Table between the rails on TS- Looking for ideas

[Jonathan Freinkel]

I wanted to see if you guys had any ideas for this.
Right now I have a worn out piece of MDF. I was thinking of replacing it with a piece of Plywood with solid wood edges. The other thought was to buy a piece of Laminate and put that over. (Less economical..)

Long term I would like to do a router lift in the side.

Does anyone have any ideas that they would recommend?

Thanks
~J

[George Bokros]

I would use laminate or melamine, much easier sliding surface.

[cody michael]

I used granite, just got it down the other day but it looks great.305353

[Charles Taylor]

The contractor saw I bought close to 15 years ago had an extension table made of laminated particle board. I moved the fence and extension table to the Unisaw that I bought later, so it's still in use. As with most 15-year-old horizontal panels made of particle board, mine is no longer flat. It sags where it isn't supported by something, so a replacement table is on my list of projects to tackle sooner or later. When I do that, I'll make a torsion box. Providing for a future router lift in a torsion box would take some planning ahead in the layout of the web and some extra internal structure, but it's certainly doable.

[Matt Day]

Many materials will work, mdf, plywood, granite, Or any Solid surface material. I have an untreated mdf surface right now but have been meaning to upgrade it to Corian for some time now. Just make sure it's supported properly and flat.

I would think that Simply applying laminate to mdf is a quick upgrade in durability and sliding friction.