I figured the title would suck up a few eyeballs.
I have an enclosed utility bed truck with a 4×8 foot bed and a ceiling height of about 5 feet. The trouble is the SCMS and new Bosch tablesaw; they’re big and heavy, and I have to pull them and pack them each day, and although the slider is the first thing out, the TS is in the way back for storage concerns. I’m trying to design a sliding table about 2 foot wide and about 6-7 feet long that I could place these 2 backbreakers on and just slide out of the bed when needed. The SCMS would still have to be transferred to the worktable that I use, but I thought the TS could stay in place.
Anybody have any great inspirations? I’m not real enthused about store bought at the moment; I’ve (way) exceeded my tool budget for the year and can’t stand another hit.
Any ideas you may have would be great. Things look to be slowing down after Christmas (contractors off-season in this neck of the woods) and I’d like to pull this together then (while it’s freezing and snowing; like, what an idiot.)
Replies
This sounds like a fun project.
So, let's pretend like there is a trash can filled with iced down beer, name a brand it's in there, and some sodas, too. Nobody will care if you grab a Squirt instead of a brew. Right?
I'm gonna grab a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, and ask a couple of questions.
We're going for cheap, right?
Try to build it from hardware store parts
with no expensive special orders, right again?
Does this need to be a one man operation for unloading, set up, tear down, and reloading into the truck?
can we just start out with a piece of Advantek?
double it up and put a nice oak edge on it to keep it straight.
Now we might just buy some cheap straight line casters to get it in and out of the truck. Maybe with a wedge on the front so we can slide it till it gets to the wheel.
Now we need some cool legs on it..................
Grab a beer and let's talk about it.
Next?
BTW............
I'm thinking of something like an ambulance gurney with a box over it so that there is no loss of storage above it. The box would also help act as a track and keep goodies from under the wheels.
Not that familiar with steel studs, would they add some strength and make our table more rigid, without adding a lot of extra weight?
If I'm completely off track, tell me shut up and hand me another beer.View Image
Somebody give that guy another brewski.
Thanks for the input one and all.
I thought I had a developing design banging around in the flatbed of my mind, but you guys have tilted the bed and dumped it out. Great ideas. I like the garage door track rail idea from Jeff, but it would have to be under the table/shelf to minimize taking up so bed width, but then that would elevate the whole shebang, taking up too much height, which is why I originally ruled out the gurney idea which my DW the RN proposed (great minds think alike, Bee.)
Putting down a sheet of plywood is a great start; it provides a screwable foundation for anything that follows.
And I hadn't thought about the sliding tray thingy zipping back and forth like a typwriter carriage when the vehicle is in motion.
Gonna go back, review the input, cogitate some more, maybe throw Bee another beer, and then sleep on it. A good design gets better when slept on.
Anybody have any ideas on the legs? Hinged 2xs that flip up, Telescoping to compensate for uneven ground, that sort of thing. Maybe screw a pair of ladder leg levelers to some 2xs, hmmm. Gotta go sleep on it.
Thanks agin, you guys are great.
I never met a tool I didn't like!
What would be sweet for folding legs would be the ones you see under the gurney the MD's use in the back of ambulances. That way when you pull out the unit the legs automaticly unfold and then when you slide it in the truck they legs automaticly fold up and out of the way. Maybe you could find a used medical supply place that has this sort of thing used or maybe your local hospital can point you in the right direction.... Or you could run in front of an ambulance and when they throw you #### in the back you could take the gurney with you at the next red light.
Oh wait they dont stop for red lights. Lucky bastards.
How about barn door track mounted on ceiling ,a small chain hoist and door trolly to lift and move equipment from front to back and lower and raise to clear obstructions on the floor.
Forget the ambulance gurney: they cost multi-$0000 dollars and need a special v-shaped rack to lock the wheels in place that has to be bolted to the floor of the vehicle.
Cheapest way I know to make a rack like he's asking for is to make the frame outta 1½x1½x.125 angle-iron, preferably welded but bolted will work, then screw some garage door track to the vehicle sides and use garage door wheels on the frame. Drop in a piece of ply and away you go.
My BIL built one like that many moons ago; he set his up about 6 inches off the deck of the truck so he could always slip a few sheets of whatever in underneath without having to curse/unload/curse/load the sheets/curse/reload on top/and repeat at the other end....
Obviously, this gizmo as described couldn't be a full-extension slide table; but you could get it out to four or five feet without too much trouble, seems to me....Dinosaur
'Y-a-tu de la justice dans ce maudit monde?
I've got the heavier duty "Contractor Grade" Bedslide unit in my truck, and frankly, anything homebuilt is going to pale in comparison. I get full extension, 1200 lb. capacity, locking stops at full in, 1/2 out, full out. I put all my little stuff up front. Last two things in are the table saw then the SCMS. 've had as many as 16 sheets of drywall on it so far.
If I want the whole thing out of there, I just lift it out. No bolts, no screwing around. Two pins in the front go into holes in the front wall of the P/U bed to keep it from lifting up when extended, and two pins in the base go down into the P/U bed floor to keep it from sliding out. To remove, you lift up to free the two pins from the holes in the floor, pull forward. Done.
800 bucks.
My knees thank me every single day.
Steve
Steve
But how much space does it take up?
I've seen some like it but they seemed to take up about 8 or 10 inches.
I dont have that much extra space to give up.
Doug
$800 ... wow.
That's way cheaper than I thought those things would be.
When I consider rigging something myself ...
I gotta remember I charge about $350/day ....
so figuring my time ... if I'm busy ... plus the materials ....and headache ...
Plus the fact I'll be bitching at myself everytime the damn thing performed less than "factory perfect" ... late .... on a fri afternoon ... more like fri evening .... when I just wanna go home .... and my back's sore ... and it's raining ..... and I lost my hat/coat somewhere .....
Lately I've been trying to find the "extra" "$800" or so and just get it done fast and right!
JeffBuck Construction Pittsburgh,PA
Artistry in Carpentry
Now your thinking like I think. If its gona save time or in this case your back then its worth the money. Besides have you seen what chiropractors are charging, and its never just one visit. Still its fun to tinker and brainstorm. and you could put an airmatrest on it and take the DW out for a 'little star gazing'
I have a thought ...
old garage door track and hardware ...
there's always an old garage falling over somewhere!
For locking ... do what my dad does with his garage door .... throw a padlock thru the track under one of the wheels ... limits the travel.
I can pic this deal running down the side of the bed rails ....
Just bolt the wheels to that nice big piece of advantec.
Bam!
Done!!
Jeff
Buck Construction Pittsburgh,PA
Artistry in Carpentry
I guess that's another reason I like my van. Everything doesn't HAVE to come out the back end.
Leaving your table saw on a long slide out at bed height seems to be a bit tall for safe and comfortable use. Since it's moderately heavy and far enough in during storage/transportation to be a pain to retrieve I think I would build a platform, on wheels, to facilitate the push/pull from deep in the bowels of the truck to the unloading in the back. Make the platform only as big as needed to acommodate the saw, otherwise you will still have STUFF piled up on the platform and in the way in front of the saw, even if the platform sticks out beyond the back of the truck bed. Also, supporting that cantilever would start to cost in heavy duty hardware and not be in the spirit of frugality. You would, of course, have to get everything out of the way of that moving platform but I suppose that the space in front would be where you keep the SCSM so it would be gone.
Another way (maybe better) would be to make the platform to hold the lighter stuff that you would pull out on an as needed basis and push/pull that to the depth of the bed and then load the table saw last. Since you set up and use the saw every day it could be first out, along with the SCMS and its separate table. Since your head room is about 5' you could stack the SCMS on top of the table saw to save some space.
Once the table saw and SCMS have been removed and you pull the rolling table toward the back you now have the option of customizing that for storage. A double or triple stack of cubbyholes, for instance, to hold tool boxes, circular saws, pneumatic nailers, drills, routers, sanders, etc., now all at your fingertips instead of where ever you have them piled now..
Now you have to figure out what to do with the rest of the space on the other half side of the truck
great question
put one layer of plywood/MDF/scrap... down on the truckbed (this acts as a smoothbase for these. you will need a lip on the edge of this piece of wood to act as a guide.
View Image I know that Rocklers has them
attach a layer of wood to above (install tools) or create a "chest" type affair ( a box with a lid) that has these wheels on the bottom.
make one side of the chest hinge down and the lid hing up so you can lift off the saw... or depending on the truck bed height have some legs that store inside and flip out the top and down under to create some support for a stand for the tablesaw.
this way you still have storage on top.
hang on. you need to compensate for the weight of the tools maybe grooves in the sides of the chest with some angle iron poking in? you don't want it tipping out of the truck as you pull it out.
or you could use these heavy duty drawer slides in between the two pieces of wood.
http://www.rockler.com/ecom7/product_details.cfm?&sku=1491
Christmas is coming..... should I buy the wife that new tablesaw ....hmmmm
If I understand you and you have a shell over the bed,then here goes.
You need a sheet of 1 1/8" T&G plywood flooring and eight skateboard neoprene wheels.
Cut the sheet 1/4" narrower than the width of your bed as deep as you need. Mount the wheels, equally spaced along the bed rail lagged into the 1 1/8" ply.
The wheels ride inside the bottom rail of the topper using the small lip along this rail as a guide to keep it tracking.
The whole thing acts as a sliding shelf. Use a rope attached to a pulley to pull it to the back of the shell or to the rear of the truck as you need.
I did this for years on my old F-150.
But, a caveat, secure the shelf with a good latch or it'll slide back and forth with a bang.
Jeff has the right idea. That's the set up I used when I started out in my pickup with a cap on it.(before I bought my first van). Had it mounted right to the floor of the bed. Had shelves on the right side, other side wasopen for bigger tools, ts, scms, etc.
Greg
Edited 12/2/2003 8:54:30 PM ET by gwerner
I met a welder who had a small utility truck, and had mounted his engine-driven welder inside the van,on a platform. He used rails and a hydraulic ram to move the platform/welder out at the push of a button. It was slick.
I suppose this might be a bit more complex, or costly, or time-consuming than you were looking for. I can't remember how much height was taken up by the mechanism, but not much more than the diameter of the ram - think floor jack. I thought I would throw it out as food-for-thought.
Alex
Great ideas, all. I decided to lay down 3/4" ply and construct rails out of 1x and steel. (Rails jpg) For a bearings, I bought some of those 1" bearings from Rockler for outfeed tables and screwed them to the plywood. (Bearings jpg)
The first incarnation of the tray/shelf was a 1x3 ladder frame sheathed on both sides with 1/4" plywood. Dead flat. (Tray #1) But when loaded with ~180# of tools, it flexed about 1/2 - 3/4" at the center. Back to the drawing board. Biscuited and glued 2x lumber to get a 92" blank, heavy as all get out. 1.5" angles screwed to the length of each side mate with the bed rails, guiding and preventing uplift when pulled out.
Legs are 3/4" steel conduit, locked in place by 5/16" bolts and T nuts, they drop in holes from the top. A split brace for the legs provide lateral support.
As RW mentioned, it is too high to use as a saw bench, but at least I can set up the saw stand and easily transfer saw from tray to stand, or vice versa, without breaking the back.
Total cost, about $150. A removable bolt limits the tray from being pulled from the rails, and the tray fits in the bed with about 1" to spare, so I didn't worry about it sliding back/forth.
Pulling it out does take some muscle, as I figure the whole thing weighs in over 200#. But it's worth it. And the first tray replaced the bypass closet door that I used as my miter saw bench. Longer, wider, and better built to boot.
Thanks again to all who responded. Hopefully the pics made it.