Flip stands

Carol Reed

In Memoriam
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Coolidge, AZ
This is especially for Glenn. In another post these came up. It occurred to me that this is a concept ripe for the PP. That said, can you detail the flip/locking mechanism of your stand? Like maybe you have some SketchUp drawings filed away somewhere.....

My ideal combo would be the Performax drum sander and the Dewalt planer.
 
Perfect match with those tools. The design of mine was pulled from many sources and pre-dates my awareness of SketchUp but:

eye-bolt-detail.jpgeye-bolt-2.jpgflip-top-locks-001.jpgflip-top-locks-002.jpgFT-2-Latch-Detail-1.jpgFT-2-Latch-Detail-2.jpgFT-2-Top-Exposed.jpgFT-2-Top-Screws.jpgFlip Top Tool Change (2).jpg

The latch is a 5/16" eye bolt that is captured by a 3/8" bolt and locking nut as an 'axle'. The notches were cut into the top-frame stock similarly to how you would cut for a bridal joint; its just that there is no matching tongue. I glued one side of the top to the frame. The other is left removable so that t-nut patterns can change as tools change. the pivot axles are well waxed 1" oak dowels that extend about 4" into the top "sandwich" and have reinforcement blocks on the outside of the carcass sides. One of the screws that secures the removable side of the top also captures the dowel. I cut plastic washers from coffee can lids to put between the top and the sides.
 
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Question regarding added weight to the base. In retrospect, do you think it necessary if there are two tools attached to the flipping top? My thought was to use the space at the bottom for a drawer. Need to do some vertical measuring so I can use the TS as an outfeed for the planer or sander. Have some great wheels. Love Glenn's latches. That's a keeper. I have some scraps of plastic laminate for friction washers. And will use Art's hardware latches to keep the drawer shut when traveling. Just wondering about the weight distribution. And figuring out the anchoring for travel.
 
Mine was supposed to get a drawer in the bottom which it never got. I never added ballast and moved mine around all the time (like many mobile tools it was always right where I wanted to be :D). The center of gravity is lowered by the tool hanging underneath. If you go with one tool and a work surface I could see the want for ballast if the tool remained on top most of the time. If the tool is underneath, I would expect no problem; at least I never had any inkling that the thing was unstable. My top was about 2-1/4" thick so when the corner knobs were tightened it was surprisingly rigid given its light appearance. At least that was my experience for what its worth.
 
Mine has no ballast, and a person would be hard pressed to tip it over, even with the sander in the upright position.
 
I went out on the internet and search Flip top tool stands and looked at a bunch of images. Here is another version of a latch that is pretty simple:

flip top latch.jpg

This is the configuration I would need, I can't figure out what to do with my grinder. My only concern would be getting the dust and metal filings from the grinder into my planer. I don't think it would be good for the planer.

finished-stand-01.JPG

Well I don't have anymore used plywood, going to have to spend a little money if I want to build one of these.
 
Paul, that latch is just like mine :) A great benefit to these types of tightening latches as opposed to slide-bolts or flip-latches is that is solidifies the structure of the stand. If your stand is pretty solid (as in having a drawer box in the bottom to help with racking) a simple stop of some kind should do fine.
 
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Paul Douglass;385475...I can't figure out what to do with my grinder. My only concern would be getting the dust and metal filings from the grinder into my planer...[/QUOTE said:
I don't think there's much chance for dust and metal filings to contaminate the planer in that configuration. Or at least no more than simply having both machines in the same shop anyway.
 
If you want to get a good scare lay out a few rare earth magnets and leave them there for a week or two. It is amazing how much metal they will pick up. A magnet near the grinder will look like black flocking. DAMHIKT. I used 3/8 and 1/2 inch magnets. I am not sure how many hours the magnets were exposed to the active shop so my "week or two" is just a guess.

Enjoy,
JimB
 
I don't have pictures of my flip stand but my locking mechanism(s) couldn't be simpler. I made 4 ovoid pivoting thumb latches out of plywood which are tightly set to the exterior frame uprights in each corner. Of course for this to work one must have the top surfaces of the flip top and the uprights in the same plane. I used a doweling jig to center the steel pivot pin to ensure that it was centered.

I have my planer on one side of the flip top and my scroll saw on the other.
 
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