The not so Flexy Rack. (My DIY High End Rack) (1 Viewer)

[Brett DiMichele]

Tony,

I'll tell ya whut... Machine me 8 of em that look just like
the one's that Finite uses and I'll give ya $50.00 and a
case of beer or something...

I think my rings will look fine.. Not as fancy as Finite's
but much more fancy than a flexy

 

[Bob Kavanaugh]

Hey Brett,
How about an update on your rack? We can't wait to see the finished product.

 

[Brett DiMichele]

Bob,

The aluminum is at the machine shop now. Depeding on how
fast my bud machines the stuff it will probably be a week
or two till I get it back.

 

[Eddie L]

While I think all of the designs are beautiful, I always wonder......where do you hide all of the ugly wires?
Ed

 

[Brett DiMichele]

Ed,

My wires will all be neatly seperated into Power or Signal
and they will be routed down the back post of the rack and
secured to it with Networking Cable Wraps (velcro).

 

[Eddie L]

sounds good Brett!
You NEVER see photo ads of gear with any wiring.
I wonder why?

"C:WINNTProfileseclindquistPersonalMy Picturesmartina-bo-tv.bmp"

 

[Brett DiMichele]

*UPDATE*

It's been a while... This is how it goes though when you
rely on friends to do things for you (for free).. It's all
good though, since I am in no rush..



I am the REAL Lord Of The Rings!

Today I will drop them off with another friend to put a
nice satin bead blast finish on.. I have to get the wood
back from the friend that did the machine work on the rings.

I gave him the wood to drill a 12" long hole all the way
through each beam. He ruined three of the 24 beams and he
can't drill them he says.. The drill walked all over the
place. In my opinion he just ran the drill way too fast..

No worries though, I improvised on my engineering and I
figured out a work around that I can do in my own basement
and I get to put the new router table to some good use.

 

[Bob Kavanaugh]

Brett, about drilling holes down the middle of the 12" pieces of wood...

Two weeks ago on The New Yankee Workshop, Norm turned 3 lamps. To drill down the center, he got each side started on the drill press, going as far as he could. He then took a very long auger bit to drill the middle out and said he hoped they would meet in the middle like the Chunnel. They did of course.

You'll probably need to make a quick jig for a drill press table that will keep the wood square with the drill bit. This can be done many ways, you should be able to figure something out. You do have access to a drill press right?

If it works for Norm, it works for me. Hope this helps. The rings look great.

 

[Brett DiMichele]

Bob,

I don't have a press nor do any of my friends have a press
with a large enough travel to drill even 6". The same guy
that machined my rings tried drilling these on a Bridgeport
milling machine (doesn't get much more accurate) and the
drills just wanted to walk all over the place no matter
what he tried.

I decided I am just going to rip a slot all the way down
the oak all but an inch or so on either end (with a 5/16"
Counterbore Router Bit) and then drill through the remaining
1 inch per side. The slotted section will be on the bottom
side so it won't be visable and the 1" or so of hole per
side will help keep the beams "captured" to the allthread
that will cinch everything down.

 

[Bob Kavanaugh]

Sounds like a great idea!

 

[Brett DiMichele]

Bob,

Yep I think it should work!

Unfortunatly when you engineer things yourself you often
find that you lack the proper manufacturing tools! The holes
"seem" easy to do... But it turned out not to be the case
at all.. Now, A Pulsed c02 Laser would have blasted those
holes right in there!

I will update the thread as I make progress.

 

[DanielGM]

I personally think if you get allthread with a decent finish that matches your aluminum center piece that it would be cool to leave the gutted side facing up, exposing the rod.

 

[Chris Keen]

Is oak what you MUST use?

How about maple or something with less grain standout?

Considering something like maple, or padauk, or.... here's another method.

You take your 1"x1"x12" (for example) sections and rethink how to rifle bore these.

Instead of making it 12" long to begin with, let's make them oh.... 13" or so. Let's draw a long skinny "v" in pencil down one long side (not the ends) that contour at the the same graduation until the point. This will make identity easier in the end for reconstruction.

Next, take a setup block and cut say six equal 2" sections fromt his peice. (six times two gets 12" total, right?) Use a thin kerf blade, maybe even a bandsaw if possible so very little wood is lost, and making grain line up more smooth.

Setup a jig for a drill press so that you can align each of the 2" pieces the same each time, and you can rifle bore each of the six 2" pieces.

Reconstruct the six 2" parts into one 12" part, using the "v" that was drawn on one side earlier to align them correctly. These can be glued and clamped.

What would make this easier? Perhaps knowing your threaded rod's diameter, such that you could put the threaded road inside while clamping it and gluing it together to help keep the "tunnel" aligned. Perhaps use a thin hollow aluminum tube down the shaft even? These can be cheap, and other metals could be used as they wouldn't be exposed.

Of course this procedure would need to be repeated each of the bars, but the end results would look phenomenal too.

Just thinking out loud.

Also, less cuts can be accomplished and make it easier if you know the total depth of plunge for your drill press, but I wouldn't try to do the maximum plunge either. If it were 3" for instance, I'd stick to 2" or no more than 2.5" but that's just me.

 

[Chris Keen]

One more method.

Take your 1"x1"x12" again... cut it into say two equal parts of 1"x1/2"x12" ... Use a router bit and cut a notch down the middle of each half. These two halfs can be glued back together such that a "tunnel" is down the middle of them. You could use a "flute" cutting bit and even make the tunnel "round" instead of "square" for the channel.

In this case, I would probably have my glue lines on the top and bottom (not sides) showing surfaces, as these will not show nearly as much being the ones that face the floor and the bottoms of your equipment.

 

[Brett DiMichele]

Chris,

Interesting suggestions but far too complicated considering
I need to do this to 24 pieces!

My idea is simple.. Run a Straight Router Bit down each of
the 1.5" x 1.5" x 12" Beams all but say 1" and then use the
drill to finish the holes on the ends. That way the beam is
still held captive on the rod (can't fall off) and the slot
can go on the bottom where it will be out of sight.

That's the way I am going to do them, simple yet effective.

 

[Wesley S]

Brett,

I know this is really old but I'd like to see pictures of your finished product if it is

I'm just researching a Flexy myself and got intrigued by your design.