1/2" tall dado in 18mm plywood, but it has 2" edging. Is this a bad idea?

[Cory filder]

I have 18 mm plywood that I intend to use as a bandsaw table on top of my existing aluminum table (12" delta). reason for doing this, is the existing table is is not flat, and dips in in the centre on both sides of the blade. no good. Also the table is a little small
I was planning on dadoing 1/2" so that I can use a uhmw plastic slider. It only just occurred to me that I would only have just under 1/4 inch material left at the bottom of the plywood slot.

as part of the build, there is a front and back edging of ~2" red oak. also 2" on the right, and 1" on the lieft. there is to be at cut on the right to allow the table to be removed. I will probably use a bolt and not to hold the cut end flat.

the question is, am I going to have a stability/ dimensional issue routing out 1/2"? I could do 3/8 routing instead and skip the aluminum extruded mitre slot. I really don't want to do thatIf at all possible. I'm hoping the 1 1/2 edging (2"- 1/2 slot) will be enough.

in addition I was also considering routing a horizontal slot for accurate fence movement as seen in the wood magazine video online, but have not committed to this yet.

what do you think?

[Edward Weber]

Assuming the red oak edging is vertical, I see no problem. It's being placed on top of an existing table, I can't see why it would have any stability issues.

[Rick Potter]

Years ago I enlarged my 14" Delta by simply using a piece of 3/4" melamine on top of the table with cleats on the bottom of both sides that slid over the table top. The top has to be sliced with the blade during installation and the sides kept it running straight.

After using it a bit, the back side wanted to curl up a bit at the cut, and I simply screwed on a wooden cleat that unscrewed when I changed bits.

It worked great for several years. I had no miter slot in it, but don't use the miter gage much anyway, so if needed I removed the wooden top (2 min). The melamine was a great top.

PS: I forgot...I also drilled and countersunk a few holes around the blade for dust pickup, and left the metal insert off when using the top.

PPS: Like I said, years ago. Just remembered after using it this way for a while, until I knew I liked it, I also drilled two holes in the top of the saw table and used 3/8" flathead screws countersunk into the melamine and with wingnuts to hold the top from a slight wiggle I had in the cover when not clamped down. Used it for years until I switched saws and sold it with the top included.

[Tom Bender]

How about flattening your existing table with a little epoxy?