Duane Bledsoe
12-31-2011, 11:14 AM
I have a brainstorm of an idea. I hope this would work well, and of course the bugs are not all ironed out yet.
I'd like to take a sheet of MDF, or other material, and cut it straight in half. I can laminate the two halves together to form a 1 1/2" thick, 4' x 4' square surface for a table top. I will build a cabinet to set this on, but the table top will overhang all the way around it by several inches to allow for clamping at the edges.
In the top 3/4" thick section of the table surface, I would cut a hole out to the size of my current contractor table saw top, and then drop it in, supported by the bottom 3/4" thick section that has also been cut to match but not as large, so I basically have a hole with rabbeted edges to hold the saw. I can secure it if needed but I'm not sure how just yet, that's one of the bugs I have to get out still. Looking at this from above, the table saw would be located near the bottom left corner of the surface. Since the table has a cabinet, I can build in dust collection from below the saw. I will also allow access to the front of the saw for adjustments to be made (blade tilt, raise and lower). The fence that the saw came with will not be used.
To the right side of the table surface I would have a place to mount a router with insert plate, cut and supported the same way as the saw was. It would be centered in the table width from front to back but on the overall right side of the table as compared to an imagined center line. So to use the router you would stand to the side of the table as compared to when you use the table saw. I will also have below table dust collection for the router, just like the saw.
Then I would make a pair of back to back fences as long as the whole 4' table is wide, but built as one unit, so that one side serves the saw, and the opposite side serves the router. I can build above table dust collection in for the router bit and also can make a place to attach a hose for above table collection for the saw blade (located in near proximity to collect as much dust as possible anyway). There is probably a way I can even make a blade guard from plexiglass, but it would limit the uses of each tool, so they would have to be custom according to project.....again, another bug. Anyway, this fence would have built in slide adjustments as described below....
In the bottom 3/4" section of the table surface, I can cut a set of parallel stopped dadoes all the way through to match the head of a carriage bolt. In the top section I can cut a set of dadoes to match, but only to fit the shank of the carriage bolts. Carriage bolts will be inserted through the bottom. Then in the bottom connecting piece of the two fences I can drill holes to match the dadoes. Using the carriage bolts, with T-nuts on top, I can make loosening adjustments to slide the fence from one position to another. I can reposition the fence from one tool to the other without even removing the connecting hardware, simply loosen and slide. The carriage bolt fasteners would be in the center portion of the table. On each end of the fence I can clamp it solidly to the edge of the table once the final setting is made. I figure this allows for the easiest adjustment while providing the most clamping power to prevent fence movement. It will be secured in 4 places during use, and then I'll only have to mess with 2 holders to slide it, after the clamps are removed.
Then I can imagine a pair of 4' metal rulers with them zeroed to the inside of the saw blade, dropped into wide, shallow dadoes cut to fit, and glued in place. This would simplify fence movement and resetting, just slide along until the measurement is reached and tighten. I can also cut miter slots into the table surface to allow for the use of crosscut sleds and the miter gauge itself. I have already located 4' metal rulers which even have a cork backing that will make gluing a lot easier. They're marked in 1/16 inch increments though, but I would prefer 1/32 at least.
I have a lot of trim coil here used to cover exterior wood on a house, and a metal brake, so I can make boxes to fit below the table top to collect dust. I can bend them so they funnel dust towards the bottom into a dust collecting hose. This will greatly simplify building them, and lighten the overall weight of the table to allow for movement of it, if necessary. I will also attach leveling feet to the table so that I can overcome any waviness in the shop's floor, which it most definitely has.
This table will be located in the center of my shop floor and accessible from all 4 sides. It will be built to the height of my workbench to allow use of the bench as an infeed table, or an outfeed table. Being 4' x 4' square, it will provide a lot of work surface with the fence removed and the blades and bits below the table. I would not bang on it though to prevent damage to the tools inside, the workbench is for that. Having a table this wide and an aligning work bench as well, it will allow easy use of the table saw to run panels through them if needed.
I came up with this to cover for the need of a larger table saw surface, provide more accuracy with a larger, more stably attached fence, create a larger, more stable support to replace the wobbly stand the saw is on now, and to also cover for a larger router table that is needed as well. With the router table portion having 2 feet of both infeed and outfeed fence, I can use it as a very modest jointer for small projects since I do not have a jointer yet. Dust collection is much easier this way and I can run one hose from the dust collector unit (when I get one) to serve for both tools. Both tools can be on one circuit electrically, and they will never be ran at the same time, so this works. MDF is chosen to provide a slick sliding surface, but I can laminate it, or use another material if one is better and available. The build cost will only be about 3 sheets worth of material, hardware, some 2x materials inside for rigidity, legs, and support of the table saw if needed. The router insert, metal rulers, and other extras of course will add up, but I still see this whole thing as under $300 in the end (guessing at this point though, it's still in the brainstorm stages). I also still need to devise a way to access the bottom of the saw for blade changes, and the router for bit changes. I know about above table bit adjusting/changing routers, but I'll use the router I have for now to cut costs.
What do you think??
I'd like to take a sheet of MDF, or other material, and cut it straight in half. I can laminate the two halves together to form a 1 1/2" thick, 4' x 4' square surface for a table top. I will build a cabinet to set this on, but the table top will overhang all the way around it by several inches to allow for clamping at the edges.
In the top 3/4" thick section of the table surface, I would cut a hole out to the size of my current contractor table saw top, and then drop it in, supported by the bottom 3/4" thick section that has also been cut to match but not as large, so I basically have a hole with rabbeted edges to hold the saw. I can secure it if needed but I'm not sure how just yet, that's one of the bugs I have to get out still. Looking at this from above, the table saw would be located near the bottom left corner of the surface. Since the table has a cabinet, I can build in dust collection from below the saw. I will also allow access to the front of the saw for adjustments to be made (blade tilt, raise and lower). The fence that the saw came with will not be used.
To the right side of the table surface I would have a place to mount a router with insert plate, cut and supported the same way as the saw was. It would be centered in the table width from front to back but on the overall right side of the table as compared to an imagined center line. So to use the router you would stand to the side of the table as compared to when you use the table saw. I will also have below table dust collection for the router, just like the saw.
Then I would make a pair of back to back fences as long as the whole 4' table is wide, but built as one unit, so that one side serves the saw, and the opposite side serves the router. I can build above table dust collection in for the router bit and also can make a place to attach a hose for above table collection for the saw blade (located in near proximity to collect as much dust as possible anyway). There is probably a way I can even make a blade guard from plexiglass, but it would limit the uses of each tool, so they would have to be custom according to project.....again, another bug. Anyway, this fence would have built in slide adjustments as described below....
In the bottom 3/4" section of the table surface, I can cut a set of parallel stopped dadoes all the way through to match the head of a carriage bolt. In the top section I can cut a set of dadoes to match, but only to fit the shank of the carriage bolts. Carriage bolts will be inserted through the bottom. Then in the bottom connecting piece of the two fences I can drill holes to match the dadoes. Using the carriage bolts, with T-nuts on top, I can make loosening adjustments to slide the fence from one position to another. I can reposition the fence from one tool to the other without even removing the connecting hardware, simply loosen and slide. The carriage bolt fasteners would be in the center portion of the table. On each end of the fence I can clamp it solidly to the edge of the table once the final setting is made. I figure this allows for the easiest adjustment while providing the most clamping power to prevent fence movement. It will be secured in 4 places during use, and then I'll only have to mess with 2 holders to slide it, after the clamps are removed.
Then I can imagine a pair of 4' metal rulers with them zeroed to the inside of the saw blade, dropped into wide, shallow dadoes cut to fit, and glued in place. This would simplify fence movement and resetting, just slide along until the measurement is reached and tighten. I can also cut miter slots into the table surface to allow for the use of crosscut sleds and the miter gauge itself. I have already located 4' metal rulers which even have a cork backing that will make gluing a lot easier. They're marked in 1/16 inch increments though, but I would prefer 1/32 at least.
I have a lot of trim coil here used to cover exterior wood on a house, and a metal brake, so I can make boxes to fit below the table top to collect dust. I can bend them so they funnel dust towards the bottom into a dust collecting hose. This will greatly simplify building them, and lighten the overall weight of the table to allow for movement of it, if necessary. I will also attach leveling feet to the table so that I can overcome any waviness in the shop's floor, which it most definitely has.
This table will be located in the center of my shop floor and accessible from all 4 sides. It will be built to the height of my workbench to allow use of the bench as an infeed table, or an outfeed table. Being 4' x 4' square, it will provide a lot of work surface with the fence removed and the blades and bits below the table. I would not bang on it though to prevent damage to the tools inside, the workbench is for that. Having a table this wide and an aligning work bench as well, it will allow easy use of the table saw to run panels through them if needed.
I came up with this to cover for the need of a larger table saw surface, provide more accuracy with a larger, more stably attached fence, create a larger, more stable support to replace the wobbly stand the saw is on now, and to also cover for a larger router table that is needed as well. With the router table portion having 2 feet of both infeed and outfeed fence, I can use it as a very modest jointer for small projects since I do not have a jointer yet. Dust collection is much easier this way and I can run one hose from the dust collector unit (when I get one) to serve for both tools. Both tools can be on one circuit electrically, and they will never be ran at the same time, so this works. MDF is chosen to provide a slick sliding surface, but I can laminate it, or use another material if one is better and available. The build cost will only be about 3 sheets worth of material, hardware, some 2x materials inside for rigidity, legs, and support of the table saw if needed. The router insert, metal rulers, and other extras of course will add up, but I still see this whole thing as under $300 in the end (guessing at this point though, it's still in the brainstorm stages). I also still need to devise a way to access the bottom of the saw for blade changes, and the router for bit changes. I know about above table bit adjusting/changing routers, but I'll use the router I have for now to cut costs.
What do you think??