. To my surprise (and theirs) a well-made half-lap tested to be as strong as any corner joint that you can make in the shop. They tested a bunch of different corner joints before drawing that conclusion.
I like the bridle joint, and used a couple of dowels in each of the corners at a diagonal for cosmetic, as well as a little more strength. There is a lot of glue surface in the bridle joint using dimensioned lumber
Dave
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Ed did ya get a picture of the grid inside?
Some newbies that might fall in here might like to see one.
Steve
Mo.
I miss the days of using my dinghy with a girlfriend too. Zack Butler-4/18/24
The Revos apparently are designed to clamp railroad ties and pull together horrifically prepared joints
WaterlooMark 02/9/2020
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01-11-2023, 03:02 PM
(This post was last modified: 01-12-2023, 04:13 PM by Edwin Hackleman.)
(01-10-2023, 06:56 PM)Stwood_ Wrote: Ed did ya get a picture of the grid inside?
Some newbies that might fall in here might like to see one.
Believe it or not, I did not. But here's a crude sketch:
I believe I used notched joints for the three inside supports. These were about 12" apart. Very simple construction.
Rip to width. Plane to thickness. Cut to length. Join.
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Good deal.............
Steve
Mo.
I miss the days of using my dinghy with a girlfriend too. Zack Butler-4/18/24
The Revos apparently are designed to clamp railroad ties and pull together horrifically prepared joints
WaterlooMark 02/9/2020
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Years ago I made a carrying case for some music stands I made for my daughter, out of torsion box panels. The panels are only about .5" thick with a very light 5mm softwood butt jointed lattice inside. The faces are birch ply, 4mm thick on the outside and 1.5 mm on the inside. The box is immensely strong and very light. It would be intersting to know how much lighter it might have been with aluminium honeycomb inside instead of the lattice.
Jim
