No. That’s a quantity of 4 eight foot long 2x4s. Sorry. I probably need to better clarify that.
ok I’m going to make a whole new topic of my path to making the xbench if you don’t mind and please feel free to chime in when you feel the need to
1 Like
so I have some questions about the b3-box edge part. is that notch in both ends or just one? I have managed to get the ribs built now I’m putting together the sides and am wondering about the notch before I put them on. I have been using poplar for most of it as that’s what I have most of right now.
Sorry Michael for the delay… The notch or groove actually just runs along the top “inside” edge of the part. It’s there so that the box top is supported along all of its edges, in that groove. Sorry that the illustrations in the document are kind of small. I should have noted in the plans that the images are stored at a higher resolution than they are displayed at and so depending on your PDF viewer, you might be able to right click on an image and then save it to your harddrive and then view it full size. You can then look closer at either illustrations 7 or 10 to see the groove that is cut into the top of the box edge boards. Hope this helps. It sounds like you’re making good progress… Assembly of my X-Carve is halted for now until I hear back from Inventables on a problem that I encountered. 
No worries. I made the notches and have made the torsion box part out of complete poplar
I just noticed the’s plans call for plywood as the top. What is the reasoning for this? I thought the goto was mdf cause it is so flat. @PhilJohnson Maybe you could give me advice on this? Considering using these plans to make my next table. Should I stick to the plywood or convert to mdf?
So long as the top material is consistent in thickness, you shouldn’t have any problem. Ultimately, it’s the ribs that determine how flat the top is
Did you land up building this bench yet?
No, not yet. First I need to build the final case for my HTPC computer and then I can begin building the X-Bench.
wow really nice detailed plans.
Thanks! I really hate doing anything half-azz, which is why I bought an X-Carve to begin with (and boy am I glad I did). That said, I likely won’t implement the “end-routing” feature when I build my X-Bench. What I’ve learned from building my computer case is that it’s a pretty simple matter to use the X-Carve to create a jig that can be attached to the end of a work piece that needs to be end-drilled. Plus, I ended up needing this capability for just one part. The computer case sides needed end-drilling but I was able to just use the case front/back as templates to locate and drill the attachment holes. I don’t mind using a hand-drill to drill a few holes–I just want the X-Carve to tell me where to drill them. 