I haven't had a lot of time for woodworking lately, lots of travel for work these days. I started this project back in February, and only completed it mid September. And it's take this long to get the pictures posted :embaresse.
The design is Alan Shaffter's torsion box table that was in American Woodworker. It's a great size, and straightforward to build. The NCWW part doesn't end there; the edge is QSWO from Scott Smith, and the laminate on top was a gift from MarkE. I decided to use the space underneath to store short cutoffs and the 1/4" plywood sheetlets that MarkE snagged a few years ago.
I still need to build a few drawers for the center section, to store all the really small pieces currently in the cardboard box. It'll probably be Christmas by the time that's done :gar-Bi. The table is nice and flat. There are a couple of places where there's a slight dip toward the edge, but we're talking < 1/64". I can live with that.
I put some T-track in the edge to give me the ability to clamp some jigs to the table, without having to cut slots in the table surface.
So far, so good. I made a jig to make it easy to cut slots for biscuits. That worked pretty well. Next up will be a jig for face frames, and one to hold up the hose of the vacuum to make sanding a little less awkward.
The only thing I really messed up was not thinking about fastening the top to the base. I should have glued some plywood squares to the torsion box skin during assembly (i.e. inside the grid), to make sure the screws had something more solid to grip into. 1/2" MDF won't hold very well. I compensated by putting lots of extra screws in, but that wasn't easy because the openings in the cabinet barely allowed for a screwdriver to fit. It's not a huge deal since I won't be lifting this table by the top EVER (it weights about 500lb loaded with wood), but it's one of those "duh" mistakes.
Rather than using aluminum T-track, it would have been easier to cut the slot directly into the wood. QSWO is plenty strong, and countersinking holes in aluminum is not easy given how narrow the opening is. It would have saved some money too!
The design is Alan Shaffter's torsion box table that was in American Woodworker. It's a great size, and straightforward to build. The NCWW part doesn't end there; the edge is QSWO from Scott Smith, and the laminate on top was a gift from MarkE. I decided to use the space underneath to store short cutoffs and the 1/4" plywood sheetlets that MarkE snagged a few years ago.
I still need to build a few drawers for the center section, to store all the really small pieces currently in the cardboard box. It'll probably be Christmas by the time that's done :gar-Bi. The table is nice and flat. There are a couple of places where there's a slight dip toward the edge, but we're talking < 1/64". I can live with that.
I put some T-track in the edge to give me the ability to clamp some jigs to the table, without having to cut slots in the table surface.
So far, so good. I made a jig to make it easy to cut slots for biscuits. That worked pretty well. Next up will be a jig for face frames, and one to hold up the hose of the vacuum to make sanding a little less awkward.
The only thing I really messed up was not thinking about fastening the top to the base. I should have glued some plywood squares to the torsion box skin during assembly (i.e. inside the grid), to make sure the screws had something more solid to grip into. 1/2" MDF won't hold very well. I compensated by putting lots of extra screws in, but that wasn't easy because the openings in the cabinet barely allowed for a screwdriver to fit. It's not a huge deal since I won't be lifting this table by the top EVER (it weights about 500lb loaded with wood), but it's one of those "duh" mistakes.
Rather than using aluminum T-track, it would have been easier to cut the slot directly into the wood. QSWO is plenty strong, and countersinking holes in aluminum is not easy given how narrow the opening is. It would have saved some money too!
