I made a good move when I substituted red oak for plywood for the pillow block bearing support pieces. I was able to torque down the lag screws without feeling any "give" in the wood. I didn't feel like going out to buy another piece of red oak for the motor mounting piece and substituted birch plywood which I had plenty of. This was a mistake. As I tightened up the nuts on the motor mount I could hear the birch plywood crunching - not very good. Somewhere down the road I will have to switch out the birch plywood for red oak - but not right now as I want to get this V-Drum Sander working :-)