Community thoughts on the new t-track table?

I’m on the fence. Since I’m so new I haven’t even cut anything I like the fact that it’s basically plug and play. I’m just having a hard time with the price since I know what the material costs are.

My bigger question is if I was to buy one wouldn’t it make sense to drill the mounting holes all the way through the bed and use nuts/bolts as opposed to screwing into the bed? MDF doesn’t have the best thread holding strength.

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Yeah I had considered making my own also, but quicker startup time is valuable to me also.

If you buy them in the shorter lengths which are needed, a lot of the price differential goes away — I economized when I did my T-track by buying longer lengths, then cutting them by hand (yeah, I’m cheap).

That’s how I’d assumed I’d do it also :slight_smile: I’ve cut aluminum on my table saw, okay yes it was unintentionally but it worked :stuck_out_tongue:

That seems pricey for t-track and some hardware. Orange Aluminum sells t-track pretty cheap - 36" OA7150-36 $6.92

I’d agree with @dtilton71, honestly. Pretty steep for a lot of ttrack and bolts.

It is a steep price but since I would have to drive a 1/2 hour to use a friends table saw I decided it was worth the extra expense for the convenience factor, my time is worth money as well.

I do plan on bolting the parts on and not screwing them into the bed.

Yeah my stock board already has inserts so with careful drilling I can anchor it a bit more firmly. It’ll still be into something threaded but larger threads = more gooder.

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For $100, given that it includes the wasteboard sections, the t-track, the clamps, and it’s all ready to go, that seems like a reasonable price. You -could- do it for cheaper yourself, but you would have to be willing to mess around with it. My table is set up like this, my track runs left to right like others (if I did it again, I would probably also run a couple front to back) and for me, I haven’t had any issues with height.

I like working on these sorts of projects, but I likely would have purchased this kit with the machine if it had been available then. We’re all different though, depends on what exactly you want.

[Followup]
Thought I would mention that threaded inserts are a nice solution (I have both - a lower table that is with t-track, and an upper table that t-nut’s to that one with threaded inserts - having both for different jobs is really nice). However, threaded inserts are NOT as cheap as you would think, particularly when you do a field of them. 1 every inch in a 12" square is 144 - at about .30/insert is still $40+. If you do this, do yourself a favor and get the special tool for inserting them, it works a lot better than a screwdriver.

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:joy::rofl: I’m surprised they let this get sold with 1/4-20 hardware instead of M6 :stuck_out_tongue_closed_eyes:

J/k. These look like an interesting options for those who are into that kind of thing…

Don’t worry about your lost 3/4" of Z height. You were basically going to give that up by adding any machine-leveled surface. Plus the 2016+ machines have an extra 3/4" built into the gantry vs the original S3’s anyway…

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Apparently some folks were polled, and 1/4"-20 hardware was preferred to metric (I was surprised as well) — naturally, one can just use M6 — I’m trying to shift over to that so that I don’t have to keep track of which bolt goes in which workholding box. Have 3:

  • universal parts
  • M6 (for use w/ the Nomad threaded table, and the Shapeoko when I put an SO3 together again)
  • 1/4"-20 (for use on the T-track on my XL 'cause it’s much cheaper to buy that here in the U.S.)

Assuming it can be clamped down securely, would it make sense to use the t-track table as the bed itself, instead of putting it on top of the bed?

Yes, that was a popular implementation for the Shapeoko 2 using

http://us.misumi-ec.com/vona2/result/?Keyword=HFSQN4-15250-500

Unfortunately, the price is a bit prohibitive to kit out an SO3, let alone an XL or XXL. See https://www.shapeoko.com/wiki/index.php/Parts#Structure for links to discussion and other alternatives.

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Looks tidy and clean. What is the maximum clamping height distance with the kit provided tools looks to be around 2&1/4". Myself I love threaded inserts and clamps or double sided tape/CA glue but may in time end up going T-track in the future. I find Tape and glue method to provide the least disturbance to stock surface height, clamps can sometime pull down or bend the stock during the machining process.

What I love the most is that you guys at carbide3D keep adding these options for added features. Just alone in the past few months we have the touch probe and now the t-track system. Making it had to keep my money in the bank! :grin:

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Luke -

Beyond the inadvertent marring of your aluminum table, are there any other aspects of going down the aluminum table road that have caused any additional heartburn?

I am very keen on an aluminum XXL table, however there does not seem to be any momentum from the Shapeoko User Group. I am moving to a humid environment and anything wooden will be a moving target.

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Nope, it’s pretty awesome. I got a sheet of aluminium cut to size and hand drilled it. I would say I wish I used the mill to drill the holes. I found 5cm apart adequate, if I were to do it again I’d do them 2.5cm.

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I’m in that same boat. Moving to Okinawa. I talked with a local machine shop for a quote to do a XL (looking to upgrade from the standard as well) and for material and machining holes 1" apart with every other hole threaded (can’t remeber how many holes it totaled up to), it was going to be roughly $500 or so. I’ve done business with these guys in the past and was getting the material at cost. I’d talk to some machine shops in your area and see what they quote you. I was wonder how the T-tracks would mount to the Shapeoko 3 aluminum bed that Carbide3D offers especially since they just had it on sale for Black Friday.

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While you could probably mount the T-tracks on the aluminum table — why? Just thread directly into the holes.

If you want a metal bed and T-track, the way to go is either aluminum extrusion, or a cast bed which has the tracks machined in it — something like this:

Unfortunately, I haven’t found anything quite the right size to make an XL work out well.

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This off-the-shelf extrusion was posted several months back: MisumiUSAExtrusion

This is available in a 250mm width and can be ordered at a desired length. The post had pics of an XXL with this full aluminum bed extrusion. The downside from the poster said that it wasn’t as rigid as he would have liked.

I could go investigate options from some local shops, but I believe there would strength in numbers. I’d want to acquire it before moving as well, so I’m hoping there’s something that comes from continued discussion. This is not the right thread for the discussion, however.

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I personally love them and here is my review:

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