Assembly Table

Barry Temple

Member
Messages
19
Location
London, Ontario, Canada
I'm still working on my new shop. I'll post more pix when I get a camera. Mine took a swim in the hot tub. Hopefully that'll be this week.

I've started giving serious thought to placement of tools. Some of the decisions on that will be dependent on an assembly table. For those of you that have an assembly table, how big is it? What is the height? I was thinking about a 4 x 8 table but now I'm thinking that may be more than I need. Or do you use the assembly table for other things and therefor the large size is needed? My fear is that if I make it too big it's just going to end up as a junk drop. I did a search but all I could find is mention of assembly tables but not how big.

On a side note, while doing my search on assembly table, I was getting a lot of hits on table but not so much on assembly table. Isn't there a way to search so the search only returns hits for "assembly table" and not "assembly" and "table"?
 
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...Isn't there a way to search so the search only returns hits for "assembly table" and not "assembly" and "table"?
Barry, if you use the Google Search option (instead of the vBulletin built-in search) and enclose the term "assembly table" in quotation marks, it'll list what I think you're looking for:

Clicky link
 
Current one is 4' square and same height as ts. Next one will be alittle over 5' x 8' long. This will allow me to lay the sheet good flat and store them out of the way.
 
The draw back to a 4' wide table is you can not reach across it. The space is nice though. I cut mine down to 3' wide (more or less). I like 8' long but it also just gives you more space to pile up stuff. It's all personal preference.
 
I would build is a light weight torsion box & set it on top of 2 plywood boards notched to slide together to form an + which set on end makes the leg for each corner. You can have several length legs for different height assembles & the legs come apart & will hang on the wall & the tops set against the wall opening up floor space & the tops are nice & flat.
 
my version

i went with a 4x8 ft as well and like jeff said its to far to reach across but the room is nice and i work at differnt things from each side. i used laminate on the top for clean up of glue.. one thing that i like about it is i can use a pair of 60 inch bessys for a loooong vise. need to drop in some dog holes yet.
 
Space and Flexibility

I currently don't have an assembly table, but years ago I read an article on an interesting system that I plan on employing down the road.

The idea is that different projects will need different heights for assembly/finishing, i.e. you don't want to assemble/finish a highboy on a 32" table. Plus, most shops' floor space is at a premium. The design of the table is that of a portable and adjustable system.

The table supports are simply boxes made of plywood, with handle holes cut into the sides. Each of the box dimensions is different. That way for any given project you can place the box on any one of its sides resulting in a different work surface height. The work surface can be any material you want, even a torsion box. You could design it so that the top locks onto the boxes somehow if you are concerned about stability. Also, you could have different size table tops for even more flexibility. You can set up the table anywhere, at anytime, very quickly. The article showed that if the support boxes (you can use as many as you need for proper support) are proportioned well, then there really was no problem with stability.

Hutch
 
Table

I have a Shop Fox 30" by 76" table that works well. Right now I have a document file, set of car floor mats, cardboard box holding misc. junk, Attache' case and VCR on it.:doh:

The axiom of "If it's flat, it'll be covered with everything you must remove before you can use it" proves itself yet again.
 
Norm Abrams did a New Yankee Workshop segment on constructing an all-plywood Assembly Table earlier this year. He made a rolling Clamp-Cart out of the same material.

I bought the plans from the NYW people off their website for $17. His table measured 4x6. It is very light and features retracting wheels so it can be repositioned around the shop.

Gary Curtis
 
Hi Barry

I have used a full sheet of 4 x8 plywood up to now. But in my plan for my new shop I intend building a hybrid rable including my table saw. What I plan to do is make the torsion table from Wood Wisperer and then size it to be an out feed table, assembly table and downdraft table. I was going to incorporate my router table but have seen a solution for this in using the new cast iron table from benchdog which would go on the left hand side of my table saw and add to its surface area.

With this arrangement in the middle of the shop I hope to maximize the space and ensure there is space to move around the shop and not be obstruted by dedicated workstations.

As for height I will match it to my Table saw and make a large square island.

I also urge you to look at Tom Clarks excellent posting on his shop cabinet design. I have fully embraced this as the method I will use to build all my shop cabinets and get additional work surface out of them around the sides of my shop in certain places.

I really wish I could get to grips with sketchup because that would help me see it all in 3D. Best of luck with your choice.
 
The draw back to a 4' wide table is you can not reach across it. The space is nice though. I cut mine down to 3' wide (more or less). I like 8' long but it also just gives you more space to pile up stuff. It's all personal preference.

You don't have to reach ACCROSS it, you only have to reach HALF WAY:rofl:
 
A height adjustable table

I have a bad back and hate to have to bend over to work, so I bought a Harbor Freight lift table to use as an assembly table. They sell several varieties and this is the one I went with as it was on sale at the time I bought it.

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=93116

It allows me to raise and lower the piece as I assemble it. I have used it to build base cabinets and a rolling cabinet in the shop and it was great to be able to bring the work up to a comfortable height for assembly. I have not modified mine as yet, but it is possible to mount a larger top on it to give you more assembly area.

The first picture is of my lift table. The second is from the New Chinky Workshop site.

http://www.thenewchinkyworkshop.com/

Ching Ky has added a removable top to his lift table. He is a really clever woodworker with some great shop ideas.

Don
 

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i used to use a lift table like that for an outfeed for our industrial thicknesser, as the top head was fixed and the bottom head and bed adjusted up and down.

the table work greated all day every day for a good few years.
 
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