I have a woodworking/plane building table with 3-3/4" mds sheets laminated together, which came out flat within 1/64". But I wanted a dedicated plane building table. A friend of mine in the medical field gave me a "stretcher" one of those thingies they wheel you out to surgery in hospital. The top had been removed, so I got the heavy duty base with 10" ball bearing wheels and 6" hydraulic cylinder that pumps up to vary the height.

I added a mds top of 2-3/4" pieces (2' X 4") laminated together with umpteen 1-1/4" screws-NO GLUE this time. Thought the glue might be causing some bowing in assembly process. This time the top is perfectly flat-added a 2 x4 base to stretcher with leveling screws so top can be adjusted to be perfectly level. All 4 wheels lock securely with one lever and height can be changed from 30" to 42". Also swivels 360 degrees and locks in position. Base is designed to support 400 pounds so the sucker is heavy duty but can be easily rolled out of the way. Next step is to find a heavy piece of glass to put on the top and maybe I will finally have a decent building table that is not in the way when another project is underway. Any of you meticulous buildiers have any other suggestions on how to use this unique item other than shop surgery.

Another surface choice would be a steel top, then use magnets for building.

Scott

Scott-glad you mentioned that option-thought about trying magnets some time ago-I have always used a softboard and pinned all parts in position but magnets sure seem mo better. Do you have a good source for magnets and cost-might give it a try. Guess 10 or 11 ga steel plate would work. There was a thread about someone that used magnets and built all sorts of fixtures-but I have forgotten who wrote the thread.

Here is a link to an article by Caffinneman on making a magnetic building board and the fixtures/clamps.

http://airfieldmodels.com/informatio...uilding_board/

Hope this is what you want.

Thanks Campy - thats the one I read previously. May start in that direction.

I have a bench form hell. And a building jig that I also made. If you want to see it just e-mail me and I will send you some pictures.

I was inspired by cafeenmans' website.

http://www.airfieldmodels.com/inform...oard/index.htm


I started off with a 2' x 4' steel top on top of my old MDF and celing tile board. As part of a project to turn my garage into a workshop, I built a 4' x 8' steel top buildboard. Here is a link to a thread in which I gave some details into it's construction.

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_26...tm.htm#2653098


As for a source of magnets, I bought mine from the same source that cafeenman recommends on his website.

http://www.magnetsource.com/Solution...s/ceramic.html

The part number for the rectangular magnet with two steel plates and drilled hole is CA41LWH