This! Having to have a fixture table to build one was something I tried to figure out a way around for a long time. I really wanted 5/8" instead of 3/4" since it’s more standard but definitely don’t try to build one yourself unless you have some pretty insane shop equipment.
I did a 5/8" fixture plate by hand for my dry cut saw and it’s only got 32 holes, took me hours and 3 of the holes weren’t perfect enough to work with the Fireball fixtures in every orientation. If there was a 5/8" Dragon Wagon when I bought my fixture table I definitely would’ve gone that route. It’s so hard to get the tolerances right without pretty specialized tooling. Even measuring how far off you are is really hard without more special equipment. All I’m saying is: the people doing it themselves on YouTube probably didn’t get results good enough for actual fixture tooling. Clamps, yes. Maybe I’m bad at it, but getting inside tolerances of a couple of thousandths is pretty much impossible by eye.
Excellent points Mr. Larry, I’m afaraid this is one of those “I know this isn’t the best idea, but it’s cheaper “ situation I almost talked myself into. I was concerned about reaming a flame cut hole, in fact he did a test cut on a 1 foot x 1 foot square, when I got home in three weeks I had planned to try to ream those and check pin fit before I committed to the project full tilt, but haveing second thoughts, I know another fella with a water jet but there’s a cost involved there. May have to go back to the drawing board. Also just for clarity I only intended to make the table 4 x 8 and use the other sheet to cut the sides and center gussets.
The issue you’ll have won’t be the size of the holes, it’ll be the x/y placement. Also, reamers 5/8" and 3/4" sizes have a shank diameter over 1/2" so you’ll need a mag drill with a 3-jaw chuck that big. (Only one I knew of is discontinued)
You’ll sink a lot of hours into this and won’t get usable results.
Thanks Jason first for setting up this forum , seems like found a place with some folks with some class about them! And thanks for your feed back, as I mentioned in other reply 4 x 8 would get my feet wet. While I’m not a primary income source shop ( fancy way of saying mostly hobby shop) I do a lot of farm repair and ornamental stuff like gates, signs, archways. I have a set of your squares I bought back when you were just getting started And a couple of insert clamps I use in a row of mag drilled holes on my current not so level table. Recently bout some mini Maximus and have plans for some Maximus clamps in near future, they seem like they would be super hand with some of the junk that I work on! I actually emailed costumer services about that drilling jig and the feasibility of using it across 4 foot, and that’s not off the list of options, the “how can I save some money “ part of me had kicked in and thought the free cnc tour h would be the way to go. Oddly the heat warping finaly accrued to me this morning when I was headed to bed! well I recon back to the cyphering board. Keep up the great work Jason!
Yeah, that’s the one! I love everything about it except the runout for how much it cost and the weight. I usually regret my life decisions for that moment I’m carrying it across the shop haha
For the table, I’d seriously look at the drill jig Fireball sells. I can’t wait for the 5/8" one to drop as I’d like to buy even more 5/8" fixture tools and use them on other work-holding stuff in the shop.
What do y’all think about doing cost figure if in the jig, a few angular cutters, and the MT adapter vs getting it water jetted? I know I know, y’all are saying “man ol Murph is a tight wad!!!”
I’d imagine doing it yourself with the jig would be much cheaper if you have the time but you should figure out what shops in your area charge.
I’m doing all of this in my home shop on my own dime and the only thing paying for it is my day job, so you don’t sound like you’re being cheap about it from my perspective. I get it!
The issue you’ll run into is trying to get the assembly right without a fixture table. Not sure how reasonable that is to do. That being said, it also may not need to be very flat depending on what you’re doing.
I have been down this road in the last few months. I have spent a fair amount of time researching different ways to get the same thing you are attempting.
I have looked at water jetting holes, manual machining holes on the very large mill
and all of them were very very pricey.
So my current table is 60x80x3/4 and has holes on a 4x4 grid. Problem is holes are not placed as accurately as I would like them, and I want to have holes on a 2x2 grid.
So I looked into adding holes to my current table and correcting the current ones and that was going to be to costly.
So this is where I ended up.
I found a steel supplier that stocks 5x8x3/4 plate and rather than have them cut it to 80"
I will either cut it myself or make my table 5x8. I am then going to make a drill guide like the fireball tools, only 36" long and will then use a mag drill with a annual cutter and drill like 1200 holes. I hope to video some of how I go about to maybe help someone out in the future. But I wont be doing this for a few months as I have jobs scheduled and those come first.
How ever you decide to go Video tape if possible!
Good luck
P.S. There is a gentleman on this forum that has a table that is 4x12 and he used Fireball tools drill guide and drill holes from one end to the other. He said he ended up with like 250lbs of Swarf.
He also said he got to know his Mag drill very well
I’ll be curious how many holes you get done before the cutting tool wears out. You might save yourself some wear by hitting those holes with a carbide burr before reaming them.
I believe that’s his sample part from the CNC oxy torch. He’s planning to test out reaming the holes and final accuracy if i interpret his previous posts correctly.
Yea that’s the idea, it’s most just an experiment now, I’ve pretty much resigned to getting the drill guide package when it’s available. I just gotta try it for myself in spite of all the great advice everyone has given me😂
I think you are answering Henry.
So I want to make sure I understand, You had this part water jetted as like a mini fixture table?
If so I would love to hear how close the holes are after you ream.
If you would take some calipers and measure between the holes and see how close they all are to each other.
I looked in to having a top jetted and it was over my budget. I was also told that on .750 thick material the holes would have some taper. I never thought about reaming them.
Curious what your experiment reveals!
Naw as much as I love interacting on the forum I’m afraid I’m not that good at it😂 that’s a flame cut C&C sample I plan to ream. The original plan was to do the whole table like that but I think these fine gentlemen have talked me out of it. (Unless by chance the holes team supper easy😂) but I do have a guy I know that has a water jet and may end up going that route if the price is right. May be able to do some trading for the work. But I intend to order a block from fireball today to test fit it on my experiment. Did some reading on drilling plasma cut holes some folks claim straight cobolt reamers are the way to go but they are pretty high!,
Cobalt or carbide make sense, and with the iffy surface quality and roundness of an oxy cut hole I could see how cobalt might be preferred over carbide just being that it’s a tougher material.
How tight did your rear iris pucker when you looked up the cost on quality 3/4" cobalt reamers?
Henry ( or who ever else has some input)do you think the run out on that Milwaukee we are talking about will be too bad to use the drill guide? Recon it will wear out those bushings? That’s a bunch of holes !
