Table Thickness

[Amock]

Forgive me if this has been answered elsewhere. I try to do a pretty exhaustive search before asking questions as I know some members of forums can be rather impatient with newbies. Which is what I am.

Anyway, I believe I read in one of the table threads, if you are using the Porter Cable router, 4" of table is necessary just to reach the cutting surface with a bit. I think the thread was from 2007. Is this still the case, or have upgrades been made since then?

My PRS Alpha started its trek across the country to Oregon last Friday and I'm trying to be as ready as possible.

Thanks

[Brady Watson]

Aaron,
Your Z axis should have a stroke of about 8". With either spindle or router, you will be able to reach the normal layup of 3/4" plywood (carriage bolted to the machine chassis) and 3/4" MDF spoilboard (glued and laminated on top of the plywood) for a total table thickness of 1.5" or so.

It is possible that others with a 12" Z option (really 14" on a PRS) used a torsion box to raise the Z for cutting denser materials. This isn't necessary with the standard 8" Z.

-B

[Amock]

Thanks for the help Brady!

[Randy Bogardus]

Hi Aaron, Another newbie here, living out in the Applegate Valley. I just took delivery on a "Standard" on this past Monday that I am currently assembling. It would be great to compare notes sometime.

Best Regards,

Randy

[Amock]

Hey Randy,

Cool! What do you plan on using the ShopBot for?

[Randy Bogardus]

Hi Aaron, I make hollow wood paddleboard kits that I sell online
http://clearwoodpaddleboards.com/ .....I tried working with local cnc operators and it just didn't work out. The last guy I worked with got bought out by Sawyer paddle and had a Shopbot which I liked. So....here I am! :-)

Randy

[Randy Bogardus]

Aaron, PS: how about you?

[Amock]

We know Mr. Knowles well. We are right next to Sawyer and were using Daryl for a few years to make templates for our custom butcher block counter tops. It would sorta make sense to keep using him since he's about 50 yards away. However, we have always felt we could end up with a better outcome if we owned the tool. We don't have to worry about pumping things through a machine to make money so much as putting out a high quality product, so here we are. Planning on cutting the actual tops with the cnc now!

http://www.greenmtwood.com/

[Randy Bogardus]

Aaron, such a small world! I liked working with Daryl and he and Pete wanted to help me.....but the "help" was just too erratic. I'd love to stop by and check out your product sometime.

Randy

[Ajcoholic]

You guys are both putting out some pretty unique and cool stuff! Glad I checked out your websites.

[Randy Bogardus]

Thanks for that, Andrew. It's been a long and interesting process to get to the point I am at. At first I wasn't all that keen to jump into the cnc machining since I like the design process for the boards so much. But now that I'm committed to the machiningI realize what an advantage it will be to have more control over the process. Thanks for checking out my website!

Randy

[Randy Bogardus]

Thanks for checking out my website, Andrew. It's been a long and interesting process to get to where I am with my board kits. I came to cnc kicking and screaming in a way. But now that I'm committed I'm glad I jumped in. It's such a relief to be in control of the entire process from design to production.

Randy

[Amock]

Randy - I will let you know when we are all set up and running.

Andrew - Thanks!

[Randy Bogardus]

Aaron, that would be great, thanks. I'm working my way through the assembly with very few problems. The assembly manual makes relatively easy work of it although me being a one man shop it would be nice to have help at times.
Randy