I’ve begun to use the hybrid table on my 5.1 with the Carbide clamp sets (I have the crush it kit as well as the regular hold down clamps). I’ve found that for quite a few pieces, the clamps are too short to reach from the next available T-Track to the workpiece (usually when the workpiece happens to fall on or immediately next to a T-Track). Ironically, the T-Tracks being uniformly spaced makes this happen more frequently - since most of my pieces have standard dimensions).
Anyway…I’ve begun to think about my old clamp set - I had a bunch of homemade clamps that used readily available 1/4-20 screws.
I’m about to experiment with creating “Myers-strips” - basically a half a hybrid table width flat board that anchors to the table with T-Track nuts, but provides an array of 1/4-20 sockets.
Has anyone tried this before? Any ideas? Or - am I missing something with the hybrid table???
I turned the original slats upside down and machined in place for threaded inserts. I like having the t-slots available as I use them 3/4 of the time. So keeping a extra board on top seems like a huge waste of the best designed table.
OK…I put 96 M6 T-Nuts into the underside of the slats (8 per); staggered the configuration, so that there’d be a variety distances. Simple procedure of flipping over the 12 slats, attaching them upside down with M6 30mm bolts, running the job, hammering in the T-Nuts, and reinstalling them right side up.
@CullenS
I’m torn between inserts and T-nuts sometimes but ultimately if I need to put more torque on the fastener for holding purposes I will use the T-nuts due to a larger surface area in the material. Inserts are faster to install and meet most hold down requirements 90% of the time for me.
Really nice setup! This is the route I’m going when I upgrade the base tubes from the 5.1. Might as well make the upgrade while the strips are off for the swap.
I use threaded inserts in hardwoods…not comfy with them in MDF. I’m not particularly comfortable with much of anything in MDF, frankly…but I’m a solid wood-bigot. They were easy enough to bang in - the slats are a good-quality MDF.
FYI: I actually ended up orienting the slats by alternating them top to bottom - this way the offset holes would provide more distance options. So it looks like this now:
