Torsion Box for Flat Assembly Table

[dusty]

I found this while surfing and thought it might be of interest.

http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid1344664476?bclid=1344621875&bctid=1344587219

[fixit]

Thanks Dusty!

This was just what I needed to get me back to my torsion box project. It's been sitting in the shop for a long time now and I'm working on a TV Stand/Entertainment Center that needs to be dead squard and flat. So I'm going to set to finishing the torsion box first.

After looking at my junk piled up on the torsion box project I've decided to just scrap it and start over and do it right. (Isn't it amazing how every horizontal surface seems to attract lots of "stuff" to cover it up?) I think I'll build this one in the garage so I'll have an incentive to get it done. My dear wife doesn't like having her van out in the hot sun so I have to work fast before she gets upset! lol

Thanks again for your post. I've bookmarked the link so I can be inspired some more if needed in the next week or so.

[a1gutterman]

That torsion box looks great. My solution for having a dead flat work table was solved many years ago. I purchased a solid core 80"X48"X1-3/4" birch door. I built a wall cabinet to match the door and mounted the door with a continuous hinge to the bottom of the cabinet. The (very heavy) door pulls down and sits on two 3"X3" legs that are hinged to it. It is a little awkward and means that I have to actually get up on the table to access part of the cabinet, but it is perfectly flat.

[Ed in Tampa]

Tim
I think you could have used a hollow core door as most of them are built just like torsion boxes. Only they have a either low cost wood or fibre board as the webbing. I guess if you put something heavy enough on one you could dent it but if you first covered the door with 1/2" ply and/or fibre board I would think it would basically be a the same.
Ed

[a1gutterman]

Tim
I think you could have used a hollow core door as most of them are built just like torsion boxes. Only they have a either low cost wood or fibre board as the webbing. I guess if you put something heavy enough on one you could dent it but if you first covered the door with 1/2" ply and/or fibre board I would think it would basically be a the same.
Ed

That is a good thought, Ed, but the solid core door was "surplus" and I did my dad a favor, by buying it from him. Also, your suggestion for additional thickness aside, as a kid I put my foot through enough hollow core doors to make me leery of them. Do knot forget, I have to climb up on it occasionally.

edit: BTW, that torsion box can knot be all that light]

[dicksterp]

That is a good thought, Ed, but the solid core door was "surplus" and I did my dad a favor, by buying it from him. Also, your suggestion for additional thickness aside, as a kid I put my foot through enough hollow core doors to make me leery of them. Do knot forget, I have to climb up on it occasionally.

edit: BTW, that torsion box can knot be all that light]

First time posting. My assy. table is a hollow core door cut down to 5' long (48" wide) so I can lift it onto two saw horses. I'd like to see someone try to kick a hole in it. I got it years ago when one of the local hospitals remodeled and replaced all the room patient doors. It has 2x6 rail & stiles and the covering is 1/2" plywood. It is a beast.

[Ed in Tampa]

First time posting. My assy. table is a hollow core door cut down to 5' long (48" wide) so I can lift it onto two saw horses. I'd like to see someone try to kick a hole in it. I got it years ago when one of the local hospitals remodeled and replaced all the room patient doors. It has 2x6 rail & stiles and the covering is 1/2" plywood. It is a beast.

I have seen a lot of doors like that. Many also have a metal or dry wall fire break in them, as required by fire codes. I would think that would be the perfect torsion box and most are being thrown out as new fire code almost always specifies solid core doors or steel.
Ed

[a1gutterman]

First time posting. My assy. table is a hollow core door cut down to 5' long (48" wide) so I can lift it onto two saw horses. I'd like to see someone try to kick a hole in it. I got it years ago when one of the local hospitals remodeled and replaced all the room patient doors. It has 2x6 rail & stiles and the covering is 1/2" plywood. It is a beast.

to the forum, Dick! Thanks for your input. That is not a very common hollow door, I am thinking. Sounds like a good table though!

edit: Just read Ed's reply. If those are available as "junK", they sure could be repurposed by woodworkers.

[dicksterp]

to the forum, Dick! Thanks for your input. That is not a very common hollow door, I am thinking. Sounds like a good table though!

edit: Just read Ed's reply. If those are available as "junK", they sure could be repurposed by woodworkers.

It works great. The hospital had a garage sale and I got it for 5 bucks (1980). It took two of us to load it. Thats why it is cut down.

Dick

[dusty]

I have used three discarded doors for my bench top. It spans the width of the garage (19') and is 30" deep. The styles and rails are all hardwood and the core is a sort of fine chip board. I don't know how heavy they are but I can hardly move them. They were hung with four (4) very heavy hinges. Not two (2) and not three (3) but four.

I installed these about fifteen years ago when I was capable of wrestling with this sort thing. Unfortunately, when I did this, I was more interested in getting it in place so that could call it done and use it. The problem I am faced with now is that while it might be flat, it is not level. Well, it was not level. It might be now. With the aid of some 3' long screw jacks, I have jockeyed those door around and wedged them. The bench top is now near level but the floor of the cabinets beneath is not.

The day is nearing when I put on a new hard board work surface and face the whole thing with hard wood trim. The cabinets underneath sport a new face frame that now needs painting. I want to put doors on to keep the dust out but due to very poor preplanning (those 15 years ago), the spaces underneath do NOT lend themselves to doors. The openings are too tall for their width.

If I was physically more capable, I would move everything out onto the padio, cover it with a tarp and rebuild the whole darn shop. It could be a fun project. It will make a good project for which ever one of the kids moves into this house about another 15-20 years from now. In the meantime, I will live with it.

Moral to this long winded story: Do proper planning in the beginning and then do the work with an eye on some quality standards. It will take a little longer but it will payoff in the long haul.

Repurpose those old items. Keep an eye open for items that can be reused.