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Thread: Designing an all metal extension wing for my upcut saw

  1. #1

    Designing an all metal extension wing for my upcut saw

    So I have been wanting to build an outfeed extension wing for my upcut saw that includes a fence and stop. I want to build it out of steel or aluminum and I want it as flat, square and accurate as possible. It would need to have 8ft or 10ft length and be roughly 10” to 12” deep with legs on the far end and the other end or left end (it’s a right cut saw) will connect to a piece of angle iron mounted to the side of the saw. have a buddy that is a machinist and I plan to have him build it. I just need to come up with a design. That is where you guys come in. I need some ideas and opinions on how to do it.

    One idea I had was to use 2” x 3” steel box tubing for rails that run the full length with a rail running perpendicular every 2 ft in the center connecting the two box tubing rails.then using a piece of steel plate for the top. The problem is that I don’t know if it would be absolutely dead flat. I paid a guy recently to build me one like this and he did a bad job as the top had a few significant dips and was overall not acceptable.

    Another idea was to possible use some sheet metal formed in a brake wrapped over two 2” x 3” box tube rails in a similar fashion to above.

    Do you guys have any better ideas or ways to improve on this? Accuracy and flatness are my biggest priorities.

  2. #2
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    I see no issue with what you want to do. The crux, however, is the fabrication/fabricator. The required flatness has to be part of the specifications if you're going to sub-contract this out for sure and you need to pick a shop that has the experience and setup to handle the job accurately. If you do it yourself...the same applies. The challenge here is the quality of work.
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  3. #3
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    If you combine heavy section aluminum extrusions to form a T-shape, they will be pretty flat. A layer of that joined together to a base would be nice, heavy and pretty damned flat.

    I joined these to my saw with precision ground dowel pins, which after such work it’s nice to have the attachment look sexy. In addition I believe it wise to use leveler feet and floor anchors for leveling, along with wall anchors at multiple locations. The combination of these allows me to produce a repeatable size to a fine degree.
    Bumbling forward into the unknown.

  4. #4
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    I think Brian is onto the right method. Heavy AL extrusions would be my preferred method. Having leveling legs as proposed would give you the assurance of flatness when it is in position. One of my benches has three layers of 3/4 plywood. I have a bolt up through the frame and before I do anything that has to “come out right” I check the diagonals for sag. It is wood, so seasonal differences.

  5. #5
    Quote Originally Posted by Brian Holcombe View Post
    If you combine heavy section aluminum extrusions to form a T-shape, they will be pretty flat. A layer of that joined together to a base would be nice, heavy and pretty damned flat.

    I joined these to my saw with precision ground dowel pins, which after such work it’s nice to have the attachment look sexy. In addition I believe it wise to use leveler feet and floor anchors for leveling, along with wall anchors at multiple locations. The combination of these allows me to produce a repeatable size to a fine degree.
    Can you draw or explain the T shape and kind of give me an idea of what your design would look like? I sometimes have problems visualizing stuff in my head. I absolutely do plan to use floor levelers. Haven’t decided if I want to anchor it to the wall but now that I think about it I can see that being beneficial

  6. #6
    Quote Originally Posted by Jim Becker View Post
    I see no issue with what you want to do. The crux, however, is the fabrication/fabricator. The required flatness has to be part of the specifications if you're going to sub-contract this out for sure and you need to pick a shop that has the experience and setup to handle the job accurately. If you do it yourself...the same applies. The challenge here is the quality of work.
    Thanks for the reply brother Jim. You are absolutely right with regards to finding the right shop for the job. I had a local machine shop take a roller extension table and remove the rollers and attach thick steel sheet metal to the top and it came out terrible. Not flat or square. Learned my lesson. I plan to pay a precision machinist to do the work, I am just trying to come up with a good and practical design that would work best tor this purpose. I am however also considering use aluminum extrusion as the posters have suggested below your post but I am not 100% sold on that yet.

  7. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by Bobby Robbinett View Post
    Can you draw or explain the T shape and kind of give me an idea of what your design would look like? I sometimes have problems visualizing stuff in my head. I absolutely do plan to use floor levelers. Haven’t decided if I want to anchor it to the wall but now that I think about it I can see that being beneficial
    The edge of an extrusion mounted to the side of an extrusion forms a t shape. The t-shape helps to reduce inconsistencies from one to the next.

    I suspect that aluminum extrusions will be flatter than steel tubing.

    The next step up from this kind of thing is to start attaching cast iron plates to a welded steel assembly and have the unit planed flat (metal planer) but that’s about 10x the cost for a marginal improvement.
    Bumbling forward into the unknown.

  8. #8
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    I would attach the top so it is floating on multiple points of support. These have to also be pulldowns to bend the top flat. If you weld it metal will warp from the heat.
    Reference how to bolt down a lathe to take the twist out of the bed. This is not just anchoring it so it does not tip over. A machinist would pay at least $200 for a level to do the job. Is the floor a solid stable concrete or something else?
    Bill D
    Last edited by Bill Dufour; 06-12-2021 at 10:35 AM.

  9. #9
    Quote Originally Posted by Brian Holcombe View Post
    The edge of an extrusion mounted to the side of an extrusion forms a t shape. The t-shape helps to reduce inconsistencies from one to the next.

    I suspect that aluminum extrusions will be flatter than steel tubing.

    The next step up from this kind of thing is to start attaching cast iron plates to a welded steel assembly and have the unit planed flat (metal planer) but that’s about 10x the cost for a marginal improvement.
    So would this be like 2x 96” long rails of 1020 aluminum extrusion with multiple middle rails going down the length perpendicular to provide a flat surface and then using two legs on the right hand side made out of the same 1020 aluminum extrusion with a couple of shorter rails connecting the two legs on that end and then having the left end open to attach to the slotted angle bracket that is already attached to my saw?

    That sounds nice to me. I can get the 1020 series aluminum extrusion in 97” lengths so I could buy enough to build all of this. I might need some help with part numbers for the connecting hardware used to assemble everything. Also I am not 100% sure on how to attach the 3/4” melamine top. I am sure that there are brackets for that. I would prefer an all steel or aluminum or cast iron extension wing but I know that would be uber expensive. I can get an 8ft SawGear for $4500 with the table included or JA Dawley has an option for $1,900

  10. #10
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    That’ll end up being nice and heavy duty. Heavier duty than mine and mine is plenty sturdy and flat so you’ll be in good shape IMO.

    You can cap it off with smooth face extrusions rather than melamine if you want it to be all aluminum.


    The JA Dawley stuff is great, I think I may add their digital read out to this setup soon.

    2DC72224-0EFA-4597-A5FB-ABAF56E7D34E.jpg
    Last edited by Brian Holcombe; 06-13-2021 at 8:16 AM.
    Bumbling forward into the unknown.

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