# Want CNC but no room?



## tomp913 (Mar 7, 2014)

Here's a way to make room for a CNC in your small shop

Flip-Top CNC Table: 10 Steps (with Pictures)


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## MikeMa (Jul 27, 2006)

Neat idea, though it seems like you would need to re-align the machine after each flip.


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## cjhilinski (Apr 25, 2017)

Why not just leave the CNC set up in that recessed cabinet and drop a piece of 3/4 inch plywood over the top of it when you need a work surface?


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## tracar (Jan 17, 2018)

i know how you feel about the room issue, it was a cnc or the car in the garage, i love the cnc......and it leaves me a 4 foot space between the cnc and the wall to walk around , hahaha. i had the same problem when i wanted to buy a router table, then came up with the idea to build the router table to be placed on top of the cnc table when i needed to use it, and besides all the suction hoses are there anyways, but i do like the flip table, be a good idea if you had a small cnc. mine weighs more than my car..


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## JOAT (Apr 9, 2010)

cjhilinski said:


> Why not just leave the CNC set up in that recessed cabinet and drop a piece of 3/4 inch plywood over the top of it when you need a work surface?


Well, I would want something thicker, and stronger than 3/4" plywood, maybe a torsion box, but that was my first thought also, as a hinged top. Possibility of it doing work with the top/work surface down also. K.I.S.S. rules.


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## RainMan 2.0 (May 6, 2014)

Pretty neat concept, but I think it’s to low for a cnc, and to high for a work table ..


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## hawkeye10 (Jul 28, 2015)

You say you have no room and I say I have no money. :laugh2: Okay I also have no brain to operate it. I have to say the CNC turns out some very fine work and I am a little jealous.


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## JOAT (Apr 9, 2010)

RainMan 2.0 said:


> Pretty neat concept, but I think it’s to low for a cnc, and to high for a work table ..


Obvious answer. Make the top whatever height you want for a work table, and have the CNC part fixed to raise and lower - a mini-elevator. Not hard to do, with the proper stuff.


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## MT Stringer (Aug 15, 2012)

I was cramped for room, so I built my frame so it would straddle my adjustable height router table. The CNC can be operating, and all I have to do is pull the router table out from underneath and git-after-it!:grin:


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## RainMan 2.0 (May 6, 2014)

Mikes got the best system so far 

I forgot how low your adjustable router table can go . Your design payed off in spades


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## difalkner (Jan 3, 2012)

We made room a different way - the cars are outside. Our CNC weighs in at about 600 lbs. so I would need help flipping it and just as importantly, *stopping *it once it started the rotation! :grin:

It is a good idea, though, and one I have considered for my planer and spindle sander.

David


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## 4DThinker (Feb 16, 2014)

I moved locations just to find a house where there would be room for my shop. This house has its flaws, but the 20x50 (2 car wide, 2 car deep) garage and extra large rooms in the basement have my equipment in fairly comfortable spaces and the car comfortable in it's one bay of that garage. The previous/original owner of my house had backed up boats into the garage. 

4D


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## tomp913 (Mar 7, 2014)

Reading the comments at the end of the article, including those of the designer, all of the above points have been raised. Looking at the video, it doesn't appear that rotating the table - and stopping it too - is much of a problem. I read through the article and didn't find where he addressed locating the pivot bearing on the center of rotation - I watch some of those car shows on TV and they put the whole body on a rotisserie to do the bodywork and painting, and they discuss finding the center so that the unit is balanced and doesn't "drop" at some point. I agree that the better solution is probably to build the unit so that the lift-off work top - and a torsion box is probably best, light-weight and still rigid - is at the correct level and live with the CNC down low. Mike's set-up with the collapsed worktable sliding under the CNC is good, but it requires enough floor space to have two units sitting there which may be a problem in some cases, I know it would be in mine.

I thought the builder showed a lot of ingenuity in the design which is what caught my attention. I'm not in the market for a CNC - too many other things I need to learn how to do first - besides my next purchase, when in dream mode, is a mini CNC Mill :smile:


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## UglySign (Nov 17, 2015)

then comes the murphy bed setup


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## cjhilinski (Apr 25, 2017)

In theory, you should be able to rotate the entire CNC around any of its axes and have it work just fine.


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## 4DThinker (Feb 16, 2014)

I've considered mounting a Probotix Comet (25" x 25" cutting area) vertically with the gantry vertical rather than horizontal. That way there shouldn't be any extra strain on the Y (moving the whole gantry) or Z axis, and the X axis just has to pull the router/spindle up and down. If needed that X stepper could be replaced by a beefier one. I'm usually clamping down work with clamps in t-track, so keeping work on a vertical plane shouldn't be a problem. All this to fit a CNC in the minimal amount of floor space. Mount the controller box and PC on the wall beside the vertical CNC and have a swing-out arm with monitor, keyboard, and mouse.

A small amount of tilt (5 to 10 degrees from vertical) could still be set for a little help from gravity. 

This is an experiment I may try out first with one of the Probotix V90-MK2 CNCs. 

4D


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## kolias (Dec 26, 2008)

Pretty good idea for the right equipment


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## FKwoodcnc (Oct 30, 2018)

Lifting, the entire cnc, occupying a space of three-dimensional upwards, will not be a good choice. I think the small cnc will not weigh more than 500 pounds, so after using it, lifting the whole cnc will be an option.


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## SteveMI (May 29, 2011)

4DThinker said:


> I've considered mounting a Probotix Comet (25" x 25" cutting area) vertically with the gantry vertical rather than horizontal. This is an experiment I may try out first with one of the Probotix V90-MK2 CNCs. 4D


Wow, I am really waiting to hear about your experiment. For a non-square CNC (16 x 24), would it make sense for the narrow axis to be the vertical? 
Steve.


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## Jeff Speedster929 (Jul 15, 2018)

You guys could also put the CNC and other machines in the basement. I love my basement shop... Heated in winter, cool in summer...


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## Herb Stoops (Aug 28, 2012)

Jeff Speedster929 said:


> You guys could also put the CNC and other machines in the basement. I love my basement shop... Heated in winter, cool in summer...


Looks more liks an operating room to me. :grin::grin::grin:

Herb


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## MT Stringer (Aug 15, 2012)

Jeff Speedster929 said:


> You guys could also put the CNC and other machines in the basement. I love my basement shop... Heated in winter, cool in summer...


If I had a basement, there would be two feet of water in it! :surprise::grin:


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## honesttjohn (Feb 17, 2015)

Jeff Speedster929 said:


> You guys could also put the CNC and other machines in the basement. I love my basement shop... Heated in winter, cool in summer...


That's where mine is -- but a little more dusty, cluttered, and disorganized.


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