John Ricci
11-03-2008, 5:38 PM
The other day while on a wood buying expedition I decided to pick up a ZCI for the General 650R, that is until I saw the price...$49:eek:. I passed and decided to make my own. I measured the thickness of the table insert and found it to be 1/4". I happened to have a sheet of 1/4" phenolic panel in the shop from which I cut a blank and proceeded to shape it in the normal fashion using a flush trim bit in the router table, marked the holes for the leveling screws with a transfer punch. Now came the fun.
I have read here that a few guys have had the problem of not being able to lower the blade enough to lay the insert flat for cutting. Instead of using a dado outer blade, I just left the new insert taped to the original and put the whole assembly back into the saw. This allowed the new insert to clear the blade, I fired up the saw and raised it through the new insert. To make space for the riving knife, I flipped the whole thing end over end and brought the blade up again which extended the slot perfectly for the knife. The hight adjusting screws and stop nuts transferred to the new insert after I tapped the holes and it worked just like the expensive one for no more than a couple of bucks worth of material that I had on hand anyway! That factory stuff is just robbery:mad: Sorry about the crappy phone pics.
J.R.
I have read here that a few guys have had the problem of not being able to lower the blade enough to lay the insert flat for cutting. Instead of using a dado outer blade, I just left the new insert taped to the original and put the whole assembly back into the saw. This allowed the new insert to clear the blade, I fired up the saw and raised it through the new insert. To make space for the riving knife, I flipped the whole thing end over end and brought the blade up again which extended the slot perfectly for the knife. The hight adjusting screws and stop nuts transferred to the new insert after I tapped the holes and it worked just like the expensive one for no more than a couple of bucks worth of material that I had on hand anyway! That factory stuff is just robbery:mad: Sorry about the crappy phone pics.
J.R.