It's fiday got all my work done and thought i would share my work table and vinyl storage i built.
here is an overall view.
This is the drawer that i made 8' wide and 2' deep. It will hold a full sheet off a roll..like that last 2' off the end.
This is the rack that i built on a slant. I can set the roll on end and easy to see what you have. Got sick of them stacked on each other under the bench and not being able to find what i needed and dicovering a roll after i just order a new one.
well you can also see how I do my transfer paper. I can pull out as much as I need by my self. The table is 16' long and i can pull the whole the length of the table. This is my employee Sean graciously demonsrating.
well there you go...tell me or show me what you setup is like!
chris
Posted by Harris Kohen (Member # 2139) on :
Nice Chris, A few questions for you: 1. How do you cut on the plywood? 2. Are you placing a cutting mat under the portion where you make your cuts? 3. What did you do about the seam between the two pieces of plywood that makes up the 16ft table?
Posted by Dave Grundy (Member # 103) on :
One word here....a "MESS" Posted by Bill Preston (Member # 1314) on :
You all do not want to see my work area.
If you're old enough to remember Fibber McGee and Molly from radio days, then you will remember the racket that happened whenever McGee opened the closet door, and everything fell out all over the floor.
Sound effects and imagination---a great combination.
bill preston
Posted by Chris Lovelady (Member # 2540) on :
i use a snape knife to trim the vinyl...i cut right in the ply wood...i bought good(smooth no knot) 3/4" plywood and it wooks fine. Now i don't gouge it...but push it just hard enough. I cut vinly from the roll with sissers. The seem is sanded smooth and i skweegy right across with no problems.i have thought of buying a cutting mat to cover the table but hav'nt got around to it yet.
I bought the cabinets from Lowes and put the plywood right on top. Now where I have my drawer and flat files i just framed that in.
Posted by Bobbie Rochow (Member # 3341) on :
Chris, I use plywood, too! My husband built me an 8' long plywood table that I painted, & he added a 4' end with a thick plastic that I use one side for cutting, & the other side for a light table. Some day we will replace the plywood, but I have been using it for about 4 yrs. now, & it works just fine for me! I can't afford a cutting mat yet, (I am still small) but someday....
Posted by Amy Brown (Member # 1963) on :
I have a glass top. It's not all that expensive and it makes life a lot simpler for me!
Posted by E. Balch (Member # 3545) on :
Take a look some of the shop. I didn't show the darkroom or screenprinting areas.
ernie
Posted by Kissymatina (Member # 2028) on :
I built a tape dispenser for the 1 end of my counter. The counter is 8' only long. The top is 3/4" plywood covered with 1/8" panelwood to match my walls and coated 3 times with helsman spar, very nice & smooth.
Posted by Jean-Claude Theriault (Member # 966) on :
I've seen a few shops that have used the thermo-glass section from a patio door to lay down on their benches. Just take the extrusion apart and lay down the glass. You can usually get the doors for free from anyone replacing their old patio sliders.
I've also seen a few neon shops use this method for their "blockout/aging table" as it makes Stazon blockout paint cleanup easy - either a rasor blade or a quick wipe with laquer thinner.
Jean-Claude
[ April 02, 2005, 01:07 AM: Message edited by: Jean-Claude Theriault ]
Posted by old paint (Member # 549) on :
this is right after i cleaned up....
[ April 02, 2005, 01:56 AM: Message edited by: old paint ]
Posted by Mike Pipes (Member # 1573) on :
My work table is framed up with 2x6, a glass top smooth on one side (the top) and textured on the bottom to diffuse light, and shop lights underneath. It makes a great taping/weeding table, x-actos will not scratch it, and if I need to trace artwork or layer vinyl I just kick on the lights and it's a breeze. Sure beats spending $1200 on a large light table from an art supplier that's still nowhere near the size of what I have now. I think this cost me $30-$40 total to build. Posted by George Perkins (Member # 156) on :
Mike posted a discription of his table some years back. It sounded good to me so I built one just like it. I got a shower stall glass at a glass shop ( something they had laying around ) for ten bucks, a 4' double light for about the same, made a frame out of some 1x6 and mounted it on top of an old dresser. I have a cutting/weeding/light table at the right height with six storage drawers underneath. Great for cramped quarters like we operate in.
Posted by Michael Latham (Member # 4477) on :
8x24' with banner roll rack and 4x8 cutting board on one end and taping tower on other. 4 x 32' easel wall on back wall. how do I post picture?
Posted by Jill Marie Welsh (Member # 1912) on :
I'd sooner show you my underwear drawer...it's neater. Love....Jill
Posted by Jane Diaz (Member # 595) on :
This is our table:
Bill built it out of wood but it has aluminum shelves underneath for the scrap vinyl storage and an aluminum table edge for durability. The top has a routed out hole on each end that holds a box with a florescent light in it. The routed hole has a lexan panel that fits flush into the hole. Then that is topped with those self healing pads. We have tried all of the things you suggest here. Wood fractured little slivers off after a while, glass was too slick and hard on your knives, we even tried sandblast stencil. That worked for a short time but then it got hard and brittle and pieces would break off and leave holes. We REALLY like the self healing pads. (I use them at home too for quilting, to cut out fabric with a rotary cutter.) You can see that one side of the table is plugged in and the other isn't. This lightbox feature is really handy for a bunch of uses. The whole table is on locking wheels so you can move it around if you want to. Each end has a rod to accept the transfer tape and it accommodates up to four different sizes of tape. We just have two on there now. We have tried different heights for the tape too and this seems to be the best height for us. We have tried a BUNCH of different solutions to the work table is 26 years and we feel we finally have one that works great and has a bunch of uses.
[ April 02, 2005, 05:16 PM: Message edited by: Jane Diaz ]
Posted by Chris Lovelady (Member # 2540) on :
this is cool..to see and hear about the core of any shop that cuts vinyl the work table.
OP, i have worked off sawhorses in the begining....Jane, I like the idea of the light table i could see many different uses....though Jill is the only one that i have heard of that works out of her underware drawer.
JIll, girls ware panties and boy ware underware...just had to get that clear!
keep it comming folks...this is great.
chris
Posted by Michael Boone (Member # 308) on :
if you ever build a work table on wheels.... make sure to get the wheels with brakes!
Posted by Mike Pipes (Member # 1573) on :
Oh and make sure you measure well, especially if the table ever needs to go through a door for some reason.
The voice of experience... Posted by Bruce Bowers (Member # 892) on :
C'mon... we want to see the underwear drawer. Hey, we all have our fetishes, you know...
Posted by Sheila Ferrell (Member # 3741) on :
I just got my plotter up and running around Thanksgiving weekend . . .
I spent an entire Saturday rearranging my office to make temporary space for an 24"x8' 'counter top' of plywood that I covered with a peice of aluminum. (One end sits on a file cabinet and I made 2x6 legs for the other end.)
The plotter, all my vinyl & the little stuff (squeegee, tape, scissors etc) is sitting on this counter. I had some storage crates which are stacked up underneath to hold scraps.
All of this is in a 16x10ft room which is shared with washer and dryer, my office desk, computer & desk, fax machine and file cabinets . . .(lol) since I'm in the miidle of remodeling my house.
In the meantime, to lay-out, cut, weed and mask vinyl, I take whatever I'm workin' with into what is my kitchen/living/dining room, a 25x30 ft room... I use my 'dining room table' which is a pic-nic table with a 48"x82" plywood top, but I found out quick, fast and in a hurry that I need a waist-high table for all this!
Now that I've been at it for these four months, and thank to pics like yours Chris, I know exactly how I want to set-up my work area.
I'm in the middle of converting a regular 30"x6ft folding table (the kind with metal legs that you see at covention centers and so forth). . .
Each end of the table has a one-peice set of 'legs' that fold out..I'm making 2"x6" 'blocks that each set can sit in, each block has 2 lock wheels. The 'blocks' & wheels also raise the table to a comfortable 40" height and will also create space to lay plywood across for an under-neath shelf. The top has a 3/4" plywood 4x8 covered with plexiglass (courtesy my neighbor who works at a glass factory)
One end of the table will have a 'box' mounted to it, similar to yours holding rolls of transfertape. (Got this idea from RT ) Also mounted next to this, small 'crate' type bins to hold the little stuff (squeegees, scissors etc.)
The only thing I kinda hate about it is having that table in the shop...since it gets pretty dusty, dirty and sometimes there's paint overspray, so I know I'm eventually going to have to build a special room just for the computer, plotter and table to keep all this stuff separate from the main shop, paintin', etc...
Thanx for the pics Chris. I really like the idea of a back-board where you can hang stuff neatly in plain veiw too . . . Posted by Boyd Merriman (Member # 5514) on :
I got a problem with these work tables. No paint on 'em. That just ain't right!
Boyd
Posted by Jane Diaz (Member # 595) on :
Boyd, we have two buildings...this table is in the "clean" vinyl/office building. The tables in the shop are FULL of paint. Posted by Adrienne Morgan (Member # 1046) on :
Good post! This is a plan for a work table my Dad designed for me.. got the wood (and casters wth locking wheels)and will be building it tomorrow. I'll post a pic of the finshed piece. A:)
Posted by Donna in BC (Member # 130) on :
I have a similar 4x8 table like A, with castors as well and LOVE it! I have carpet in my studio and it doesn't roll easily so no locks are required.
The sides were decorated up with wood like a barn door with the X on each end. The whole table is topped with glass which I love. The table is painted up a nice taupe color so it bends in with the rest of the room.
I have NO idea if it can be taken apart for a move. It was built to stay. This should be interesting... I so agree, use screws!!!!!
Posted by Donna in BC (Member # 130) on :
Oops, I also have a 16' long x 30" deep counter running along one wall that holds my plotter. Done up the same way as the work table that sits in the middle of the room. It has 2 pieces of glass and there IS that joint issue, but I've been able to work around it.
Posted by Sandy Baird (Member # 4773) on :
Adrienne, I am in the process of making 2- 4'4" x 8'4" tables, one for premask and one for layup. The one thing that I am going to try and do is make the dimentions so that there will be 4'2" x 8'2" shelves under the work surface. This would allow the storage of 4x8 sheet goods layed flat and out of the way. I would use 6 leg...3 on either side that would allow the sheet goods to be slid in or out from either end. I am going to take care to make one end on both tables flush enough that the two tables can be clamped togeather to give me 16" for long jobs. I will post pictures when they are done.
Posted by Adrienne Morgan (Member # 1046) on :
Heres my new shop table!! (I put a sheet of masonite on the top..replaceable when it gets marred too badly) here's the corner where I do the vinyl thing....
(I'm easily amused...) A:)
[ April 07, 2005, 04:13 AM: Message edited by: Adrienne Morgan ]
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