Hello everyone, I’ve been reading the Breaktime forums for the past couple years as my interest has leaned towards reno’s and new construction. However, I have now completed my work shop and have it heated for the winter and would like to focus my time on woodworking and perhaps basic cabinet making. It’s obvious this forum has just as much knowledge and experience to share.
I recently purchased a Makita 2/14 h.p. fixed/plunge router kit and would like to build a table and stand for it based on a couple plans I have found. As I am not very experienced with these finer projects, how do you make the most efficient use of stock? The plan calls for 4 sheets of 3/4″ MDF and has about 25 lines of parts. These parts vary from shelf supports to the drawer faces. Pieces range from – say, 23″ x 31″ to smaller 4″ x 4″ angle support blocks.
How does one tackle a project like this without creating too much waste? In my neck of the woods (Sask, Canada) sheets of MDF sell for aprox. $30/ea. so I’d like to keep waste to a minimum. I’d very much appreciate any suggestions on how to pre-plan a project before making dust fly. Thanks in advance.
Mike
Replies
One way you might plan sheet layout is to draw a rectangle on paper to represent 4x8' . Then just pencil out your main parts, ( if shelves are 11 1/2" wide then you would get 4 -8' rips per sheet.) Do this for your main parts and get a feel for how much scrap you generate. You can then figure out whats left and see how smaller parts fit. If you use veneer ply dont forget grain direction when you plan your cuts. I try to cut my biggest pieces first, then smaller and smaller. That way a mistake becomes a smaller part. Good luck and enjoy your work...Bob
Hello
Draw out sheet sizes (to scale) on paper and work your way through the list, starting with the larger sizes first, letter and number each piece and be prepared to alter lay-outs a few times, but its easier to scrap a piece of paper than to buy another sheet.
regards and good luck
Teabag
If the plans you have do not have a cut out drawing, I use grid paper. You can find this at an arts & crafts store or a wall mart. It comes in a pad like a legal pad. Use a ruler and decide on a scale either 1 block (in the grid) = .5" or .5' or what ever will fit. If I have a lot of parts that are 3/4 or 1/4 then I will try to make each block a 1/4" to make the dimensions easy to draw. Then use a ruler and draw it up. For MDF the orientation of the cuts will not matter. If you are doing this with plywood, or other solid wood, that is not going to be painted, you will need to take into consideration the direction of the grain .i.e. do you want the grain running east to west or north to south. Good luck.
I use a program called CutList plus. It was pretty inexpensive, probably less than $50. It was a downloadable program, you can search on the name for their website. But basically, you enter the dimensions of all your pieces and it optimizes it for you. It will do sheet goods, dimensioned lumber and rough stock.
You can define materials such as entering a 5x5 sheet of baltic birch rather than the standard 4x8. I would guess that you can also use metric. I like to put the approximate sizes of my rough stock in as dimensioned lumber so the program will optimize that as well. It can also be used for calculating material costs and pick lists.
Hi Mike... something sounds wrong with the set of plans as you describe it. A 4 x 8 sheet of 3/4" MDF weighs in at 80+ lbs. Multiply that by 4 sheets and you've either got the worlds biggest router table or the worlds smallest bomb shelter. Go to http://www.oak-park.com. Look at their router table. The top is aproximately 18" X 30" and about 18" high and sits on a low bench. It's a bit expensive but you can easily make the whole thing with 1/2 of a sheet of MDF. I made my own version using 2 layers of 3/4" mdf for the top and a single piece for the bottom. The 3 sides and the inside divider was made from pieces of 1/2" or 5/8" plywood I had laying around the shop. I also included 2 sliding drawers for bits and one for guide bushings. It's heavy enough that it will stay in place with just a clamp or two, but it is 'light enough' that I can lift it off the bench and store it away when not in use. If you want, I can send you a sketch.
Sawdust
Go online and find the CutList program http://www.cutlistplus.com You can download it for free and use it to make cutlists that will help you minimize waste. With practice you'll get a feel for minimizing waste and cutting more safely.
Edited 10/23/2004 9:20 pm ET by risabet
Thanks...I'm downloading as I type this.
Mike
Old time trick...and common sense... To cut down on waste when cutting sheet goods, always cut the biggest pieces first, down to the smallest.
I might suggest that you simplify the whole project.
My favorite router table is made of a 2x4 sheet of birch plywood, that sits on sawhorses when I need it. When I don't, it leans against the wall. It has some 2x2 bracing on the bottom, and the well for the PC-90 is reinforced.
It travels well to the jobsite also. It's quite easy to quickie clamp a 1x4 fence to it. I have been using it for about 4 years with absolutely perfect results every time. I like to use a couple of different fences, one is an "L" shape, and the other one has 2 maple 1x4's offset to hold the 1x material down as it passes through.
I would love to make a craftsman's router table one of these days, but until then, I've got all I need.
Good Luck rg
Mike, I agree with sawdust steve, 4 sheets of mdf should make 3 or 4 router tables.
mike
Why am I not surprised that this would be the place to get some excellent help?! Thanks for everyone's time so far. In response to a couple of the replies I will make some clarification:
I like the idea of cutting the largest pieces first and working towards the small pieces. I am also very curious to check out the software as recommended, sounds interesting - I wonder if there is any good software for a Palm Pilot?
In regards to the plan and the 4 sheets of materials required, I got the plan out of a Popular Woodworking Book called "Building Workshop Workstations" by Danny Proulx. I guess this project is a little more than just a router table and is more of a router cabinet with storage drawers, thus the many entries on the cultist - it starts at part A and goes to part FF. This was also what had me wondering about where to start cutting to make the best use of the material.
This cabinet is about 33h X 39w x 30 deep with about 8 drawers and storage areas. As I am very interested in cabinetry, I thought this would be a good project to try. Does 4 sheets still sound overkill? I'd hate to lug 4 sheets home and return 3 of them! I do think the author is correct however just from looking at the plans and photos.
Wish me luck and I look forward to using some of your ideas. If all goes well, I'll post a couple photos. Mike
It'll take more than one sheet. Here's what I would do - make a reasonably decent stab at using the material efficiently, if you run a little short then buy another sheet. People use plywood because it is *relatively* cheap. I'm sure the plans you are using have a bill of materials. If the bill says you need four sheets you will need four sheets - at least that's the assumption that I would operate under.
Don't put too much of a monkey on your back. You have a big enough challenge building the project without running sheet optimization software. Do some layout using your pencil and tape measure and start cutting and assembling following the plans.
I have to agree Cstan..although I'm fairly young (31) and have learned to do just about everything else on a computer, I think woodworking should be left as simple as possible for the amateur. There is something to be said about learning to crawl before learning to run... or rather learning to draw before learnig to type?
I did try out the software and found it quite interesting and will keep it handy...
Mike
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