Homemade table saw

**SWR** · 6th July 2004, 11:57 PM

Hello all,

This is my first posting to this forum having only found it a few days ago.
Let me say as a woodworker of seven or so years that this is just fantastic!

I am a woodworker who believes that buying something is the last resort and as
someone who is handy...well let's just say that i make a fair bit of my tools.

Convincing the G.L.W (good lady wife) to buy me a compound mitre saw after the shing phong ping brand (read cheap taiwanese) was tough. Asking for a 14"
bandsaw for my birthday...tougher again...asking to buy a table saw...well a man's got to know his limitations!!!

So knowing the answer before I asked the question I decided that to replace my old trusty Triton Mk III that I would make a table saw.

So I knew that Carbatec sold these "power heads" with flanges to bolt a blade (or grinding wheel) on one end and two V-Belt drive pulleys on the other end. Great!!! $75 odd dollars.

Now all I need is a grunty motor...say 2.5 Hp and about 2800 rpm. After a month of hunting around I found a 2.75 Hp 2900 rpm motor for $70.00 at a local motor repairer (in Hurstville).

Couple a V-belt, a 100 tooth blade I had kicking around and hey presto, a beast that cuts through ring gidgee (bloody hard wood!) like a hot knife through butter! Motor doesn't even change pitch!

Now all I needed was a method to drop and tilt the blade...easy right? well not so much...

After doing some theoretical modelling in a CAD package I thought that I had an answer. Once again...not so much...

Eventually I got the drop mechanism working by supporting a fram within a fram from hinges and some threaded rod to adjust the drop. From this frame another hinged frame perpendicular to the other hinged frame gives me some tilt ( at least enough to adjust the blade to be perpendicular to the table.

The frame is welded 1" tube and the sub frame with the motor an pulley weighs about 60 kg.

So far I have got it to the stage you see it here...it needs some bracing of the big frame to strengthen it and a top for the deck.

I am open to the forum for suggestions on the top material. I was thinking of MDF for stability and laminex for durability. What do you guys think?

Anyway if I have done this right I have some photos for you to look (and snigger) at.

It's definitely a work in progress and very soon ( when the wife lets me!) I will give all of the welds a paint and clean up.

Interested in anyones opinion and wether or not anyone else has had a chance to try this (or is that stupid!)

Regards,

Scott in Sydney.

**Wongo** · 7th July 2004, 09:54 AM

Hi Scotty,

Of course it is not stupid. It is extraordinary :eek: . Would love to see the final product (in action).

cheers & welcome

**Zed** · 7th July 2004, 10:04 AM

No disrespect intended here but you're a braver man than I - desiging and building your own table saw. will you be installing a riving knife ? what about a dado cutter? will one of them fit ? most importantly if by some mischance you injure yourself or someone else what protection do you have with respect to due diligence to workshop safety and industrial injuries ? you may want to look into this before firing up old sparky in anger

otherwise well done - im thinking of doing similar with an old pool pump filter and making a disc sander out of it....

cheers

**SWR** · 7th July 2004, 10:34 AM

Zed,

Couldnt agree with you more...the riving knife is definitely going on as is a large
perspex blade guard. As well as that I will be using a foot switch rated at 15A
to switch it on.

I am a big convert for foot operated equipment as it means you don't have to go
searching for a power switch under the gear in a hurry. I will be installing an earth leakage circuit breaker for additional safety and a zero tolerance insert so that stuff can't get caught.

The top will have a mitre gauge and a T-Track for featherboards. The fence I am planning will also have a T-Track for featherboards.

I am very aware that woodworking requires functioning fingers to do well...and I am planning on keeping all of mine...

Cheers.

Scott.

**Thommo** · 7th July 2004, 11:11 AM

Thats awesome SWR.

I often think about doing things like that, but I dont seem to be able to find the time. ( plus I dont think I would be capable )

Please keep us posted on your progress

Thanks Thommo

**Dust Maker** · 7th July 2004, 11:22 AM

great work would love to see when finished.

Dust maker

**LineLefty** · 7th July 2004, 12:10 PM

Welcome to the forum scott,

Making your own table saw? Balls of steel.

It's interesting though, so keep us posted.

**snappperhead** · 8th July 2004, 02:46 PM

would have been exciting to say the least the first time you cranked her up. sensational tool love your attitude.

**glenn k** · 8th July 2004, 03:31 PM

Like it very much

well done

**Bob Willson** · 8th July 2004, 03:49 PM

Well done Scott. Wish I had the savvy to do the same.

How are you tensioning the V belts? It looks as though they are just held by the motor hold down bolts. If so, then may I suggest a tensioning wheel operated by a spring somewhere on the frame.

You appear to lose a fair bit of your blade depth. Is this so or have you found a way around it, or is it that I need new glasses?

**Caliban** · 26th July 2004, 10:13 PM

Scott
As you can see we all admire your work and envy the skill and balls to have a go. But I don't understand why your wife isn't rich enough to buy you a saw :confused: . Any woman who can control a man with your awesome talent must be a corporate high flier, and not someone to be trifled with. Is my life in danger for saying this?
Oh, by the way, love your work.

**SWR** · 27th July 2004, 07:36 PM

Jim

Thanks for your kind words....the good lady wife is a housewife with a newborn bubs who keeps me very honest.

The saw has had some development and strengthening over the weekend and I trial fitted some timber tops to it.

Some more pictures will be taken and very soon my website will be de-bugged enough that the good folk who post her can go and check my site out...including a fairly detailed explanation of the table saw.

The satisfaction in building your own tools is second to none (well I would like a big mutha table saw with a unifence...but..hey let be freaking realistic here...) and it does provide a creative outlet for my scheming, take over the world plans (for now).

Already a friend wants me to build a Mk II version and I am thinking that if he cuts all the steel then...maybe.

I must say that I am rerally enjoying this forum and already have gotten some great ideas ( removeable blade/riving knife is a ripper!) and I hope I can contribute some more to the forum.

Kind regards,

Scott in Peakhurst.

**echnidna** · 27th July 2004, 08:00 PM

Bit fancier than my big fixed sawbench. But I also have a little 8" bench with rise and fall if I need it.
I wouldnt use mdf for the bench top.
Put a 1/4" plate steel top on it for rigidity, then overlay that with some 1.6mm galv flat. It wont rust and its nice and smooth.

Its easy to fit an insertplate by making the hole in the overlay sheet larger than the hole in the 1/4 steel. Make the insert plate from 1.6mm aluminimum just in case the saw blade hits it so you dont damage the blade. (screw the insert into place)

**jow104** · 29th July 2004, 06:13 PM

Super

But please be careful.

By the way back in the U.K. we need a replacement for Concorde, when you've got time.

**bsrlee** · 30th July 2004, 12:00 AM

My grandfather used a home made 'table' saw to do all the woodwork for at least 3 houses as well as numerous lesser projects. The only 'accessory' it has was a sliding crosscut sled made from fence palings - come to think of it, the top of the saw was probably made from fence palings too, just planed & waxed. Carbon steel blades & it howled ferociously. As home welders were unheard of when he made it (before WW2 I think) all the frame was timber, just the motor & arbor were bought metalwork - the tin bits were old bikkie tins.

None of this sissy splitters, rise & fall, guards & such. Sawdust just went down a big tin shute - did I ever enjoy playing with the sawdust

Its good to see that the spirit of true DIY is still alive & kicking

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great work

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