Ideas wanted - how to extend table and fence

[petersemple]

I have a Durden Pacemeker. I have wondered about how to add an extention to the table, and especially to be able to extend the fence so that it can be further from the blade. I can't do metal work but easy stuff I'd have a go at. One thing is the the blade depth adjustment is by the whole table going up and down. I have attached a phot of the table if that helps.

Peter

[derekcohen]

Hi Peter

That should be fairly easy.

I added a Biesemeyer-clone fence to my tablesaw, which is what you must do. The rails will extend well beyond the body. Then simply add a section of 1 1/2" ply between the rails as your extention (I used a kitchen bench top offcut). I added a router table this way. You can see it below, supported with a steel frame.



The router table fence clamps to the tablesaw fence when required ..



Regards from Perth

Derek

[petersemple]

Ohh, I really like that idea. It would also solve my Router table dilemma quite nicely. I guess I would need to drill out the rear of the existing table, as there's no fence rails mounted there at all. Where is the best place to get such a fence?

Thanks

Peter

[derekcohen]

Hi Peter

I bought this one from Timbercon as it was the cheapest (about $250), while the one from Carba-tec was above $300. In retrospect I wish I had gone with the Carba-tec - nothing at all wrong with the Timbercon version, but I would have preferred the nylon faces of the former. The Timbercon faces are aluminium.

It sets up easily enough (you do need to drill and tap holes, but this is not a chore in soft cast iron), and is accurate.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[johnnie52]

There are lots of ways to make small saws bigger. Necessity is indeed the mother of invention.

Due to my lack of both space and money, I have had to modify my bench top TS to do a lot of the things that full sized saws can. If you promise not to laugh too much, check the photo.

http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com...pictureid=1556

This saw came with a 16X24 inch (406.6X609.6) surface area. To which I added the wooden framing to lengthen the surface to the right.

Then I added a piece of MFD to extend the rear for an out feed table and to accept a larger fence. The fence was given to me by my FIL when he bought a nice fence (not sure what make it is, but its got a micro adjust feature and rides on a long round bar) for his full size TS.

Then the wife began to complain that I had too many machines on our carport, so I took apart my generic router table and mounted that to the left of the saw. Right now I only use the fence that came with the router table, but one day I may decide to make a better fence that will clamp to the TS fence. This home made contraption sits on a lift system that lets me roll it into a corner when its not in use. Lay a piece of ply on top and a table cloth and it makes a nifty serving table for backyard family gatherings.

It has served me well for over 10 years as I've made Christmas gifts, and other furniture pieces for friends and family. The only real complaints I have are the area of the table top around the blade is too thin to make a zero clearance plate unless I can form something out of metal and I have to run it with no plate at all when I mount the dado blades.

One day I hope to have enough spare change laying around to be able to buy a real TS and build a proper router attachment to go with it. Until then.... this rig does the job nicely.

[TACUABE]

Hello people!

I've seen that request many times and accidentally found a nice option in the web. There's a fellow woodworker in Canada (Vancouver Island) that invented what he calls the Jimmy Jig (his name is James McCombie aka Seumas - he's Scot).

I purchased a set of plans out of curiosity and was impressed with the simplicity and efectiveness of the idea. Basically it is a frame with the Rip Fence built into it (no misalignment possible if you build it right). The frame is mounted on the saw top and it slides from side to side to set the rip width.

The advantages are obvious, you get a bigger table overnight (and wider one too) and you can mount anything you fancy on simple insets. Additionally, it may be unmounted easily if required.

McCombie supplies all info to build the Jimmy Jig and many suggestions on how to mount things on it, increase safety with anti-kickback devices he designed, etc. I would say it's worth to take a look. You also get by without metalworking save for a few holes to tap. Visit megatech.tk/jj or Google for more info and videos. The plans cost USD 15 for a PDF download or you get paper copies mailed at USD 25.

I never built a JJ because I already had a big table on my shop-built saw. Perhaps you may want to take a look at it and my other shop-built machines in this Forum: https://www.woodworkforums.com/showth...850#post946850.

However, I liked the concept so much that I designed a variation dubbed the Jimmy Jig Workstation (JJWS for short). This was originally envisaged for a friend who never got to build it. I'm sellling a package with CAD drawn plans (9 pages) and complete instructions (17 pages) at USD 40.

I'm enclosing a couple of .pdf files with a Description and Sample Sheet. This is a more ambitious project and will not be completed as fast as the Original Jimmy Jig. However, the end result is a bigger machine, more stable and with as many or as few additions as you may want.

The JJWS is also offered in the OJJ web page as Seumas and I became friends with common interests. It is not competition to the OJJ, it's just a different approach for a different kind of user. Read the Description to learn which were my aims at design time. Then take your pick.

I hope this helps those that are forced to buy small saws due to budget or space limitations.

Cheers to you all!

Hector Acevedo

Location: Montevideo, Uruguay

[TACUABE]

Hi again!

Just missed to add some photos of the Original Jimmy Jig to my previous post. Here they go. Enjoy

Hector