Thread: Making a table saw

The safety switch your after is available trough timbecon (google it) for about $35. That's the cheapest one I've found anywhere. It comes prewired with a plug and socket.

You can of course mount a circular saw upside down in your table top. If you just attach it you'll lose a depth of cut equivalent to the table thickness. Normally you'd route out an area to match the saw base, attache the saw, and turn it on and plunge cut a nil clearance slot. Raise the saw again, angle it to 45 deg and plunge cut again for bevel cuts.

Now some problems.

You have to hold the trigger on (a piece of velcro wrapped around it, probably available from triton as a spare part for a few $), and hold back the blade guard on your saw.

Next you need to rig a splitter/riving knife so the work can't close round teh back of the saw blade and cause a kickback. You'll also want a blade guard.

Finally you'll want to make a rip fence and insert or cut a miter slot, possibly 2.

It's quite a bit of work, especially when excellant saw tables are available for very little money these days. Doable, but not trivial.

Thanks by the way would anyone have any plans or anything?

On the saw cant i just take the blade guard off? By the way if the safety switch was connected would i only have to turn it on and the saw is on. Or is that what the velcro is for to hold down the trigger?

Whats a miter slot? And how do i go about making the rip fence? And getting the blade guard?

Thanks

I wouldn't be making a saw bench out of pine. The top would have to be too thick to have any strength so it would leave little room for cutting much. It would also get beat up in no time and unless you make it serious chunky the motor will eventually shake the joints to bits.

Come to think of it one can probably buy a table saw with a deeper cutting depth for not much more than the price of a portable saw and the cost of the timber to building the bench, not to mention the cost of all the bits and pieces to build a fence, disabling the safety features of the circular, and rebuilding new ones into the table saw etc. Most cheap portable circular saws are also not designed to run for the longer periods one normally would operate a table saw. If I was going to build a sawbench I would make it out of steel and use a proper motor and arbor etc.

This sounds fairly dangerous.

You would have to ensure that you had fitted a properly working guard and splitter and ensured that things like the fence was always parallel to the blade. Think this through carefully, kickback is not good

Edit: Almost forgot, Danger Will Robinson Danger...

Why don't you buy a cheap preloved Triton workcentre. Much safer and easier.


Peter.

Originally Posted by DarkWolfz

Would anyone be able to help me? At school I was making a work bench and i thought it was pretty boring. So i decided i wanna make my own Table Saw.

Anyone able to help? Its 1300mm long and 700mm wide. Its kinda high and it has 2 shelves. I haven't put the top on yet. I'm just going to use MDF for the shelves. The top of the bench is about 3-4 cm thick. And its all Pine

1) Would i be able to turn it in a table saw? And
2) would i be able to buy any sort of circular saw? And
3) would it be possible to add a box for the saw. I forgot what they are called with just the On and Off button.

Thanks

(1) is doable, not really advisable and requires a lot of work in terms of safety features (blade guard, riving knife, etc) and mounting a fence

(2) the saw would need to be 235mm or bigger to compensate for the depth of cut lost in the table top and you'd still only have about a 40mm depth of cut and the saw would need to be heavy duty = expensive


have you thought about turning the bench into a router table?
a much simplier task


ian

Yeah I'm starting to think about a router table now. Then if i do. What would i need? I already have a router. And could i still use that switch board?

Originally Posted by DarkWolfz

Yeah I'm starting to think about a router table now. Then if i do. What would i need? I already have a router. And could i still use that switch board?

Yes. Similar problem. First you've got depth of cut to consider. So you want the base of the router as close to the surface as possible, so if your top is 2" thick (50mm) you'd want to rout an area the same shape as your router base so your only losing like 1/2" or something. Alternatively you use an insert, which is a rectangular piece of aluminium or stiff plastic. The good ones are 3/8" thick (9mm) and come with a hole and usually a selection of insert rings. Different holes to accomodate different diameter router bits.

So your router is attached upside down and the collet is about 1/2" below the surface. Now you need to ensure the top is dead flat and smooth. Finally you need a fence which can be easy. The simplest is a straight bit of timber bolted through at one end and you adjust depth of cut by swinging it through an arc. Because router bits are round you don't need it parrallel to anything so the swing system is fine, not so for a table saw. Fence has to stay parrallel. What you do need is a gap in teh fence to allow the router bit to be part hidden in there for small cuts.

Google router fence and have a look at the different systems. Most can be home built. Some are dead simple some super complex.

Then just bolt the remote switch to the front somewhere handy and plug everything in.

Thanks for the reply. Will look into it Just a bit that i don't get "The simplest is a straight bit of timber bolted through at one end and you adjust depth of cut by swinging it through an arc." I get the timber bolted through part.

Darkwolfz: your post made me think of a table saw I made a couple of years ago, when money was an issue, I have since bought a Ryobi Table saw. I can say one thing, only I was allowed to use it, it was very dangerous, and probably cost as much to build as I paid for the Ryobi. I don't have exact dimensions, but I dug up some old pics I had of it and posted them for you. The frame is 7/8" rough sawn pine and the top was 3/8 ply. I used a Black and Decker Cir. Saw in it. It actually sawed many feet of lumber, but nothing over 7/8 " thick and was not suited for exact fine work, if you notice I used a regular long clamp for the fence, and clamped feather boards and guides when I cut with it.

G'day Dark one. Others have already spelled out their doubts so there is no need for a repeat from me.

Router Table? look up the Gifkins Router Table design (Google). It is simple and effective and can be mounted as a top to a cabinet. Woul make the Job more intricate, interesting and satisfying.

Norm from the New Yankee Workshop has a good plan for a router station.

I was thinking about upgrading my router station and building one of his.

My slant on this is.... after all the time effort and expense to Cobble up a working saw from a pile of Timbers and a saw motor, you will have the expense of a modest priced saw, consumed and that doesn't include the labor. Plus the ready built saw will be safer and more accurate than the "jerry-rigged" saw. If you want a saw, go buy one, If you can't afford to buy, then save the coins and beg usage from fellow WWers till you do. Chance of muckin' up a project and/or gnarling flesh is too dear to consider making a piece of equipment from rubble.

Just spend some time looking at the online table plans and see what appeals. If your confused about anything ask here. There are numerous approaches to a router table that all work, it really comes down to personal preference. If you go ahead you'll end up with a project you can be proud of. Don't take any one person's opinion as gospel. Check the alternatives and build the one YOU like. They all work. Plenty of threads on this here, and plenty of opinions