Table Saw Workstation?

[William McFarland]

Well, I am finally getting to focus back on my woodworking passion and am embarrassed to say that I have let most of my tool tops get into pretty bad shape. The worst was my table saw. The first three years of med school really did not provide me with as much time as I had hoped to stay active in this passion.

It took me 2 weeks, a couple nights a week, and a long Saturday to get it back into decent shape. Lots of scothbrite scrubbing, naval jelly, and sanding with the ROS to get it to where it is at now.

I really want to incorporate this saw into a nice workstation like this one: http://www.woodstore.net/mosaroce.html

I have the plans and they are helpful but my saw seems so much different than the one in the plans. I am having to completely adjust all the measurements. I am going to set this up as a duel router station as well with a new benchdog cast iron extension for the left wing of my table saw.


Here are some questions I have:
Has anyone used these plans to incorporate craftsman table saw OR35505?
Anything you would change or adjust in the layout?
Any pointers to making the job easier?
What did you use instead of MDO?
I would love to see some workstations based off this design to help me with the process.

Thanks,
William McFarland

Below are some before and after pics of my terrible saw!:o

[William McFarland]

Another question:

Did you use the right side cast iron extension wing or leave it off to save weight and just make the extension table longer?

[Steve Bishop]

Hi William,

I started with the same plans, then modified to my likes.

My first base was just like the in the plans, but I didn't like it.
Next I changed the base to a torsion box type of design and installed wooden blocks inside each corner. This gave something solid for the lag screws holding the casters on.

Next I turned the router table to face the front, this has worked very well for me.

By putting the extension to the left of the saw, I had an unused area underneath it. So I built a cabinet with 2 deep drawers, and 8 saw blade drawers.
Note: put the deeper drawers above the saw blade drawers, your back will thank you.

I used both MDF and plywood to build the boxes. Plywood makes less of a mess, MDF is cheaper. I did use 2 layers of MDF for the router table section.

Build the base, then the table saw section and work out from there.

This workstation has turned my old Craftsmen table saw into a very sold and stable saw.
The Vega fence also helped out :)



Steve


174035

[Eric A Martin]

Nice work, I just may have to get busy drawing up something like that...

[Stew Hagerty]

Hi William,
I have a classic Craftsman saw similar to yours. It sat in storage for several years and need probably at least as much elbow grease as your did. I see you already have a Biesemeyer fence and that's a great first step. IMO classic Craftsman saw are fairly decent once you upgrade the crappy fence and miter gauges they come with. I installed a 50" Vega fence on mine and bought an Osbourne miter gauge. I love em both. I added a right side table between the fence rails topped with Melamine and dropped in my router so I could use the accuracy of the Vega for it as well. Next I'm building a 48"W X 60"L outfeed table (also melamine), followed by some sort of storage under each table. I like the pics, it looks like you did a fine job cleaning it up. It reminds me that I need to get some pics around my shop. Let us know what you decide to do. Feel free to PM me if you want to kick around some ideas.

I almost forgot, I found a source for really nice Zero Clearance inserts for classic Craftsman saws: http://www.leecraftzeroclearance.com/ . They really helpful and can find the right insert by going through all of the various dimensions if, like mine, your model number isn't listed. Mine used a CR2.

[William McFarland]

Hi William,

I started with the same plans, then modified to my likes.

My first base was just like the in the plans, but I didn't like it.
Next I changed the base to a torsion box type of design and installed wooden blocks inside each corner. This gave something solid for the lag screws holding the casters on.

Next I turned the router table to face the front, this has worked very well for me.

By putting the extension to the left of the saw, I had an unused area underneath it. So I built a cabinet with 2 deep drawers, and 8 saw blade drawers.
Note: put the deeper drawers above the saw blade drawers, your back will thank you.

I used both MDF and plywood to build the boxes. Plywood makes less of a mess, MDF is cheaper. I did use 2 layers of MDF for the router table section.

Build the base, then the table saw section and work out from there.

This workstation has turned my old Craftsmen table saw into a very sold and stable saw.
The Vega fence also helped out :)



Steve


174035

Steve,

That workstation looks amazing!!! Very well thought out and put together. I had planned on doing a torsion box for the base but hadn't thought about changing the orientation of the router. Do you have a miter slot in the front of the router?

Thanks,
William

[Stew Hagerty]

This workstation has turned my old Craftsmen table saw into a very sold and stable saw.
The Vega fence also helped out :)174035

Really nice. I hope you don't mind if I steal a few ideas... May I ask, why did you build the router table forward facing instead of facing off the right side and using the Vega fence?

[Steve Bishop]

I do not have a miter slot for the router, so far I haven't missed (or needed) it.
By facing the router table forward I was able to make the cabinet wider vs the 27" depth of the table saw. This allowed more space for drawers. It gives more table space to the right and left when working with the router.
The two drawers just left of the router door are for router bit storage. I'll have to post a picture when I get home.

One thing I should of done differently is the front to back position of the router.
I cut the router plate hole so the bit center is 10" back from the front of the table. When making raised panels a little extra support in front of the router would be nice.
Maybe centered would be better, just check your reach to ensure its comfortable.

The Vega fence and Incra 1000SE Miter gauge really helped improve the saw's usability.

Now for the shocker :eek: in the near future I'm going to sell this saw/router workstation to make room for the Unisaw I just picked up for $250.
What's a guy to do, the garage is only so large :)

Steve

[Jay Maiers]

Steve,
Is that a contractor type saw, or a table top saw?
I've got a Rigid portable saw on a stand. I like the saw and stand combo just fine, but I'd love to put a better fence on the whole mess.

Could you take a few pictures of your assembly and share them with me/ I'd love to see a few more details!

Thank you,
Jay M

[William McFarland]

Gotta get this thing built soon!!!

Unfortunately, right now I have no way of doing the dado cuts for the box construction since I don't have a router table and I don't have a dado blade for the table saw yet! Hoping to get the benchdog extension this Tuesday, my wife and I are doing our gift exchange early, and that will make it much easier to make the dado cuts. May be getting a new dado set as well which will make it even easier.

Thanks for all the info,
William

[Steve Bishop]

This is a Craftsman tablesaw from the early 80's, the kind you can pickup on craigslist for $100.

Here's a link to more pictures.
http://s245.photobucket.com/albums/gg57/techie470/Tablesaw/

Steve

[Jay Maiers]

Thanks Steve. Very nice work!