This is one of my prized possession and the most used tool in all of my projects. It is the centre of my workshop as it serves multi-purpose and used as a table saw and workbench.
I was never happy with the results of the circular saw as the cuts are not very accurate. It becomes very difficult to cut small pieces with circular saw as there is no way to properly fasten the piece properly.
Converting the circular saw into a track saw has solved the accuracy part somewhat.
I decided to build a table saw for doing this i had purchased one more circular saw as i wanted to keep a spare circular saw for ripping long plywood boards.
The metal base of the table saw comes from a folding table. For Table top i am using 18mm plywood. To protect the table top have applied few coats of water based PU.
Table size is 3.5' X 2.5' which is plenty for my usage. Saw is attached on one side instead of attaching it on the centre of the table this gives me more surface to attach the fence. Fence can be adjusted from 0' to 2.3'. So i can easily rip 2' wide material on the saw. Fence can be placed on both the sides of the saw, Placing the guide on the left side of the blade comes in handy when i am cutting thin pieces
(< 1') from a wide board so i get additional surface to support the board. I have plans to install sliding outfeed support in future.
Using table saw requires lot of care as it can be very dangerous if used improperly. I came to know this the moment i used it for the very first time as the danger of kickback and loosing a figure is very real. A Riving knife is a must safety device for the table saw as it prevents kickback. Initially i was using a nail in front of the blade which was a bit wider than the saw blade as a riving knife.
Riving knife or splitter makes a cut very safe as it prevents the stock from binding to blade resulting in a kick back.
I have made 2 zero clearance insert for the saw one is fitted with a riving knife which is made by gluing 2 1mm laminate pieces. The other insert is used for cutting rabbets.
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| Table Saw zero clearance Insert one with riving knife and one without it |
Before every cut i double check that the guide is perfectly parallel to the saw blade. Having a riving knife also helps me detect a binding problem early in the cut as the stock becomes difficult to push through the saw when the guide is not set parallel to the blade and reduces the chances of kickback.
Also i always use push stick to push the stock through the saw when i get close to the blade.
Even with all this precautions the table saw still can be very dangerous tool and demands lot of attention during cut.
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| Table Saw Guide |
I am using C-Clamp to fix the saw guide in place. It took a lot of tuning with the guide to make it parallel to the saw blade. Now it working perfectly. The guide has 2 surfaces so it can be used on either side of the saw without flipping the guide. I have also created storage space in the guide where i store essential tools like measuring tape, marking pen etc. I still have to create a lid for the storage as saw dust gets inside these storage space during the cut.
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| Mitre slots |
The table saw has 2 mitre slots which have been cut by router. It took me lot of time to cut them perfectly parallel to the blade. I am using the mitre slots as a guide for the mitre sledge.
Dust Collection
A table saw creates lot of saw dust, Majority of this saw dust goes under the saw as the primary cutting teeth direction is downwards, So i have created a Saw Dust collection bin under the table saw where most of the saw dust gets accumulated during the cut. I am able to get more than 90% of the saw dust in this bin, around 10% of the saw dust is produced by the rising teeth as it scores the inner surface of the cut. Saw dust on top of the saw can be reduced by lowering the blade so that only the teeth protrude over the cut.I am very happy now as i am not covered in saw dust after every cut.
One more big advantage of the dust storage bin is that it acts as a suppressor and greatly reduces the saw noise.
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| Toggle Clamps to support the Bin |
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| Saw Dust collection |
As the motor is completely sealed inside the dust collection bin now i have to figure out a way to remove very fine dust which remains suspended in the air as it will clog the motor in long run and reduce the life of the bearings. Also on using the saw for long duration the saw gets heated as there is not enough room to circulate the air. I have a plan to attach a small fan to filter this small dust particles and circulate the air. Using my Karcher MV3 Vac will be an easier option but i don't want the additional sound from the Vac.
Making Table Saw Lift
Since the bottom of the saw was covered with the dust bin it had become difficult to adjust the saw blade height as i have to remove the dust collection bin each time to adjust the blade height and attach it back again. So i created a lifting mechanism for lowering or raising the blade height. I am using a 8mm SS threaded rod which is connected to a sliding mechanism with 2 T-Nuts which lowers and raises the blade.Have generated the gear templates from online application created by Matthias Wandel available at
http://woodgears.ca/gear_cutting/template.html. This guy is really genius.
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| Cutting gears on JigSaw mounted under the table |
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| 8mm T-Nuts for saw lift |
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| Saw lift with T-Nuts installed and threaded rod |
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| Gear ratio 1:4 |
The gears help in increasing the speed of lowering and raising the blade. Bigger gear has 24 teeth and smaller gear has 6 teeth. Having gear mechanism is also not fast enough when i have to fully raise the blade, In this case i use my Impact driver with a socket wrench to quickly do the job.
This project is still WIP i am still extending and tuning the design.
