I'm extending the base from 34" depth (on the Y) to 48" depth at the feet and 60" for a top rail. I'm keeping the width of 54in to match the current gantry. My overall cutting area will expand from 48x28 to 48x46.
I've already upgraded my gantry with the stepper gear-reduction assemblies as well.The holes on the side are where I'll have access to bolts to hold down the 2x2 rail platforms. I'm using 3x3x1/8 box tubing as before.
Here's a labeled pic of some upgrades I'm adding as lessons learned from the last table base.
1. Casters are used really rarely. You can see my old table in the background with a super complicated bottle jack arrangement to raise the table ont casters that are built in to the table. It was usefull when I had to store the table almost nightly, but now that's no longer practical so I now have designed a caster wheel that slips on to the corners and is held in place with a c-clamp. A floor jack on one side, then the next, will take the place of the bottle jacks. The strap catches will keep the tie downs at the proper angle for best effectiveness.
My next step is to weld up the water table platform, also made from 3x3 to hold the water table itself. The water table is already done and will be 51"x 51" with 2.75in slats.
I'm still considering having the entire base powdercoated so see my other thread on this subject if you have some input to share here
Thanks for checking this out.
I have 8.5 inches of clearance.
