2x4 wood working question.

[Erni]

Question for all the wood workers.

I am doing a stand for my 3d printer. It will have vibration as it prints and it's an odd size so I will make a custom footprint. But the major issue I see is the vibration as all the kitchen base cabinets I eanted to use look like they just want to fall apart.
Costruction would be out of 2x4s becsuse it's not a show piece. Shear will be done with the 1/8 particle brown board I have as left over. 3/4 inch or better particle board top, and 1/4 plywood (tbd) doors. Glue and screw or nail construction everywhere.

I started looking at 2x4s and now I am worried about warping and assembly and construction issues.

Are 2x4s a viable cabinet material? Any tips on choosing good 2x4s? Specific type, what to look for when selecting like grain, etc..

Many thanks.
(I have been putting off using my printer because it is on the ground and it is a pain to see the crappy lcd. With winter here I want to print some projects and the stand is first in line)

[Wulf202]

I can give you tons of tips as can YouTube but your best bet is to go on craigslist and find an old metal desk or a pair of short metal filing cabinets. Top it with wood and order some vibration dampener pads.

[Bailey Guns]

Yep...that's what I would do. One of those old-style metal office desks. Wide, heavy and very stable. Easy to dampen. Perfect solution.

[buffalobo]

What is size and weight of printer?

Unless your base cabs are a wreck, a few 1 1/4-1 1/2" screws from outside to in into 2x2's in the corners(stand vertical bottom shelf to top of box, approx 30-32") will sturdy up bases.

Screw bases together through face frames aa normal and shim reveal space at back and screw together.

Can screw top down(counter sink screws) into 2x2's to hold whole unit rigid and not rack as printer carriage travels.



If you're unarmed, you are a victim.

[DFBrews]

How big a printer? Mine is 16x16 bed and it lives Happily on a cheap particle board repurposed bedside table. No ghosting artifacts at all vibration has never been a problem

[ray1970]

My reloading bench is framed up with 2x4s and topped with a piece of laminate countertop. I built it nearly thirty years ago and it used to have two progressive presses and one single stage press mounted to it.

Not sure how your printer vibration compares to running presses but I would think if you built it right durability shouldn?t be an issue.

Maybe build something similar to my bench and toss some sort of rubber mat on top?

[def90]

Sure, they make and sell different grades of 2x4s. The ones you get at home depot will be bottom grade framing studs that may or may not be bent, twisted or have bark on the edges. Go to a real lumber yard and get high grade studs which are sorted for straightness and lack of blemishes or even go with engineered studs which are a laminate construction and perfectly straight and square.

[JohnnyEgo]

MDF is the most common material for cabinet carcasses because it is dead-flat, easily mill-able, and not subject to seasonal wood movement. It doesn't hold screws all that well, and it doesn't like getting wet. But a simple butt joint with a few Confirmat screws makes for some fairly durable cabinets. Ply would be the next best choice. Anything solid wood is going to be subject to movement. Just a fact of life. You can plan around it and minimize the effects, but it will still be there. So I guess it all depends on how critical things are.

That said, I have a bunch of shop furniture and a work bench built out of 2x4s, usually in a frame & panel configuration with a ply or MDF panel to minimize racking and corral any unruly 2x material in place. Around here, Southern Yellow Pine (SYP) is rare and Doug Fir is much more common. When Doug Fir truly dries out, it hardens very well. Only issue is that it may take years. Before that, in addition to being soft, I have also found it can splinter really badly, particularly when being routed. It also has a nasty tendency to split under pressure. But if it is what you have, it's what you have. I built my kid's bunk bed out of Doug Fir 2x stock, and it's held up pretty well over the last few years. Joints are still tight, and it doesn't rack under load.

https://www.johnnyego.com/wood/2018Projects/bunkbed19.JPG

I wouldn't over-think it. I would go MDF over particle-board for the top, just because it is flat and heavy, which will help with vibration. If you want the all-white look, just slap a piece of laminated tempered hardboard over it. If you have the eye for sizing up clear lumber between knots, or patience and a tape measure, you may find yourself better off for getting longer stretches of straight grain without knots by walking past the 2x4s and over to the 2x10s and 2x12s that are rated for use as floor joists. Longer is usually stronger. I will often look through the 16 footers to find good clear 2x material, and cut them in half in the parking lot before I stick them in the truck. But I genuinely think you'd be fine framing it out in whatever is available.

[FoxtArt]

Nothing shakes more than a washing machine. I happen to have one on a shelf, and there's no amount of shaking that can ever get it to move. It's also a bitch to try to move it. Because the dampening also makes it about impossible to slide.

So, if you want a cheap and easy mount and you have a concrete wall, first anchor a board into the concrete wall, then use a couple table legs or something similar. Attach legs to one end of a plywood sheld, attach the other end of the plywood to the lip of the concrete attached board. Then here's the key: Cut a layer of bubble-foil insulation that's the size of the plywood shelf, put it on top, then put a second plywood shelf on top of that bubble-foil insulation. You could also potentially use straight up bubble wrap if it was HD.

Put at most, one, or no more than two screws in the top plywood that go through the bubble foil and into the bottom, to keep alignment correct, or trim it attaching only to the lower plywood for the same end.

Now you have something that a) Is cheap as heck b) looks decent c) Can't move for the life of anything and d) is heavily, heavily dampened. And all you need is:

Any board to concrete attach
2-4 1/4" concrete screws (blue - probably 3")
Hammer drill and 3/16 drill bit
Two legs
Two pieces of plywood, same size
Bubble foil insulation or bubble wrap
A handful of screws

[Erni]

Sorry for the delay.
First off thanks for all your replies, it's interesting to see how everyone tackled similar problems differently.

The printer base is ~22x22 inches. I would like to add 4 inches to both dimensions so that I can run an enclosure (for heat, noise, dust and fumes). The inside width of the cabinet will ideally be at least 24 inches so it can fit two boxes for storing filament side by side. It will be a smaller cabinet as I just don't need another desk in the basement. Cost of basic cabinet bases that are 30+ inches wide is over $120 at Lowes for the basics and I think I would need to reinforce the cabinets as every single one I looked at rocked like crazy. Rocking might be ok, but would probably annoy me. If I can source a solid base at the Restore store for a good $ I would go this route but the several times I went there the cabinets were loose and rickety or the wrong size, and I am tired of hunting for a cabinet and just want to wrap this up.

The base will be ~26x26 and probably a standard 35" height. Sounds like I am over thinking the design a bit - not the first time.
Here is a pic of the base from Blender. Currently a bit larger than desired, but you get the basics of what I am shooting for. I might add a drawer for tools though.

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[Not_A_Llama]

I would be very very surprised if you managed to produce a significant amount of shake from a 3D printer, especially while printing. If you’re busting rapids around, it kinda doesn’t matter. I run a CNC router with a 4 lb spindle on a 2x4 base without much trouble.

You can research some “torsion box” designs if you want to go to town. 2x4 stock isn’t great and will likely induce some degree of warp as it dries, but you can mitigate this by picking out riftsawn and quartersawn pieces . Plywood strips can also be a viable strategy.

I’d just grab some metal shelving from Costco or Home Depot. By the time you have your mountains of filament spools, it’s going to be industrial looking anyway.

I would also start sooner on looking at negative pressure machine enclosures if you’re getting serious or it’s in your house - UFP emissions, particularly from ABS, are a safety question mark. That angle would push me towards 8020 extrusions.

[Erni]

Emissions will be mitigated via the radon vent system pipe located nearby.

[buffalobo]

While it sucks that the quality of production cabs is poor, you are over thinking it. That rickety cab is easy to make rigid with well secured top or couple screws through back panel into wall.

Production cabs are not meant to be free standing, they need to be levelled, plumbed and secured to the wall.

Use a 30" base cab with butt doors(No stile between doors, better for storage) and single or double drawer at top. Interior dimensions will be 28 1/2 ? 22 3/4 and cab will be 34 1/2 tall. Level & plumb, secure to wall, add 25 1/2 ? 33 top, drill up/down through face frame at front to secure top and clips or cleat at rear for back. You can always add a cleat at back if needed.

I have used the set up above in many different industrial circumstances for machine/tool stands. It will easily carry 300lbs and be secure for years.

Putting 2-3 cabs together to make a bench creates more work/storage space and adds to rigidity.

If we can set those cabs to carry 1000# piece of stone, you can set up for shaky/wiggly 3D printer.

If you're unarmed, you are a victim.

[buffalobo]

Stop by Budget Home Center and see if they have any 30" base cabs that might have been ordered wrong or sent wrong from factory. Most distributors will sell them cheap. Check the salvage type guys like Buds or Xtras, repurpose outfits etc.


If you're unarmed, you are a victim.

[Not_A_Llama]

Emissions will be mitigated via the radon vent system pipe located nearby.
That’s a good idea. Would never have thought to tap a line into my underslab system. Are you worried about reducing the vacuum pull?

[Erni]

That?s a good idea. Would never have thought to tap a line into my underslab system. Are you worried about reducing the vacuum pull?
Not 100% sure yet. I oversized my fan a bit when I built the system , so sb ok. But regardless, I think I just need positive ventilation and to have a path for the fumes to go. It does not seem like a lot of vapor is coming from my pla prints, so the volume of air introduced will be small and should be acceptable. No clue on abs or nylon prints yet, but I cant see 3d printing materials outgassing too much. The manometer on the rafon vent tube will tell me if the negative pressure is maintained. If that works I will find a 12 or 24 volt butterfly valve and let the printer turn the vent on.

But for now need to finish the base.

[Erni]

Lobo, this needs to be a free standing setup. Location is not finalized yet and if the venting does not work out printer will be moved so U can punch for a wall vent.
But I will take a look at bases again and see if I can find one that can be beefed up a bit. Should save me some time.

[buffalobo]

Lobo, this needs to be a free standing setup. Location is not finalized yet and if the venting does not work out printer will be moved so U can punch for a wall vent.
But I will take a look at bases again and see if I can find one that can be beefed up a bit. Should save me some time.They can be braced for free standing.

If you're unarmed, you are a victim.

[Erni]

Well I got lucky and found two perfect "cabinet" based. I think they are more like the base of a desk but I was thinking about doing that anyway.
The two bases next to each other are 33 wide and 24 deep, plus shorter than standard cab bases. Three big storage drawers and 2 small drawers for tools, perfect.
Going to add an mdf top, some bracing and call this done.

Thanks for revectoring me to the easy button.

[buffalobo]

Pics when done. [emoji106]

If you're unarmed, you are a victim.

[scuugz]

MDF is heavy for vibration dampening, it is cheap, it glues well with Elmers and it's straight and flat. MDF is just a finer grade of particleboard. There is a reason that this product is a staple in the residential cabinet industry. It is the best economical material for the job.

[Erni]

Well got the two bases together. Had to add bottom corner braces to one as it did not have any. Put the units together with wood screws on the frame and a spacer and screws in the back. Screwed up the frame screws as they were drywall screws and did not really grab well. The back screws were the fancy torx driven screws, which worked very well and I prefer them over the phillips going forward. For the top I had an old 3x3 coffee table top. I simply trimmed it to 26" long and that is done. Top still needs attaching.
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[Irving]

Looks like it's actively wiggling in that first picture. :p

[buffalobo]

Office cabs, perfect for machine base.[emoji106]

If hidden fasteners not an issue, screw down thru top into face frames(4, 2ea) at front and cleat(2?2) you add at back(4, 2ea).

Countersink top and predrill hardwood face frames to avoid splitting. Should be plenty stout and rigid.

[Erni]

Its done. Ain't it purdy? Room for everything. Now I just need a printer cover and a few more items. (I have learned that 3d printers are never really done....)

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