Craigslist jackpot?

[Michael Mayo]

I am a professed Craigslist junkie always on the lookout for a good deal on tools and such. So I was trolling the ads on Christmas day and found an ad for some solid surface material for free and assorted wood for $99. It was a cabinet shop closing up and the guy was getting rid of what he had left. I have a router table I built from some plans I got from Plansnow and I used some Corian for the top that I had gotten for nothing from a family friend who was replacing their counter tops. I thought the Corian was going to be awesome but it has turned out to be a huge PIA as it is dished in the middle close to an 1/8". I have tried very hard to flatten the Corian but it is just not something that can be done easily as the top is quite large that I made. So I decided that I needed to make a new top for the router table and was going to need some MDF and formica to make the new top. So I emailed this gentlemen and we got together today. It was a bit of a drive to get to his shop but I wasn't doing anything today anyway. When I got there he had a lot of Wilsonart/Formica that he used to make custom cabinetry that he no longer needed and just wanted to get rid of it. So I took everything I could fit in the 4Runner. Then he starts showing me some other stuff. He had 5 routers 3 of which were Porter Cable 7519's and 2 4519 trim routers. I asked him how much he wanted for one 7519 and one 4519 and he said $125...SOLD! Then he says he has a bunch of router bits and shows me what he has. My mouth I am sure was on the floor as he had over 50 different bits the majority of which were Amana and an assortment of raised panel bits. So I asked him how much he wanted for the router bits and he said give me $100 and they are yours. I almost fell over as I know how much these cost per bit not to mention the raised panel bits. SOLD again. Then he gives me an extra template router plate and router template inserts for nothing. He also gave me 3/4 of a 5 gallon can of Wilsonart contact cement for the solid surface material. So we talked some more and he shows me a beautiful bathroom vanity with Corian sink top and says give me $25 for it and it's yours. I called the wife and sent her a picture and that too came home with me. He gave me the 3/4" MDF I needed to make the new top and a bunch of beautiful cherry and ash lumber and said I could take all the wood I wanted unfortunately I could not fit any more stuff in the 4Runner and I was really pissed off that I took the 4Runner instead of my pickup. Anyway this guy was the nicest most generous man I have met in a very long time and he was truly a master cabinet maker who learned his craft in his home country of Isreal from his father and had been doing it for over 30 years and he was ready to hang up the tools and go back to dancing which was his other passion. He and his 2 brothers one of which is a world renowned choreographer run a dance studio in NY city and he was going to spend his time down there from now on. Every now and then you meet a real great person through the CL ads and this guy was one of them. I was truly honored to have the opportunity to have spent the afternoon with Reuven Perry. What do you think did I make out good with all this stuff for $245? I can't wait to throw that 7519 in my router lift that thing is really going to make the router table top notch I have a Bosch 1617 now and it is fine but a 3.5 hp. router is the cats rear end for the router table.

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8083/8312410671_b28505f8b4_b.jpg

[Stephen Cherry]

I think he saw you coming.


(just joking)

[Michael Mayo]

I think he saw you coming.


(just joking)

That did cross my mind but I know what the routers and bits go for so I was pretty convinced his prices were crazy low.

[Stephen Cherry]

I think one of those big raised panel bits goes for about 100 bucks. That's a great deal.

[hai hong]

" What do you think did I make out good " Hell yet you did good , congrat !

[Rick Potter]

I got into the same type deal a few years ago. Clamps, router table, over a hundred bits, screws and sandpaper by the pound. I have so much stuff, I will have to sell some to Hai, he's an easy sell.

Congrats on a fantastic score, and an enjoyable day.

Rick Potter

[HANK METZ]

**you** should be dancing now too!

- Beachside Hank
Improvise, adapt, overcome; the essence of true craftsmanship.

[Harold Burrell]

OK, I'll say it...

YOU SUCK!

[Keith Outten]

Michael,

If you use Dupont adhesive to add several support bars under your Corian table top it will stay flat forever.
You can also adhere two layers of Corian together so the top will be one inch thick like the one in the picture below. This laser cutting table that I made has to remain perfectly flat or it is useless as we occasionally engrave material that is only 0.004" thick. There are no fasteners in the vector table below.

I also make Corian router table tops designed specifically for routing sign blanks. Strategically placing supports under the top will assure that your table top stays perfectly flat even if you decide to use the heaviest router. Note that I never use MDF or plywood under my Corian table tops, it isn't necessary and it actually reduces the strength.

A properly designed Corian top with a coat of paste wax applied periodically is so smooth it is a joy to use even for jobs that take several hours.

BTW I think you made out like a bandit on your latest Craigslist deal :)
.

[Michael Mayo]

Michael,

If you use Dupont adhesive to add several support bars under your Corian table top it will stay flat forever.
You can also adhere two layers of Corian together so the top will be one inch thick like the one in the picture below. This laser cutting table that I made has to remain perfectly flat or it is useless as we occasionally engrave material that is only 0.004" thick. There are no fasteners in the vector table below.

I also make Corian router table tops designed specifically for routing sign blanks. Strategically placing supports under the top will assure that your table top stays perfectly flat even if you decide to use the heaviest router. Note that I never use MDF or plywood under my Corian table tops, it isn't necessary and it actually reduces the strength.

A properly designed Corian top with a coat of paste wax applied periodically is so smooth it is a joy to use even for jobs that take several hours.

BTW I think you made out like a bandit on your latest Craigslist deal :)
.

Keith,
The Corian top I made was 1" thick and I thought it was flat (assumed) when I made it. I used West Systems epoxy and glued it to 2 layers of 3/4" ply so it was beefy. That all went well but when I went to cut the opening for my router lift and placed the lift in the opening I could not get the lift to level out in the opening. I messed with it forever but just couldn't get it leveled off. So I got a straight edge from Incra and when it arrived I checked the top and sure enough it was low in the middle and high on the ends. Completely dished out by at least 1/32" or slightly more. I tried sanding it down with a belt sander bt it just wasn't getting much flatter very quickly. I tried two different times the latest about a week ago to get the top leveled out by sanding it down but it isn't happening. So I have just decided to make a new top and unfortunately I don't have any more Corian laying around so I thought I would use a couple of layers of 3/4" MDF and then cover the MDF with the glossy finished Formica I got yesterday which seems to be very similar to the Corian and should work out well and the cost was a little gas to go and get it. I have a good amount of time into making this router table/cabinet and I want it to be as flat as possible. If the Corian had been crowned I could have lived with that but being dished just wasn't going to work for me. We will see how the making of the new top proceeds I know now what to look for while making it this time around.


Here is a pic of the router cabinet with the Corian top before I cut out the lift opening.
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8222/8314859274_cfe948ab3b_b.jpg


Here is a pic of the bathroom vanity I got for $25
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8220/8313811303_a55ab6a8d8_b.jpg

[Michael Mayo]

I also found these two tools on a local classified ad. Both the Delta Mortiser and the Delta Tenon jig were like new and I got them both for $180 which wasn't a killer deal but was better than most that I have seen listed around here. The mortiser was $150 and the tenon jig was $30.

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8071/8313811197_b6a2b0ea52_b.jpg

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8078/8314859426_6f3585a0fb_b.jpg

[Chris Fournier]

I also found these two tools on a local classified ad. Both the Delta Mortiser and the Delta Tenon jig were like new and I got them both for $180 which wasn't a killer deal but was better than most that I have seen listed around here. The mortiser was $150 and the tenon jig was $30.

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8071/8313811197_b6a2b0ea52_b.jpg

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8078/8314859426_6f3585a0fb_b.jpg

You win some, you lose some! Delta used to make a tenoning jig that was pretty much a cast monster, it cost well over $300 twenty years ago. I lusted. Then I saw the tenoning jig that you bought for less than a third of the price a couple years later. I bought it. I learned a valuable lesson. The old jig was worth every penny. The new jig wasn't worth carrying home let alone paying for. I think that you will find that the tenoning jig flexes so much that it is worthless. You can't even clamp pieces in it with out rendering the whole affair out of square and twisted. I gave mine away to a friend but not before telling him that it was junk. After a couple tries he agreed and we both admitted that I had certainly not given him a useful tool but I had done him a favour - sometimes you get what you paid for and we both understood that axiom now. You did well on the other purchases so you're ahead of the game!

[Michael Mayo]

You win some, you lose some! Delta used to make a tenoning jig that was pretty much a cast monster, it cost well over $300 twenty years ago. I lusted. Then I saw the tenoning jig that you bought for less than a third of the price a couple years later. I bought it. I learned a valuable lesson. The old jig was worth every penny. The new jig wasn't worth carrying home let alone paying for. I think that you will find that the tenoning jig flexes so much that it is worthless. You can't even clamp pieces in it with out rendering the whole affair out of square and twisted. I gave mine away to a friend but not before telling him that it was junk. After a couple tries he agreed and we both admitted that I had certainly not given him a useful tool but I had done him a favour - sometimes you get what you paid for and we both understood that axiom now. You did well on the other purchases so you're ahead of the game!

Well that may be the case bt this is an older tenon jig made out of cast iron and the thing weighs a ton. So maybe I won't have the same issues you did. If I do I will be very disappointed indeed.

[Rich Engelhardt]

Here is a pic of the router cabinet with the Corian top before I cut out the lift opening.
I made that same "twin tower" design.
I don't feel it's stable enough.
Have you used it much?

I'm thinking of adding some sort of outrigger to the back. Something that can fold up and do double duty as handles to wheel it around, then fold down and lock in place to make the table more secure.

That little project is on my sort of short list of things to do...

[Chris Fournier]

That is exactly the jig I am speaking of. The older one looked like a tank and was almost one piece.

[Mike Heidrick]

Congrats.

You may really want a variable speed router in that table though - 7518 not 7519 IMO. Or maybe it is a VS 7518.

[Michael Mayo]

That is exactly the jig I am speaking of. The older one looked like a tank and was almost one piece.

Well that is disappointing to hear. I have not had a chance to use it yet but I may give it a run through tomorrow while I am out in the shop to see if it gives me any issues. Hard to believe this thing would have any flex tendency as it is quite a beefy unit and I didn't see any source of weakness in my preliminary inspection of the tool. We will see tomorrow I hope you are wrong but I don't doubt what you have stated.

[Chris Fournier]

Take a look at the jig and then think of the forces applied when you tighten the rail in for tenoning. Once you have made a tenon check it for parallel to the face and square. If it is, you are gold, if it isn't the jig is flexing as mine did. A shop made jig (simple 90 degree) used with a crosscut carriage will outperform this jig in my experience. Just my experience...