Jig Table

 Although they all have many things in common there is almost as many ways to construct the Jig Table as there are aircraft being built. I searched all the web sites and message archives and found that some people build tables you could build an aircraft carrier on and others use almost match sticks balanced on saw horses. I wanted something that could be divided in half. When a large table is not needed the other half can be stored, saving extremely valuable shop real estate. Also I am planning on jigging the fuselage like Wayne Hicks did, upside down on the jig table. Which requires the table to be cut in half. I put all these ideas together and came up with what I think is a good compromise.

  The first thing to decide is size. Plans say to build minimum of 3 feet by 10 feet and the archives always recommend 4 by 12. I decided to make mine 42 inches wide by 12 feet long in two 6-foot sections joined at the middle.

  The main support for the table is three 9-½ inch pre made I beam type joists purchased locally for about a buck a foot on sale. Some people use 4 of them and others use the larger 12 inch versions of this joist but I wanted to be able to still move this table. Also these things are meant to be used as floor joists in a house on either 16 or 24 inch centers so I figured if they will hold up a house they would hold up my jig table without having to use 4 of them.

The top is two sheets of ¾ inch MDF cut to 6’ by 42”, the remainder cut into two 9 ½ by 42” strips to be used as the ends of each of the two table halves. One of the scraps along the long edge is used to make the beveled connection point between the tables.

The leg units are removable and made of 2 X 4 lumber 34” long giving a final table height of around 36 inches. I counter sunk a large hole in the end of each one then drilled a much deeper ½ hole in the center to hold a ½” by 4” carriage bolt to act as a leveling leg. I hot glued a large ½” washer in the bottom of the large hole with a nut resting on top. I threaded the bolt through the nut while the glue hardened to keep everything centered. I then filled the recess around the nut and washer with epoxy to secure it from ever moving. When cured I installed the ½” carriage bolts in each leg with a nut for locking them in place.

   I then went ahead and dadoed a recess in the legs that would allow a 2 X 6 cross member to be reset into the leg to support the joists of the table. I also ran an X shaped 1 X 4 brace on each side of the leg assemblies to make them absolutely ridged but still very light weight. They are attached to the joists with more carriage bolts to make them removable.

The most interesting part of the table is in how the two halves are fastened together for use. There are only 3 sets of legs for both halves, two on the main table part and one on the other 6 foot section. The second table simply hooks onto the first using a piece of the ¾ “ MDF that runs across the end of each table. These pieces have a 45 degree bevel cut on each one so they will interlock. The locking pieces were then glued and screwed to the end of each table. The more weight placed on the table the harder the tables will lock together.

Speaking of glue, the entire table is glued together at EVERY joint, except where the legs attach, with construction adhesive. NO wood glue was used anywhere on the table. This makes the final product EXTREMELY strong and I seriously think I could park my car on top of it. Yet it is still light enough that two people can move it very easily around the shop.

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This is only half the table but that is almost 400 lbs on top of it.

My sincerest apologies for the poor quality of the pictures, I have not had much experience using my cheep digital camera. I will try to shoot some better ones as soon as I can