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Disease
2008-12-08, 03:15
http://i365.photobucket.com/albums/oo99/Virus_/Labtable.jpg

This is the rough sketch I drew of my design Needless to say, it is not to scale, and it was not done with a straight edge or any drafting tools, so forgive my sloppiness please.
You may have noticed that I am using two 2X4’s laminated to make one 4X4 for the legs. This is for two reasons:

A. We took a 90% budget cut
B. We don’t have 4X4s lying around.

The design is simple, practical, and durable. The only issue I might run into is the bench/lab table being too light. The solution would be to cut 2 more “F” parts, lay a bead of silicon on the original F parts, turn the bench upside down, and fill the cavity made By parts D,G and F with sand. Then the two new F parts would be screwed and glued to the bottom preventing the sand from spilling out. This method has another advantage; it brings the benches Center of gravity closer to the floor. This means the bench would be harder to flip over.

Each part also supports the next part. Everything is to be laminated together using exterior grade hardware (read as screws) and exterior grade adhesives. This makes the bench very resistant to compression, sheering, and racking. I am not to sure how the bench will deal with expansion (it is made out of wood). It could hold 1000 lbs. minimum if it is not dropped from height, but that would be pushing my definition of a safe working load, nor is it a concern, but everything I put my name is to be of a high standard.

However, I am contemplating adding some equilateral (thus equiangular) triangles into the design. It would make the bench stronger, and it wouldn’t be that much more material. The problem and advantage is that I salvaged scraped construction materials for our 8 benches. We might cut it close if I throw some triangles into the design.
Somethings you don’t see in my quick sketch:

Each bench will have a power strip so we can run tools and other essential equipment.

Each bench will have a machinist’s vice (I only have to buy 1, we have the rest).

Each bench will have a coating of polyurethane to preserve the wood.

http://i365.photobucket.com/albums/oo99/Virus_/Cutlist.jpg

This is the cut list for my design.

http://i365.photobucket.com/albums/oo99/Virus_/I-Jjointdetail.jpg

This is the I-J joint detail. I opted for a simpler butt joint instead of a miter joint because the miter joint takes more time to make, and doesn’t provide any other advantage other than aesthetics. You might also note that there is a 1/2” hole through parts “B”. This is so the user can change the work surface easily. I and J contain the tempered hardboard top. When it becomes worn the user just has to take a pencil and push the hard board up so he/she can lift it out and drop the new replacement in. I and J also function in a manner that keeps screws and other small parts from falling off of the lab bench/table.

I am going to ask totse if you can think of something I missed. Keep in mind my budget was cut 90%. This means I have to try to tap into what resources are around me.

Thanks in advance,
Disease

Mantikore
2008-12-08, 04:15
youll get better responses in DIY

Disease
2008-12-08, 04:21
Another option I thought of was a rednecked I-Beam made of wood. I could take a router (or throw a dado blade onto a table saw) and cut a dado the exact width of the plywood down the middle of two 2X4s. I’d most likely opt for a polyurethane or epoxy adhesive. But that would mean the entire bench/table would need to be re-designed to accommodate I-beams instead of dimensional lumber.

Maybe I’m just over complicating it. The best designs are usually the ones that are the simplest.

MadMaster
2008-12-11, 03:25
First of all, you will not half a 4x4 leg.


Wood is rough cut into a 2x4 then get planed downed to smoothness and takes off 1/4 inch on each side.




You're actually looking at a 3x3 leg.

Real.PUA
2008-12-11, 08:23
A. We took a 90% budget cut


What happened? Run out of urine?