Thread: Using router table for saws

Frank,

This is a bad idea.

If you think about how a router bit moves, it is perpendicular to the base plate. So gravity is enough to hold it in place.

A circular saw moves differently. The blade will want to 'climb' the work piece if the saw is not held firmly to the table. I see disaster, with a trip to the emergency room in your future. A jigsaw will not move as aggressively as a circular saw, but will have the same tendency.

I'd suggest getting a Triton work centre, either new or pick up a used one one ebay. It folds away for storage, and is designed to hold a circular saw. It won't cost much more than building your own whiz bang table with fence and miter and etc, and will perform much better.

Tex

Triton

Frank, theoretically possible, would need to at least consider the following:

- saw insert plate must be secured to the table
- fence must be securely mounted & parallel to the blade at all times
- very good idea to have some sort of splitter behind the blade to prevent the cut closing around the blade (recipe for kickback)
- some sort of protection against kickback

Bit of mucking around to achieving safely all of the above, as stated above I reckon your best & safest option would be to get a new or 2nd hand triton w/centre & buy or make auxilliary tops for it for a router table & jigsaw table.

Work safely...........welcome aboard.......cheers...................Sean

Hey spewing about the router mate i had a black and decker router that wasnt to bad then it blew up in the middle of a piece of furniture that needed to be finished with the week so i took it to get fixed they said give us 2 weeks so i thought oh oo. Any how i got a gmc r1200 as a cheap replacement its quite a good piece of equipment i finished the job without any hassles the variable speed is a handy feature and its got 1/4" 1/2" collets which will open up the variety of router bits for you im pretty sure you can get one from bunnies for aroung the $100 mark

I second Sean's (Scooter) precautions. A further disadvantage is that depth and bevel adjustments of the saw would be quite awkward. I once designed such a contraption with a couple bizarre devices to accomplish adjustment. Luckily, I saw the error of my ways, and didn't build it. Bought a small table saw instead; can hang on the wall for storage.

Joe

Thanks for the advice. I've been thoroughly scared off this idea. I think I'll just save up for the triton.