My Glowforge Table

Everything Else
#1

All,

I saw a posting by Jonathan Fong Style that showed an inexpensive material storage solution using IKEA parts. The post itself can be found Flat File Storage: Ikea Hack and is pretty awesome.

What I really wanted was a table for my Glowforge that would store materials underneath. I liked the shelving itself that was shown in that post and I am a big fan of IKEA hacking.

Here is a flash forward to the final table:

Table for Laser Cutter - Low Res.jpg1050Ă—952 167 KB

It features lockable 3" caster wheels so that I can move my Glowforge easily and still have it be super stable when it isn’t supposed to move.
It also features 6 total shelves for material storage.
As you can see, each shelf isn’t tall. I would rather have more shelves so that I can separate different materials.
Due to the Glowforge cutting bed size, you can fit 3 pieces of Glowforgable materials side by side (perpendicular to the orientation they will be in when they are sitting in the machine) on each shelf. So, you basically have 18 material bays.

I made this table for about $120 using 3 LACK Coffee Table from IKEA, 1 piece of extra matching wood from IKEA’s “as is area” and 4x 3" locking caster wheels from Home Depot.
In case you aren’t familiar with LACK Coffee Tables, they look like this:

So, the next question is: How did 3 IKEA coffee tables become an awesome Glowforge table?

LACK Coffee Table to Glowforge Table.jpg1721Ă—581 183 KB

Here is the breakdown:

Table for Laser Cutter - Explained - Low Res 2.jpg1325Ă—754 151 KB

FYI: The final result is super strong and stable because I screwed and glued everything together rather than rely on adhesive alone.

Now all I need is my Glowforge…

  • Jason Lichtman
63 Likes
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#2

Wow great work! It looks like everything belongs that way!

2 Likes
#3

Hey Jason, very nice table and super good description of how you did it. I love that. I just might do that myself, thanks to your excellent description and inspiration. :clap::+1::+1: - Rich

3 Likes
#4

Wow, outstanding design! Thanks for making the construction so clear–kinda wish I didn’t already have my Glowforge table.

2 Likes
#5

Excellent job of taking generic IKEA furniture and making a solid functional storage and work platform.

5 Likes
#6

That’s a really brilliant reconstruction of the materials.

5 Likes
#7

You need to submit it to ikeahacks!

5 Likes
#8

Looks great! What did the final height end up being?

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#9

The final height is 34"
It was 38" when I first built it and I realized it was too tall, especially for the Glowforge with the filter underneath.
So, I cut down the legs from “Coffee Table #2” by 4".

Note: the legs are not solid wood.
I sliced an extra leg (from “Coffee Table #3) in half the long way to see what was inside.
I found that it is hollow EXCEPT for a block of wood for support about every 4”.
I wanted one of those blocks to be the bottom of the leg so that I could screw the top of “Coffee Table #3” into it.
As a result, I cut the leg down by 4" and wound up with a 34" tall table.
I hope this makes sense.

11 Likes
#10

It does, thanks for the extra info!

#11

I can’t stress enough how important materials storage is to this whole enterprise. It’s taking over my basement. You can collect more materials than you can process with a laser.

This is a great solution! Thanks for posting.

9 Likes
#12

Cool! Nice work there. Turned out great I’d say

#13

Neat idea! I noticed these tables are 35 3/8" long and the GF specs say it’s 38" long…

I’m wondering if the overhang will be any sort of issue. I realize it isn’t much ( < 3" ) but I figured I’d bring it up…

Had you considered this?

Thanks!

1 Like
#14

The feet are not right on the edge of the Glowforge dimensions. The feet are about 6" in from the side of the case, and roughly 4.75" from the back edge of the case.

So basically…
image

33 Likes
#15

Ahh great point! lol and thanks for the visual, that really helps!! Lol

3 Likes
#16

How thick are the tops for these tables? I like this allot, however I want my table even shorter given the height of the GF with the filter. Thanks!

1 Like
#17

The top of my table is nearly 2" tall. Total overkill. However, I was using IKEA parts, so it is what it is.
Feel free to build whatever you like. I used IKEA parts to make things cheap and easy.

#18

Hi Jason -

I am curious why you didn’t go with the original idea in the Ikea Flat File Hack article that you linked? I am considering building something very similar to that, so I figured I would check with you to see if you found some potential issue going that route.

Thanks

1 Like
#19

@mhumphrey, sorry for the delay in responding.
I thought the concept for that table was perfect.
I chose a different design for 2 reasons:

  1. I wanted it to have wheels because I purchased the Pro and might want to use the pass through. Also, I might have to move it for other reasons.
    Note: this could have been solved by simply adding another layer as the bottom and attaching wheels to that layer.
  2. I just had the feeling that Jonathan Fong’s design wouldn’t be stable enough to support the weight of the Glowforge. His design has an entire set of legs for each level. That’s a lot of potential for misalignment (even if everything stays attached properly) and complete failure (if something isn’t attached right and the table is loaded akwardly). My table design uses 3 tables for the materials, but there are only 2 full sets of legs.

Now that I have my Glowforge, I have only 1 complaint regarding my table design. I wish the table were slightly wider so I could fit 3x full size sheets of Proofgrade plywood or acrylic side by side. In its current form, I can fit 2x full sheets side by side plus a set of hardwoods, which is smaller.

Lastly, I did make a small change recently. I added Velcro to the front of each “shelf” so I can laser small signs that say what goes where and put them in the right place. When I move things around, all I have to do is move the labels.

In short, I love my Glowforge table and am super happy I went with this option any other option I’ve seen. That comes with 1 exception. @PrintToLaser uses a sliding drawer system that is truly impressive. If I purchased the basic and had a work table like his, I would copy him in a heart beat. He posted a video of it somewhere here on the forum, but I’m not sure where.

Hope that answers your question.

Jason

3 Likes
#20

Yes it did, and thank you.

1 Like