IKEA Lack Table External Bracing

TLDR: Using FEA I calculated that the LACK Table went from an approximate natural frequency of 52hz to 132hz with the bracing. This should result in better printing.

I bought a cheap IKEA Lack table to sit my printer on and the shaking is excessive when the printer is really moving. I looked for some way to strengthen it but I only found corner support brackets that screw directly into the Lack itself. I wanted something a bit stronger so created this externally mounting bracing system that utilises some readily available 44 x 44mm timber cut to length (4x 521mm)

The timber needs to be cut at an angle so I have included a marking guide for 60 degrees and also a circular saw guide angled at 60 degrees for my particular Makita saw. The baseplate edge to blade offset is 83mm so it might work with other saws. I have a design for a handsaw angled cutting guide as well which I will upload soon.

There are two 3D printed parts and you need four of each. They clamp together with M6 x 20mm machine screws and M6 enclosed (insert at print pause) nuts. The wood struts are slotted into the channels and then fixed in position with woodscrews up to 40mm long max. I used 4.5 x 40mm screws. 

The Front brace prints large surface down on the build plate and has been designed to not need any support material. The Rear brace however does need support material due to the large overhang areas in the channel sections. I found some good setting using the Prusa Slicer generated support and I've included the 3MF models with the supports added that will work with Prusa Slicer. The supports leave a flat but slightly rough surface but as these are no exposed won't be an issue.

You need to assemble the whole frame before you fit it to the table. I laid the table upside down and then slide the bracing structure into place. It helps to have the M6 nuts as loose as possible at this point.

I'm really happy with the end result. The table is so strong now that you can sit it on it's side and stand on the legs. I haven't used it long enough yet to ascertain if it actually improves the print quality but at the least it will ensure the table lasts far longer and shakes a lot less.

The 3D filament and materials used cost more than the table but for me it was worth it to see what I could come up with. I'd really like if this was parametrically customisable on the printables site but that isn't available currently. I can output some requested modifications if there is enough demand. Hopefully someone else finds this print/design useful.

I've included a drawing for cutting the timber to size, the 3D parts for the channels, a angle marking guide for 44 wide or less timber, a makita 83mm offset circular saw angle guide.

The Front brace part doesn't require support but the Rear does. I have included the 3MF for the Rear with the support setup I used for best results and it has a pause built in for adding the M6 nuts.

I checked the print quality before and after with a vibration test tower and there was no difference but I certainly noticed far less shaking after fitting the brace system. It did seem to have moved the resonant frequency of the printer much higher (this is now backed up by Finite Element Analysis, the natural frequency of the table went from 52 to 132hz). Noise has reduced significantly.