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.



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.