frame table size??

[TimT]

I'm going to build a frame table and wondering what the minimum size it should be? 3x4??. Max if I'm not building tandums?

Tim

[Eric Estlund]

3x4 is a good size if you are doing mostly standard diamond frames. Do some scale drawings and see what works for you. Bigger is better.

I prefer a single location (either BB or HT) that the tools move around rather then a bike that needs to change position to be checked. I am using a 3x4' table with good results. You can go smaller if you are not using a rectangular shape, but again, bigger is generally better for this stuff.

[Andrew R Stewart]

In an ideal world I'd have a 4x6 surface plate. But i couldn't afford all the beer it would take to move it... I have a steel 2x3 right now. It's the largest I'd want to have and still be able to get it up or down stairs. It's in the 4th shop I've had over the last 20 years. It's also the smallest I'd want to have for frame work. I do like the material. It's able to be drilled for clamp/posts and it pretty resistant to the aligning forces. Andy.

[NBC]

i got 3 x 4 foot, 6in thick granite, cant say that i'd want it any smaller, though it'd be abit short if i started working with tandems ever !

NBC

[mxboy349]

Mine is 22.5x29. Its to small but it fits my workspace. The plate was free and came with many holes in it which I use for clamping things. It's blanchard ground on one side and the edges are machined square.

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[Mike Mcdermid]

Mine is 22.5x29. Its to small but it fits my workspace. The plate was free and came with many holes in it which I use for clamping things. It's blanchard ground on one side and the edges are machined square.

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i like this very much

[bencooper]

That's a pretty table. I don't have a table, I have a milling machine base that I use on the rare occasions I need to align things that way.

[DevinL'Ecu]

Are you using it as a building table or an alignment table? Or both? Enco has certified granite plates for pretty damn good prices. And if you're handy with a diamond hole saw you can put a bb tower where ever you like it. That said, here in PDX we've got enough steel mills that finding a big-ass chunk of A23 that was supposed to be part of a ship and getting it ground flat is pretty cheap too. Magnets prefer steel over granite, and a rare earth magnet in the base of your frame blocks could be uncomfortably well attached to your plate if you're building off a full-size drawing (ARCH E fits nicely on a 36" x 48" plate.)

[steve garro]

Enco has certified granite plates for pretty damn good prices.

But the shipping not so much.
I have Joe Bringheli's big table.
Very Nice.
- Garro.

[afwalker]

Grizzly.com 24x36x4" granite
199+ shipping=299
Works well for measuring, not enough attachments to really be an alignment table with just the post I made. Just a hammer drill hole.
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cheers
andy walker

[echelon_john]

That's pretty much what I have. I got a crazy deal from Enco or Grizzly or someplace that had them on sale plus essentially free shipping; I think I paid like $160 for a 24x36x4 table.

Drilling it for a bb post was an adventure; I actually set up a floor-standing drill press on some blocks so I could drill down into the granite with it; used two diamond hole saws, and modeling clay to build up a dam around the work so I could keep flushing it with water. Took a while, but came out great, with no tearout at the bottom.

Anything bigger would be a massive pita to move; once you jump to 36x48 you're also jumping to 6" thick, which makes the thing a bear. With mine, 2-3 people can (carefully) move it onto or off a cart/dolly if needed; with 36x48x6 you're talking forklift or at least hoist.

Grizzly.com 24x36x4" granite
199+ shipping=299
Works well for measuring, not enough attachments to really be an alignment table with just the post I made. Just a hammer drill hole.
8142842137_beb479b41f_m.jpg
cheers
andy walker