They lock under load
Plywood levers on a rod, running on bronze bushings. The catching face is outboard of the pivot, so the sheet's own weight turns each dog up into its stop pin and locks it. Ease the sheet back and they fall clear on their own.
BWP-P-001 · Pro Series · Plan package v1.1
SheetFlipper
CNC-cut birch plywood stands that let one person turn a full 97 × 49 sheet of MDF, plywood or particleboard face down and put it back on the table — by sliding, tipping and pushing instead of lifting.
Founding price for the first 50 buyers. Regular $89.
- Sheet handled
- 97 × 49up to 96 lb, 3/4 stock
- Cut files
- 17 + 3part DXFs plus nests
- Parts
- 57plywood parts, two stands
- Build
- ~2 daysCNC operator, 3 sheets
The problem
Flipping a sheet is the worst two minutes of the cycle
You cut the face, and then you need the back. On a nested job that means wrestling 96 lb of sheet off the table, over, and back on — usually alone, usually against the clock, usually with your back. Most shops either wait for a second person or take the risk.
The flipper turns that into a sequence that gravity does most of the work for. Two independent stands sit out from the table edge with a walkway between them. The sheet slides off onto catch dogs, tips back onto the wings, and the wings push level and latch so the sheet can be pushed home. Nothing gets lifted.
Fig. 2 — wings levelThe built unit, my shop
Mechanisms
Three mechanisms, no electronics
01 — CATCH DOGS
02 — LEVEL LATCH
The wing can't roll back
A gravity pawl on the walkway-side panel. The latch pin rides down the pawl's ramp, pushes it aside, and the pawl drops back over it. Any lift on the wing drives the pawl further shut — the sheet cannot force it open.
03 — DOG RESET
Nothing to remember
A braided cord from each dog runs out through the rail, over the oval doubler, to the level tie. Raising the wing pulls the dogs back up onto their stop pins by itself. A plywood treadle releases the latch; the pawl's own weight lifts the pedal back.
Inside the manual
Six pages out of fifteen
Every dimension in the manual is written by the same parametric model that writes the DXF cut files, so the drawings, the cut files and the SketchUp model always agree. Tap any page to read it full size.
Every number on these previews has been removed. Part names, notes, drawings and structure are intact so you can judge the depth — the dimensions, quantities, hardware sizes and coordinates arrive with the package.
Package contents · v1.1
What lands in your inbox
Build manuals
Two 15-page manuals — one for 19 mm birch ply, one for 18 mm-class stock. Read-first and safety, operating sequence, setting out, the section stack, each mechanism, cut list, hardware schedule, assembly, design checks, test procedure and build record.
Part DXFs
17 part files per thickness, in inches. Layers CUT / INNER / HOLE / LABEL, R0.25 corner reliefs for a 1/4 bit, part-outline geometry with no cutter compensation — apply your own.
Nests
48 × 96 (three sheets) and 48 × 120. 0.30 between parts, 0.50 off every edge. 548 rings verified closed and non-self-intersecting; nests checked for overlap and sheet bounds.
Fit coupon
A four-slot test part you cut first. Plywood varies 10–20 thou across a sheet, so you set the slot width to your actual stock and regenerate before cutting three sheets.
3-D
SketchUp Ruby build script, plus STL at rest and level. Reference cycle and latch animations and stills.
Hardware schedule
Every rod, nut, washer, bushing and collar with counts for both units, generated from the same model — plus cord, monofilament, wear strip and anchor specs.
Admin
README, MANIFEST with sha256 hashes, revision log, and the Shop License.
Setting out
Fit and specification
| Item | Specification |
|---|---|
| Sheet | 97 × 49 × 3/4, up to 96 lb — MDF, plywood or particleboard |
| Built from | 19 mm birch ply (0.748, slots 0.756). An 18 mm-class 0.717 variant ships in the same package |
| Stands | Two independent units, 36.51 in walkway between them, 24 in out from the table edge |
| Table height | 35.00 in as drawn — parametric, so another height is a re-run of the generator |
| Wings | Rest at 80°, land flush with the table on the level tie |
| Axle | 1-1/16 in OD tube on the reference build. Bore = your measured tube OD + 1/32. Measure it — "1 inch" black pipe is 1.315 OD and 1 inch EMT is about 1.163; neither fits |
| Joinery | Dogboned through-tenons, dry fit, no glue anywhere in the wood |
| Gantry clearance | Wings swing to within 6.8 in of the table edge — flip with the machine stopped and the gantry parked clear |
| Hardware | About $100–150 per the schedule, plus three sheets of ply |
Validation
What this is, and what it isn't
The prototype is built and running in my shop. That is not the same as an engineering approval, and the manual doesn't pretend otherwise — page 12 is a test procedure and build record you sign before the first full sheet goes on it.
Stated plainly
- No safe working load is claimed, and none should be inferred.
- One wing at a time. Never reach across the walkway to the second wing while the first is moving.
- Both stands must be lagged to the floor. With the sheet out over the gap, an unanchored stand can walk.
- Pinch points at the rail tops, the pedal lever and the dog rod are marked in the manual and should be marked on your build.
- The manual is calculated from the model. No toolpath has been simulated or certified — prove the first sheet on your own machine.
- You are responsible for fit, clearances, loads and machine compatibility in your shop.
Order
BWP-P-001 · Sheet Flipper · v1.1
$69
then $89
Founding price — first 50 buyers
- Both thickness variants, every DXF and nest, both manuals
- Files by email within 24 hours — I send them myself
- Shop License included: cut as many as your shop needs
- Free revisions of v1.x sent to every buyer
Buy the plan package
Card, Apple Pay, Link, Cash App and Amazon Pay. Digital files — no refunds once the package has been sent, so ask me anything first.
The Shop License
One license covers one shop.
- ✓ Cut as many as your shop needs
- ✓ Use them in paid production work
- ✓ Modify the files for your machine
- ✓ What you build is yours
- ✕ Don't share, resell, sublicense, publish or redistribute the files — free or paid
Buyer is responsible for fit, clearances, loads and machine compatibility. Not an engineering approval. No safe working load claimed.
Not today
Get told when the next one drops
The downdraft table, the tool bay organizer, the push bar and the nest offload station are all in the pipeline. No newsletter, no drip — an email when a plan package goes live.
Questions
Before you buy
How do the files reach me?
By email, from me, within 24 hours of the order. Fulfilment is manual right
now — that's deliberate at this stage, because it means I talk to every founding buyer.
If it hasn't landed, reply to your receipt.
Will it work with my machine?
The flipper is a floor-standing fixture, not a machine accessory — it sits
out from the table edge and doesn't bolt to anything. The one clearance to check is your
gantry: the wings swing to within 6.8 in of the table edge during a transfer. The table
height is parametric, so a different height is a re-run rather than a redesign.
My plywood isn't exactly 0.748. Is that a problem?
No, and it's the first thing the manual deals with. Slots are drawn 0.756
for 0.748 stock — eight thou of clearance, a snug hand fit. You cut the fit coupon first
from the sheet you're actually using, pick the slot that takes an offcut by hand, set that
one parameter and regenerate. An 18 mm-class 0.717 variant is already in the package.
What tube do I need for the axle?
The reference build uses 1-1/16 in OD thick-wall tube. The rule published
with the plan is bore = your measured tube OD + 1/32. Measure it rather than going by the
name: 1 in black pipe is 1.315 OD and 1 in EMT is about 1.163, and neither drops into the
reference bore.
Can I build these and sell them?
What you build is yours — including work you sell. What you can't do is
pass on, resell or republish the files themselves. One license covers one shop.
Who made this?
Blake Lopes — cabinetmaker and CNC operator, running a nested-CNC shop on
the West Coast. Everything I sell gets cut and used in my own shop before it goes on sale.
Questions before you buy: [email protected].