Shop Bot Buddy 48 w/8' powerstick

[rayman]

Here are some pics of my Buddy using 8' powerstick, I have the outer table supports plus a roller support directly under the powerstick. I run it at 1.7" sec. Have had no problems and parts come out great so far, I have been using it now going on 4 years.:D I use the router no spindle ...My table top is a piece of .75" ply....

[rayman]

So there is no misunderstanding, I do not do a lot of cabinet work very seldom. When I have finished a cabinet or bookcase I disassemble the table and put the 2x4 table back on. If someone comes and ask for a cabinet or whatever that requires a larger table the table top is figured in with the price of the cabinet. My shop is air condition but the plywood after a bit turns up and is really useless so I discard it. Haven't found anything that will hold its shape with out paying a lot of money. go figure, like most of you I like the way the machine performs but should have gotten a regular size table..oh well to late now...:(

[Simops]

What's the longest 'unsupported' powerstick you can have?

Cheers

Mike

[Simops]

Sorry disregard my message above...just found out that 6' is the longest powerstick that can be used without support!

Ta

[Simops]

Ok got the 6 foot powerstick so I can cut half size ply(4 x 4). I have the standard Buddy 48.

The original 1" thick MDF table that came with the Buddy (for the supplied 4 foot stick) curled down at the corners (out of the crate) so I decided to get a 32mm (1.26") 58" x 55" MDF table for this 6 foot stick....hoping it will stay flatter(??).

Now when I picked it up it was quite heavy plus the size it needed two people to handle. This worried me because when I put the 6' powerstick on the Buddy and moved it to its proximity limit I noticed that it was a fair distance out unsupported with only 4 V rollers supporting it. Now if I put the 32mm MDF table on it + 1/2" sacrificial layer + 3/4" ply to be cut I feel the weight maybe too much for the powerstick to handle without sag even if it is 6' and not required to be supported.

So before I do it the question is am I being worried for no reason or am I right and I should use Shopbot's supports that are recomended for 8' + powersticks??

cheers
Mike

[dana_swift]

Michael- the advantage of the SB supports is they are designed to bolt on and be able to work with some tweaking of the heights of the legs.

This is such a simple project that you can do it yourself easily. Make supports out of whatever you have. Then you can meet your own needs better. Being able to take the supports off and store them is one of my requirements. I rarely use anything other than the 2' table distance on my BT-32 so the legs would be very much in the way most of the time.

I store the 8' powerstick with the support legs so its all in one place.

My 4' (6' long) powerstick gets used mostly for holding the indexer. The 8' powerstick has become unused. When I need that kind of length I usually use the 48x96 shopbot at FabLabTulsa.

Once you have used your buddy a while you will think of attachments that make it more useful for your needs. Bots are very adaptable, which is why so many of us are glad we have them.

Hope that helps-

D