www.TK560.com

[Indigogyre]

Prologue:

I originally bought the plans back in 2004 and put them on the shelf due to unemployement and the arrival of child number 1. Since then number 2 and 3 have arrived to make thier presence known. Many seasons have passed and all the kids are now at a point that they do not own my entire free time.

My renewed enthusiasim for completing my Proto-form machien comes directly from this board and those on it. It only seemed fair to share my continued experience on the machine with everyone.

Project x48: The title for this is x48 since the size of the machine will be 24x48.

Here is an image of my current working environment. It's my garage and it is fairly messy right now. My projects flutter between creating and organizing the garage and working on minor items for the project.



Here are some images of my project materials:


The metal stock is curently in two different lengths. Long is 12' and the short length is 10'. When i purchased metal I wanted to make sure I had enough on hand to be able to make more then 1 machine. Like a couple others I have plans on creating a machine that is 36"x48" and maybe a machine or two for misc. reasons.


The project is already underway and some images were not taken. Here is the frame that was built for the current machine.


From the image you might be able to make out some additional materials. Sitting on top of the frame is some of the metal tube stock that I started to rough cut. On the shelf of the table you can see two vacuum pumps. I've not yet decided on how to run the table but I will be using the a pump and a vacuum tank of some sort. Behind the table are some extra sheet goods.

Since this project started off a long time ago with my colecting some of the materials they are curently spread out in storage in various areas. I recently discovered a sheet of 4x8 3/4" MDF that was part of this. Yeah, it's pretty amazing to find something this large. It was put off to the side a long time ago in a back corner.

I also have some nichrome and ceramic stand offs plus high tempature connectors and wire in a box to be looked for.

Project interpretation:
It might not ever be noticed but the height on my table is higher then what the plans call for. Being taller then average I increased the overall height by 4 inches. While working on the top of the table it has been very comfortable and I am glad it worked out well. It also has the added benefit of providing extra clearance under the top for plumbing and storage.

Next Steps:

Cut steel tube to length and assemble the upper chasis. There has been some progress on this to date in another thread in the fabrication area. It took some time but having the new bandsaw available should make this part go smoothly. I plan to rough cut all the stock and then gang them together in pairs for perfectly matching the lengths.

Dean

[CJanssen]

Grats on 'project x48' Its always tricky to balance family and building, but that keeps life interesting.
Someday I will build a bigger table...would be sweet to have.
Keep us posted.
CJ
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"What, you think your some kind of Jedi?"