Buddy BT48 Alpha table MKIII

[Ajcoholic]

The next upgrade so to speak will be raising the gantry 3"....

The lift has also worked well. Nothing noticeable in terms of less accuracy of stiffness. But the extra 3" makes loading and unloading of 48" by 48" sheets much easier. And of course thicker material or longer bits can now be used.

[Simops]

Yep I lifted my buddy gantry by 1.5" and it's been great! Fully recommend doing it.Don't hit the upper limit anymore now....

Cheers

[Ajcoholic]

Mike, so for me, I think this pretty much maximizes what my machine can be made to do...

That's a good thing, means I don't have temptation to spend any more $$ on it... and just use it now.

WHen I got the machine one month shy of 3 yrs ago, I never thought it would be so useful and also so easy to use, as it is now.

Through 4 variations (including the provided one) of tables - finally I think this will be it for the rest of the life of the machine. And, the vac as I have stated several times have so far exceeded my expectations in every way...

Now I guess if they sold an ATC for the Buddy I'd probably be thinking about it, so it's good that there isnt one, lol

[Simops]

Andrew.....I thought an indexer would have been on your shopping list for the Buddy? With furniture making would have thought a turning device would be useful!

Been thinking of getting one but missed the boat......the Aussie peso is now worth well over 20% less than it did a year or so ago. Won't be buying anything major from the U.S. now for some time.

Cheers

[Ajcoholic]

An indexer interests me but honestly I don't think I'd use it much right now. Fancy carved turnings are not popular in my area right now. More modern simpler styles have a hold here.

But if things change in the future it would be easy to add if necessary.

[Ajcoholic]

Just changed my spoil/bleeder board Friday. Once again using a good, dense cabinet grade of MDF ( sold here as superior grade, made in Canada)

I just skim 30 thou off each face of the 3/4" board. Pulls vac through like crazy.

If you can't get light or ultra light weight mdf don't get too hung up on it, at least here in Canada.

[Ajcoholic]

And just an update.. back in August when one of my bearing blocks went south, and some talk about them being side mounted and getting full of dust etc was discussed... It was unknown how long these cheap import bearings would hold up.

I am pleased to say that since my bearings were changed to the mounts that have some sideways flex, it has been 6 months and the table is silky smooth, without any further issues.

We'll see how things are in another 6 months.

[Ajcoholic]

Nearing one year - no further issues with anything - table/bearings/vacuum pump working superbly!

I rarely remove the plenum any more. I am holding even solid wood parts via the vacuum table, generally I just joint the wood right before I machine it, and it gets held down more than strong enough to machine.

[Ajcoholic]

So we've passed the year mark since I changed out that bad bearing and so far everything's great.

Been using the router for more things in the past year than ever before due to the faster/more efficient means of holding parts and also with the lifting of the Z I can get thicker parts in to machine (like faces of the newel posts).

I'm wondering if any other Buddy owners have done anything similar, or even better? To make their machines more versatile and accurate?

[Simops]

Andrew, as you know I have a universal vac table now as well and Echo your comments. Mine doesn't have the vac power that you have but through careful plumbing and sealing I have quite reasonable vac power.......I could add another 2 HP Regen blower and it would then rock!

I haven't had to go down your path with the rails and bearings. I don't have the humidity issues that hear a lot about on this Forum so my deck stays flat.....I've been checking and can't really say it has warped in any way.....maybe a little??
My deck is also the plenum chamber and all I do is surface the bleeder board occasionally but rarely.
Having a Buddy does make for a harder vac setup initially with plumbing compared to our fixed table friends who have an advantage but it's worked out well....can't complain.

Cheers