Just Suppose... (TS Outfeed Pondering)

[Dave Richards]

It's fairly common to make a larger table top for a bandsaw or a drill press since these tools come with rather small tables to begin with. Supposing you had the room for it(I don't think I do) and wouldn't miss the loss of 3/4" cutting capacity, why not make a similar larger table top for a tablesaw? It could be melamine and have slots in if for miter gauges. It could be longer and wider as desired. Since it would be a single surface, you wouldn't have to worry about getting the outfeed table aligned the the TS table.

I don't think I could swing it with the Incra TS-IIIa fence but surely the Biesmeyer-type fences could be set up to work that way.

And if one only used the saw with the blade set at 90° to the table, you wouldn't even need a throat plate. That would exclude the use of a dado set as well.

Ah well, just a thought from a brain that hasn't been given any SketchUp questions lately.

[Kent Fitzgerald]

TS miter slots should be straight, dimensionally stable, and parallel to the blade, all within a few 0.001"s. I wouldn't count on melamine to maintain those tolerances. By comparison, aligning a conventional outfeed table to the saw top is much less critical.

The lack of a throat plate would also complicate blade changes.

[Roy Wall]

Dave,


I'm not following you at all.........there are extension tables for TS all over the place. Folding, permanent, wide, long, etc....??????????

[Chris Padilla]

All Dave is pondering is this:

Think of a large table or worksurface...now pop a spinning blade through the middle of it: you're done (except for miter slots and interesting fence mounting options and such).

[Roy Wall]

Got it Chris, Dave, et al.........

Dave, I've seen guys that do that. Big sheet of thin melamine over the whole table........usually ripping thin, precision parts for veneer.

[Brad Townsend]

This is an interesting idea. There is no reason why a table saw top has to be cast iron. The biggest drawback I see to this proposal is that the sheer weight of a tablesaw's top is what dampens a lot of the vibration and makes the saw more stable. Also, if you lost all that weight on top, what happens to the center of gravity when the only other really heavy part of the saw - the motor - is out to one side?

[Dave Richards]

Chris has the idea. Brad, I'm not talking about removing the CI top. I'm just thinking of overlaying it. You could make it a 4x8 top and put the blade a little father back from the front edge giving more infeed surface. A 4x8 sheet of 3/4" MDF weighs almost 100 lbs. I imagine that my contractor's CI saw table isn't much heavier if it even weighs that much.

Miter gauge slots could be cut to be parallel to the blade and made oversized to take a metal insert. What's the coefficients of expansion for CI and MDF or Melamine coated particle board?

Admittedly changing the blade would be tough without an opening in the top.

Like I said in my initial post, it's just pondering. You guys aren't giving me any SketchUp problems to solve so it's really all your fault. :D

[Brad Townsend]

Chris has the idea. Brad, I'm not talking about removing the CI top. I'm just thinking of overlaying it. You could make it a 4x8 top and put the blade a little father back from the front edge giving more infeed surface. A 4x8 sheet of 3/4" MDF weighs almost 100 lbs. I imagine that my contractor's CI saw table isn't much heavier if it even weighs that much.
Okay, I get it now. Little slow on the uptake.:rolleyes: I guess you would lose 3/4" of blade height, but that would seldom affect anything. I guess raising the fence would be the biggest challenge. Post pics when you're finished.:D

[Chris Padilla]

Oh, Dave....

Laptop End Table - Real Cool

Your name is being called...warm up the Sketch-up! :D