# My 8 step home made giant pallet guide



## MAYBTMRW (Oct 13, 2008)

Hey guy's I promised to post these a long time ago so I apologize for the wait. Bare with me I type more than I talk.

After a while back cutting my pre purchased pallets down I realized that I could make my own Pallet's of the same quality just as easy for a fraction of the cost. I hope I don't get spanked for this but don't worry Suppliers I still need to buy Mounting Brackets!

Here was my Material list: (All from Lowes)

1 Sheet of MDF











1 can of Contact Cement










One Sheet of Laminate











Tools Needed: 

• Junk Brush to apply Cement with
• Table or Skill Saw (table recommended)
• Orbital Sander & some hand sand paper. 80-120 grit
• Jig Saw
• Router = optional (I sanded all my edges & was much happier with the results)
• T-Square
• Laminate cutting Knife
• Tape Measure & Pencil
• Hammer & cloth or a $20 Laminate roller

The First thing I did before I went to Lowes was figure out the size I wanted my Pallet's & figured out how to get the most out of a 8' Sheet (the smaller pre cut sheets are more expensive if you need to buy so many that a full 8' sheet will do).

So I figured the longest I wanted my pallets was 30" & with that number I could get an 8' sheet cut into Three 32" x 4' pieces with their handy station right there:









*I wanted to get 8 pallets total (4- 20"w x 30"L & 4- 16"w x 30"L) but fell one short & was only able to get 3 of the 20"w ones.

So the benefit to having this guy cut the 8' sheets into the Three 32" pieces for me was to be able to put them inside my SUV, and ultimately saved me a step!

*The Laminate you can roll it up & tape or tie it into a cylinder for easy tow.

After getting everything home here's how It went:
(Pics are taken with my iPhone so sorry for the amateur quality)

1. Using the Laminate Knife & T-Square I scored & cut my Laminate to fit my 32" x 4' pieces of MDF.









2. Brushed on the contact cement to the backs of both surfaces (MDF & Laminate):









Let everything dry & set up for the amount of time explained on the back of the can (I think it was like 2 hours because of the humidity back in the summer)

3. (No Pic) Definitely take a hand on applying the laminate to the MDF it's a one shot deal that 2 people make a lot easier than trying to be a hot shot. I only worried about flushing one side with the MDF which is why I didn't cut anything to exact sizes yet. It will be ripped on the table saw to actual size later.

4. Once your Laminate is applied to the MDF either roll it with a laminate roller or take a cloth & a hammer and lightly tap it all over to assure no air pockets are underlying the sheet. This also gets the cement on both products to really bond to one another.









5. They say to let it set up over night but I'm impatient & proceeded to work with mine & had no problem what so ever. I set the table saw for 16" and ran the edge I flushed the laminate up with along the fence giving me two good edges & repeated this process for the bigger pallets set at 20".









* You might want to wear safety glasses & a mask. MDF makes a TON of fine dust & the Laminate shoots shrapnel everywhere. I played tough guy and murdered my eyes.

6. Draw out what you want at the end of your pallet that best suites what your printing I Jig Saw that baby out with a finish blade.









7. (Sorry No Pic) I sanded all edges flat with 80 grit on the orbital sander to get any imperfections out, then switched to 120 to get a smooth feel & rounded all corners. * The benefit to sanding your edges & corners is extreme! it makes the shirts slide off & on 10x easier! Even when I bought pallets I would sand the edges with 120 grit.

8. Mounted my brackets & loaded it on the press!









Now I can print jobs from the top to the bottom of shirts for those people who think bigger is better.










- The reason I made my pallets so long @ 30" is because my 23" x 31" screens printing area is all within the square part of the pallet which ends at 26". The extra 4" was for my neck hole alignment & to assure I had a surface for my end of the screen spacer to make contact with.


Hope this helps & Hope we're still friends after I dragged this one out for so long!

Enjoy & feel free to tweet or email me any questions if you need some help.



Gabe


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## Pwear (Mar 7, 2008)

VERY nice!


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## MAYBTMRW (Oct 13, 2008)

Pwear said:


> VERY nice!


Thanks! In a couple of weeks I'm going to make an attempt to make a vaccum pallet out of Lexan that can mount on the press to be able to print flat stock.


Also I meant to thank Veedub3 (Katrina) She is the one who got me motivated to build home made pallets using MDF & Laminate from Lowes after she had. So Thanks to her for the push! They have held up great to the Flash Unit and everything!

Gabe


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## gerry (Oct 4, 2006)

nice press! Mine is also home made..just simpler. It also is a four station, cept i have an adult/child/sleeve(leg) and a free one i was going to make a hat platen with.
DIY'S ROCK!!

i JUST NOTICED THE CARPETING..HEHE at least its soft on the feet.


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## veedub3 (Mar 29, 2007)

MyFriendMoomba said:


> Thanks! In a couple of weeks I'm going to make an attempt to make a vaccum pallet out of Lexan that can mount on the press to be able to print flat stock.
> 
> 
> Also I meant to thank Veedub3 (Katrina) She is the one who got me motivated to build home made pallets using MDF & Laminate from Lowes after she had. So Thanks to her for the push! They have held up great to the Flash Unit and everything!
> ...


You are very welcome Gabe, and I must say... very nice!! I just finished my vacuum table. I had nothing to go on except a few pictures so I just made what I thought one should look like and I laughed because it actually worked on my first try. I used lexan as well but drilling those holes were a pain in the butt. (When the drill bit get's too hot it melts the lexan so you have to pace yourself and give it time to cool) I only made a small one (16x16) just to see if the concept would work and this weekend I am going to build a larger one as I want to start printing my company logo on my shipping boxes and t-shirt bags.
When you get ready to build it let me know if you need any help, maybe we can put our heads together and build a better one.

Katrina


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## MAYBTMRW (Oct 13, 2008)

gerry said:


> nice press! Mine is also home made..just simpler. It also is a four station, cept i have an adult/child/sleeve(leg) and a free one i was going to make a hat platen with.
> DIY'S ROCK!!
> 
> i JUST NOTICED THE CARPETING..HEHE at least its soft on the feet.


Haha thanks! My actual press isn't home made it's a 6/4 Riley Hopkins I spent a good chunk on to do it right the first time and get as much quality gear as I could for my shop. 

We've got a cheap low carpet that we just through down over the wood floors which will get thrown out one day because there's no getting spilled ink out! Haha! But I am thinking about getting some of those interlocking foam/rubber pieces for the floor around the press. Maybe relieve some feet & mid back pain when printing. ... Woah, lamest thing I've ever typed.

Gabe


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## gerry (Oct 4, 2006)

sorry..my bad. I thought i seen green 2x4's in there.
.. I really should lay off the bottle first thing in the a.m.
j/k.


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## Paulie73 (Jul 24, 2009)

Hi Gabe great post!
Ive done the same myself, except I use Melamine. It was about $13 for a big sheet. For people that dont know its chip board with laminate already on it. Its easy to cut and is very cheap. Problems are that the chipboard will keep chipping. AFter I cut I get some wood putty, let it dry, sand it back, then paint over it.Works a treat.


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## MAYBTMRW (Oct 13, 2008)

veedub3 said:


> You are very welcome Gabe, and I must say... very nice!! I just finished my vacuum table. I had nothing to go on except a few pictures so I just made what I thought one should look like and I laughed because it actually worked on my first try. I used lexan as well but drilling those holes were a pain in the butt. (When the drill bit get's too hot it melts the lexan so you have to pace yourself and give it time to cool) I only made a small one (16x16) just to see if the concept would work and this weekend I am going to build a larger one as I want to start printing my company logo on my shipping boxes and t-shirt bags.
> When you get ready to build it let me know if you need any help, maybe we can put our heads together and build a better one.
> 
> Katrina


This is my Sketch Up for what I'm going to make. 









My Local Glass company is going to cut me three 24" x 30" pieces of Lexan for $187 (stuff is not cheap!) Then it's up to me to do the rest. He flat out said "I don't want to do the fabrication" haha. So I will cut the center piece into a "frame" like layer that is 2" wide all the way around. Drill all my holes with a 3/32" drill bit on a 1" grid (not shown because I don't know how to do that in Sketch Up haha). Hole Saw a hole for my mini shop vac nozzle to enter the bottom sheet. Apply spacers to the underside of that layer where needed & silicone all the layers together & clamp them for the night. 

I will definitely post good pics when I do this.

Feel Free to Steal!

I was going to build a vac table once I read AndyMac's posts on Gigposter.com but then I got thinking about it and would so much rather have a vac pallet to use right on my press.


Gabe


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## CrossYourHeart (May 6, 2009)

Sweet Gabe! I've been wanting to make a longer Pallet myself and I'm definitely gonna use this info to help.

Thanks for posting.


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## 13Graphics (Jul 20, 2009)

MyFriendMoomba said:


> This is my Sketch Up for what I'm going to make.
> 
> 
> My Local Glass company is going to cut me three 24" x 30" pieces of Lexan for $187 (stuff is not cheap!) Then it's up to me to do the rest. He flat out said "I don't want to do the fabrication" haha. So I will cut the center piece into a "frame" like layer that is 2" wide all the way around. Drill all my holes with a 3/32" drill bit on a 1" grid (not shown because I don't know how to do that in Sketch Up haha). Hole Saw a hole for my mini shop vac nozzle to enter the bottom sheet. Apply spacers to the underside of that layer where needed & silicone all the layers together & clamp them for the night.
> ...


You could save a ton of money, and use pegboard, and MDF as you already have the woodworking tools.


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## ino (Jan 23, 2007)

Would it not be wiser to glue the laminate on both sides of the platen
to stop any warping that might happen due to the pull of the glue.


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## veedub3 (Mar 29, 2007)

ino said:


> Would it not be wiser to glue the laminate on both sides of the platen
> to stop any warping that might happen due to the pull of the glue.


I have had some of my home made platens over 4 years and they have had much use. they have not warped and if applied correctly the glue holds very firmly to the MDF board. Gluing on the other side is an unnecessary step for me.
Matter of factly the first professional press I purchased did not have laminate on the other side of the platen. I broke down the equipment and moved into a new building and misplaced the platen which is what lead to me making my own so I patterned it after the one that came with the press.


Katrina


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## intothenight (Dec 4, 2007)

So what was the total material cost per, including buying the mounting brackets. How many hours do you think it took to make each one. 

How much does it cost just to buy one that is already made? Just curious if it is actually worth doing it yourself or you just like to do that type of stuff.


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## veedub3 (Mar 29, 2007)

intothenight said:


> So what was the total material cost per, including buying the mounting brackets. How many hours do you think it took to make each one.
> 
> How much does it cost just to buy one that is already made? Just curious if it is actually worth doing it yourself or you just like to do that type of stuff.


I spent about $85 in material cost. Out of which i was able to get a small youth platen, a sleeve/pant leg platen, a standard adult platen, and a oversize platen. It takes me about a half day only because you have to let the cement glue set up for the recommended amount of time. It also helps if you have the correct tools as it makes the job easier and quicker.

One standard adult platen will cost you $35-$40 bucks without the bracket, if you want the bracket add another $25 then add the shipping.

Katrina


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## MAYBTMRW (Oct 13, 2008)

I use threaded inserts on my pallets & just swap my brackets around according to what pallets I need for the job. I have 5 brackets in the shop and 4 stations so I've always got what I need. 

As Katrina said. I happen to have the tools & can do everything in a days time. I don't have any print supply shops where I live so rather than paying an arm & leg for shipping I can go pick up the materials & make 8 pallets for the price of two store bought. I don't consider my time as a factor because it's far more with it & convenient for me.

Gabe


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## MotoskinGraphix (Apr 28, 2006)

I think you did a fantastic job on those shirt boards.


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## Expedien (Jul 22, 2009)

*Laminate*

Awesome post! Thank you. I just finished two platens 20''X30" and a sleeve/leg platen. I appreciate your instructions and steps.I have one recommendation for anybody that does this; search around at the local counter top stores for laminate, I found a 12 foot sheet for $7.50 because it was discontinued. Sure beats the price of $45 that Lowes had. Also if you only want a couple platens, The Home Depot sells some smaller pieces of MDF, it may be a little more expensive by square footage but you have less waste or stuff sitting around the shop. If your shop is like mine, space is hard to come by.


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## jsf (Aug 4, 2009)

That was awesome and neat!  *two thumbs up*


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## oldbox (Apr 25, 2010)

Nice job and good luck with vacuum pallet! what kind of pump will you use? post pict when youre done? 
(also i thought no way you made that press at home  )


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## Neon Bible (Mar 24, 2010)

Very cool DIY post. I also built a home made Vacuum table a few years back.


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## MAYBTMRW (Oct 13, 2008)

Thanks everyone for the kind words! Here is a quick snap shot finally of the vacuum pallet I've made out of lexan. Now I just need to figure out how to mount it to a print station. A regular Hopkins bracket isn't quite enough to keep the massive pallet from flexing from it's own weight. 

Sent from my iPhone using TShirtForums


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## taricp35 (Dec 10, 2008)

Nice vacuum platen Gabe.


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## veedub3 (Mar 29, 2007)

Turned out nicely Gabe.


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## Neon Bible (Mar 24, 2010)

That came out nice. Put in some disco lighting under that baby!


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## thestitchwitch (Apr 2, 2010)

*As far as brackets go, do you try to buy from the manufacturer of your press? 

I will be making some DIY platens, just concerned about the brackets.

Thanks Gabe!
*


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## lucky5 (Apr 9, 2010)

very highly proffisional work,much apriciated brp..


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## MAYBTMRW (Oct 13, 2008)

thestitchwitch said:


> As far as brackets go, do you try to buy from the manufacturer of your press?
> 
> I will be making some DIY platens, just concerned about the brackets.
> 
> Thanks Gabe!


I do. I buy all Riley Hopkins brackets at about $45 a pop. I have a total of 9 in the shop. 4 on my standard 18" pallets, 4 on my smaller pallets & one on my sleeve/neck label pallet. The key is to get threaded inserts and be able to swap them out in a flash when needed. Rather than spending a fortune ok brackets.

The problem with my new lexan vac pallet is that it's very flexible and 2' wide x 3' long. One simple bracket isn't enough to keep it from flexing under it's own weight. As you know your print surface needs to be flat & solid. Therefore I've finally found a local welder who works with aluminum and is going to make me a 2'6" long bracket that will support the lexan strongly on the print stations arm. 

Always think outside the box. Anything can be made. 


Gabe 


Sent from my iPhone using TShirtForums


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## moe_szys1ak (Jun 16, 2008)

You inspired me to do this myself. This past weekend I went to Lowes and bought the supplies. I started putting it all together yesterday. I've been taking pictures, so I'll start a new process thread when I'm done so you can see what I was able to do with the same materials.

Regarding brackets, I'm going to spring for a bunch of threaded inserts so I can just switch the bracket out between the platens. I only have a 1-station press right now, so multiple brackets is sort of overkill for me.


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## pxs93710 (Jun 21, 2010)

After having to make 3 pallets the lights came on. I made a template of 1/4 inch MDF. Now I just rough cut the material then lay the template on top and router out it with a straight bit that has a top guide. Finish the edges with a 1/4 round over bit with a bottom guide. Saves a lot of measuring and all the pallets come out the same.


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## RespecttheCraft (Feb 19, 2010)

doooope. they look so fresh.. and nicer than the MDF platens that came with my press! my oversized platens are made from two 20 x 30" 1/4" MDF screwed and wood glued together with another layer of mdf along the center underside for bracing and bracket attachment. its pretty sturdy but if i remade them i would def use thicker mdf and.. laminate! using laminate never even crossed my mind for some odd reason haha


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## GrapeCloth (May 20, 2010)

wow. bookmarked! bigger is better


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