New bed on an old shark pro

[IceStorm]

Has anyone changed the old bed on a shark pro to the multi track that is on the new sharks? And if so how did it come out? and how did you do it.

thanks and besafe, IceStorm

[martin graphics]

I did mine about 6 months ago. Next Wave had great instructions and it only took about 45 minutes to do.

[4DThinker]

I haven't yet, but may after I get a chance to evaluate the bed on the new HD 2.0.

What I did do though is make a couple of replacement MDF tops that were a little longer and have one more T-slot about 1/3 over for a total of three. I found that lets me reach nearly anything I want to clamp down.

[Wolffie1]

What I did do though is make a couple of replacement MDF tops that were a little longer and have one more T-slot about 1/3 over for a total of three. I found that lets me reach nearly anything I want to clamp down.

How do you make the T-Slots?
I want to make a sacrificial top with slots going both long side and cross side.
Cheers
Wolffie

[drueth]

Wolffie

This is one way I have used I just took a SWAG at the dia of the bolts. The one thing to keep in mind is you need to be able to drop the T bolt through the round hole BUT the head of the T Bolt sould not be able to spin a round once it is in the track. Cut with a 0.25 EM

[CountryWoodCrafts]

I did mine about 6 months ago. Next Wave had great instructions and it only took about 45 minutes to do.

Where did you find the instructions? I don't see a download for it on Next Wave?

[rungemach]

For what its worth, I had a shark pro that I went through several variations of top design on. Always looking to find a good combination of strength, clamping versatility, and incorporating a replaceable sacrificial layer of some sort.

At that time there was no extruded aluminum top available, so I ended up using 8020 brand extrusions in the 1030 configuration. 1"x3" in size.

If you are going to use the blue extrusions, I would consider using all wide pieces with 3 slots rather than any narrow ones with 2 slots. The shark should have room on the sides to incorporate using all wider extrusions. The three slot pieces can be fastened down using the center slot and not go out of alignment. It has been mentioned that the 2 slot versions can not be clamped in the center , and hence will lift on one side when tightened down using only one bolt in the off center slot.

You would need to make our own mounting bars, which would be used in place of the plastic bars that NWA now uses on their machines. There are numerous posts from folks here that have replaced the plastic with aluminum angle, bar, or box tube. Its not hard to do if you have a drill press.

Either way, if you use extrusions with 3 slots, you can use the outer two slots of each section to mount wood or composite material "slats" on the table which will bridge the sections together and give you a surface to plane down a bit to get as level a table as possible. (noting the non HD series will have a slightly dished surface due to bearing sag in the center.) (Thanks to Bobby and 2Big and others for bringing the slat idea forward and improving on it as we go) The slats help strengthen the table and keep adjacent sections from moving independently. You still can have a slot every 3 inches to use to mount clamps etc.

I am not sure what lengths the blue extrusion is available in, but the 1030 is sold in any length so you can make our table a bit longer in the front if you like, I used 36" long sections but would probably go 38 to 40 inches if I did it again.

There are quite a few posts on tables on the forum here with lots of good ideas. I would look them over to find what may suit our work best. Most folks that have commented on the tables here have wanted to move to something more substantial than the plastic mounting bars. Aluminum seems to be the material of choice for that.

here is a thread that shows the slat arrangement on my table and 2bigs.
http://www.cncsharktalk.com/viewtopic.p ... 6&start=10

[Wolffie1]

Wolffie

This is one way I have used I just took a SWAG at the dia of the bolts. The one thing to keep in mind is you need to be able to drop the T bolt through the round hole BUT the head of the T Bolt sould not be able to spin a round once it is in the track. Cut with a 0.25 EM

Thank you Dave
I presume a key hole cutter would work?
Cheers
Wolffie
ps.
I just checked the file. You cut it from the underside?

[4DThinker]

I cut my replacement top upside down. You cut the starting hole all the way through, the narrow bolt slot all the way through, and the wider bolt-head slot part way down. I can't remember the dimensions of each, but they were simply copied off my original top. No T-Slot cutter required. You can make it on the shark if you pre-cut the top to dimension somewhere else. Slide it one way to cut one half of the slots. Slide it the other way to cut the other half.

[milo30]

Wondering about the bed, why do you guys want the multitrac bed? More clamping options or flatter bed or ? I've cut the crap out of my bed by accident or machine malfunction. I'd have to sit down and cry if it did that to the aluminum. I put on a couple of aluminum rails to clamp to but they are well outside of the cutting area and I'm not sure that I even like them. I'm thinking of going back to screws