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So I picked up my Laguna IQ Pro today, and it's a pretty machine.

Now I have to build some type of a bench or a stand for it. I'm looking for inspiration. For those who have a benchtop CNC, show me your stand! Ugly or beautiful, I'll take all comers! Tell me what you like about it, what you don't like about it, what you would do differently if you were building it again, or whatever you want.

I posted this question on CNCZone and got no responses. I have to believe the CNC users on this forum are cooler than the users at CNCZone. Time to step up!

well, here's mine. Nothing fancy. The legs aren't all the way at the corners because I needed access to the underside to bolt the machine down to the table. I had some reason for keeping the right most leg that far from the edge but the reason is escaping me and in retrospect, probably would have been better to push it farther right.

Make sure you put leveling feet in there. The ones I bought are nice and aren't crazy expensive but you could make something similar using hokey pucks.

My bench needed serious tightening after a season while the wood dried out more.

Oh, and I have a ballscrew that runs down the center of the machine. Would have been nice to have access underneath there for lubrication and cleaning.

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http://www.birkonium.com CNC Products for Luthiers
http://banduramaker.blogspot.com

Excellent info, Andy. Thanks!

This guy designed a table that a lot of baby bee owners make while they wait for their machines. I believe the plans are on their forum. The Laguna and the yellow bee machines look similar and are both steel. I like Andy's simple design, not sure if it needs a little extra something for the extra weight.

http://mickmartinwoodworking.com/new-stinger-cnc-table/

RandK, thanks for that link! The frame is pretty basic and makes sense, and I'll start with something like that. But the trim and paint job are inspirational! That really generates some ideas for me. That kind of inspiration is exactly what I was looking for!

I purchased a corner kit from George at Xzerocnc. With the steel tube, the paint, and the leveling/dampening feet, I probably have a little over $200 into this table. That may seem like a lot, but this thing is so sturdy, I would trust it to drive my truck up on it, if I had ramps that big. Absolutely rock solid.

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Jason McGowan
M&S Guitars
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United States of America, looks like another silent night
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Jason, that's a sweet stand! It looks super rigid.

Well, the verdict is in: The OLF CNC enthusiasts are far more awesome (and responsive!) than the folks on CNC Zone. Great job!

I was definitely inspired by some of the stands here. So, last night I picked up some lumber and tonight I started building a stand. For now, it's going to be the "very sturdy, not so purdy" approach, but I'm going to build it in such a way that it will not be difficult to pretty it up and make it cool. I have some ideas.

I should have the "sturdy, not purdy" stand built by Friday, so I'll post some pics. If I get around to making it pretty, I'll post pics then too.

mine is a small machine so I just modified a workbench

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MK5acoustics.com

Sturdy is where it's at. I don't have pictures, but the little CNC I made at work is on a 24x24" steel anti-vibration table topped with three pieces of 3/4" ply laminated together. The anti-vibe table was an industrial-park-dumpster-diving find of a friend of mine; even though it's small, it's all made out of 1/4" steel so it weighs about 200 lbs and it's on locking wheels.

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Bob Garrish
Former Canonized Purveyor of Fine CNC Luthier Services

Wes, that's super handy! Having something small has some huge advantages. I decided that I wanted to be able to make cabinets on my CNC, though, and 2'x3' is probably about the minimum for cutting cabinetry.

Bob, that sounds really nice. I'm anxious to hear about the advantages of anti-vibration. Are you talking about eliminating significant vibration/wobbling, or making something that is virtually vibration-free? I can certainly understand that having any meaningful machine movement could impair the accuracy of the router, but would even tiny vibrations have an effect?

Here is a pic of the stand I made this past week, with the CNC router mounted:

Mine is a simple welded frame with a plywood top. I'm rebuilding it to stiffen and will be enclosing the router for better dust containment.[/url][/url]

Saul, do you find the casters cause any problems in stability?

Good dust collection is important to me. What do you use for DC now? Will a good DC keep it reasonably dust free, or is a box essential?

Kelby if I have the machine really cranking, the whole thing will move around the floor a little bit. My shop is small and I needed the mobility, but I don't think the casters are the best idea, in terms of stabililty.

I now have a 1 1/2hp dust collector dedicated to this machine. There is a 4" hose that goes reduces to 2.5" at the router. Not the best, but it will get a bunch of the dust. I want to get the thing into it's own room or a box as it will fill the shop with fine dust even with the collector.
Also because I have the router running rather than a spindle it's as loud as, well, a router. If I have a long program, I tend to start it before I head out for lunch or run errands, returning for tool changes and such.

So I can't remember if I brought it up here or on CNC zone, but I wonder if for lower end machines like what I have or the Laguna etc, if a little bit of shimmy in the table might be a good thing?

e.g. I run my machine pretty hard for what it is. My accels and top speeds are set pretty high. I imagine that if I had my machine bolted to a concrete block, the gantry would be vibrating on fast changes in direction. As it is, my table just moves and I think I'm getting a better surface finish than I would with the thing bolted to a more rigid table.

Even still, I can see some reverberations when e.g. parallel finishing a fretboard. By seeing, I mean that there are visible ripples perpendicular to the travel of the tool. They're well under .001" deep, you can't feel them at all but they're visible under certain conditions.

What's the thoughts, would they get better or worse with a more rigid table?

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http://www.birkonium.com CNC Products for Luthiers
http://banduramaker.blogspot.com

I'll guess that rigid base is better. Whatever movement, flex, vibration in the machine is probably still there no matter what and a flexible base could add weird second order effects. Purely a guess.

My little machine cuts better when it is on the floor and not on casters. It shows when cutting the profile on a solidbody guitar which is a chain of tangent arcs and lines. Not a lot, a thou or so but it makes a difference in sanding effort. It also likes being bolted to the steel frame stand and being relatively level. I don't know if some of this is from the position information from the servos causing some correction weirdness.

Some of the middleweight router manufacturers (1000-2000lbs) want the base bolted to concrete. Most of the weight in those machines is the table and legs.

Hey Andy,

Hehe...trust me. The less complicated vibration is...the better.

There's no reason not to utterly eliminate a secondary reaction if you have a chance. A rigid table means you're only dealing with the proclivities of the machine itself. If had one of these I'd build a steel table, anchor it to a concrete floor, and then bolt the router frame to the table. After all that...if there are any issues it's going to be some aspect of the machine.

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