A couple of table fixtures

[mzettl]

I thought I would post a few photos of two holding fixtures that I've made in the past couple of weeks. I use the Bot primarily for making furniture parts. I often times have a need to flatten and surface hardwoods larger than my 6" jointer and 12" planer can handle, so I made a fixture to hold lumber up to 24" wide and about 50" long. I'm using a 2.75" surfacing bit from Magnate to do the surfacing, and it works very well.

This fixture is similar to the one Steve Knight described recently, and I actually made mine a few days before he posted his. Great minds think alike!! I was thinking of ordering the cam clamps from Grizzly like Steve used, but I had a bunch of the DeStaCo clamps lying around, so I decided to use them. They work well enough, but I have to be careful that the spindle and dust foot will clear the handles, which point upward when the clamps are locked. I still might switch to the lower profile cam clamp.

This fixture screws down to the vacuum plenum into threaded brass inserts that are inserted within the plenum. I can use these to hold down any specialty fixtures that I make up, so it allows good versatility and secure fixation of the jig.

The other fixture is for holding pieces vertically on the end of the table to cut mortises, tenons, etc. The vise has multiple holes that match up with 3/8" T-nuts in the panel. I can then put threaded rods wherever I need them along the length of the vise in order to get the greatest holding power. The vertically adjustable shelf allows me to set a height according to the workpiece length for repeatability. I scored horizontal guide lines with a 60 degree V bit to assist with setting the shelf.

I know these fixtures aren't as sophisticated or as ingenious as many of the devices posted to the forums, but I thought they might be useful to those who do similar types of work.

-Matt

5325

5326

5327

5328

[beacon14]

Very nice. Simple and effective ways to add versatility and efficiency to the Shopbot. I guess you never have to remove the end fixture. Where do you keep the other one when you're not using it?

[paco]

Cool fixture Matt! Thanks for posting!

If you ever got a chance to post the details of that dust skirt... ;o)

[knight_toolworks]

have you had a problem with the screws coming out of the mdf that holds the tracks? I used 3/8" sheet metal screws but they are pulling out. they pocked out of the 3/4" mdf too.

[mzettl]

David, Paco,

Thanks for the kind words.

David, you're right about the end fixture. I just leave that on all the time. Since I only have a 48" x 48" table, the size of the other fixture is only about 36" x 48." I just lean it against the wall next to the Bot, and replace it with the Trupan spoilboard, which I store in the same location.

Paco, the dust skirt is a work in progress. A while back, someone posted some photos of a similar setup where two tubes came down on either side of the spindle. This seemed like a good idea to me, so I fabricated something out of Lexan. It works pretty well, but could use some tweaking. Also, since almost all of my work is on flat pieces, I think it may be better to have the skirt fixed rather than moving with the Z axis. I may build a variation of the current one to incorporate that change, plus a few others. I'll take some photos of the current setup and post them.

BTW, I use Paco's surfacing routine for all of my surfacing now, both the spoilboard and hardwoods. It's really a fine piece of work, and I am very appreciative that he made it available for us to use.

-Matt

[mzettl]

Steve,

I've only been using these fixtures a short while, and so far I've not seen any evidence of the screws pulling out. I do have some concerns about that, as there isn't much material for them to bite into. I used 3/8" square drive wood screws that have more pitch than sheet metal screws, so they should have a little better pull out strength.

I guess the other possible solutions would be to add more screws, or glue in the t-track. The latter would make it a pain to remove them if you wanted to redo the fixture or whatever.

Thanks for mentioning that problem, though. I'll need to keep a close eye on it.

-Matt

[jharmon]

Paco's surfacing routine?
Sorry, I came into this forum only very recently. Where do I find info on Paco's surfacing routine?

Thanks!
Jim

[mzettl]

Jim,

I need to give credit where credit is due. I think that David Buchsbaum first posted a routine a couple of years ago. It was then modified by Mike Richards, I think, then by Paco. It was Paco's version that I ultimately started with, and modified it to surface my spoilboard, etc. Truly it was a joint effort, and I did not mean to leave anyone who helped develop it out in my post a while ago. The combined effort and work of many generous and skilled Shopbotters is what makes this site so valuable.

I believe that you can find the original thread here:

http://www.talkshopbot.com/forum/messages/29/7427.html?1113769932

-Matt

[paco]

Well thanks but I deserve only a fraction of the credits as Mike Richards and David Buchsbaum worked on it as well at the creation time. I believe we all customized it to fit your personal needs. I'm glad you like and use it on your regular work.

Jim, it's available . here (http://pacosarea.blogspot.com/2007/02/surfacing-along-axis-shopbot-routine.html)