Repurposed Table Saw

[Jim Rimmer]

A few months ago my old Craftsman table saw motor burned up and was unrepairable. I replaced it with a Grizzly but have been working with a friend at work to adapt my old saw. He has a machine shop at home and did some milling for me and it is now my router table. I had already purchased a used Delta fence so I am using it on the RT - all I need to do know is build the John Keeton fence for it. I am thinking about moving the sidewing (which is now the front) to the side (which used to be the back) so I will have more table beyond the bit. Then I'll need a small extension on the front if I do larger pieces.

I had to modify the sheet metal of the stand in order to be able to get to the router for height adjustements and to make the router fit underneath. You can see a little of that in the third picture.

[Ken Shoemaker]

Fantasic idea... Thinkin' out of the box!!! I wonder if anyone else did something like this.....

Well Done!! Ken

[Van Huskey]

Excellent idea!

[Jim O'Dell]

I've seen this talked about before, but don't remember seeing pictures of one actually done. Nice job!!! Questions: How thick is your router plate? How much CI was left after the cut? Did your friend do anything to strengthen the bottom of the table for the plate to sit in? Thanks! Jim.

[Bill Huber]

I was just going to offer you $300 for that old saw...... but oh well.


Nice looking set up and with the weight of the old saw that will be a really nice router table.

What are you going to do for dust collection?

[Joe Mioux]

that is a good idea.

I could see lots of contractor saws being converted this way.

Does anyone know how much a machine shop would charge for cutting out a new opening?

joe

[Andy McCormick]

It seems like it will be hard to use. Where do you stand? If you take a wing off you still have the front rail and you dont want to cut the front rail. The miter slots in the top will be hard to work with.

[Jim Rimmer]

I've seen this talked about before, but don't remember seeing pictures of one actually done. Nice job!!! Questions: How thick is your router plate? How much CI was left after the cut? Did your friend do anything to strengthen the bottom of the table for the plate to sit in? Thanks! Jim.
I don't know the exact thickness but I think 1/4"; I got it from Rockler. We didn't do anything to the bottom. And as for the CI remaining. That's one reason I'm glad I got it done for next to nothing. Because the original casting was for a table saw there is a lot of webbing underneath and the CI is pretty thin except for where the ts insert went. My friend did some imaginative milling and I think it will last but there is a possibility that the vibrations may be an issue in the long run.

For others that may consider this, unless you have someone that works cheap, it may not be worth it. To really make it bullet proof you would have to weld up some lands underneath and then remachine. Could get expensive if you have to hire it done. If you know someone that has a machine shop in their garage and are willing to expereiment, it's worth a try.

[Jim Rimmer]

It seems like it will be hard to use. Where do you stand? If you take a wing off you still have the front rail and you dont want to cut the front rail. The miter slots in the top will be hard to work with.
Good questions. I used it a little today and stood where you would when it was a ts. OK for small stuff which is most of what I do. I have thought about removing the left hand wing and putting it at the back to give me more table beyond the bit. That way I could stand on the left or what would normally be the front of a router table. I think I'll work with it a while before any more changes. Same thing on cutting the rails - I'll wait a while on that. The miter slot on the left is about the same place as the one on my Rockler RT and the one on the right will probably never be used.