DIY Table Saw

[Toilet Duck]

Evening all,

Don't know if theres much interest for this sort of thing, but I thought I would share my DIY table saw which cost me around £15.00 to make. I should be getting on with my kitchen (see my other thread about worktops), but I can't decide which worktop to buy so I built this instead. There's a few things I would do different in hindsight, but everything I used to build it I had laying around already.

Start off with a suitable size piece of wood (I used 18mm thick MDF) and put your circular saw on top in the position you would like the blade to appear. Draw around thge base plate.


"square" off the base plate outline, keep it simple.


Batten off the wood so that you can take a router to it.


Measure the thickness of your circular saw base plate and then use your router to rout out the same depth.


Remove the battens and rout out the rest of the base plate area.


Your circular saw should now fit in nice and tight. Hold it steady , fire it up and plunge the blade all the way through.



Knock up some battens that will secure the circular saw in place. Make sure they are thick/strong enough, metal would be best but I used some off cuts of timber. Drill all the way through them and the table surface.


As I decided to use some coachbolts I had, I drilled out the table surface to accomodate the large heads of the bolts.


I then hammered the coach bolts in and smoothed off the top using gripfill (still needs sanding down in this pic).


I used penny washers and wingnuts to secure the battens to the coach bolts, the circular saw is rock solid.


Using my high tech tool I bought from Aldi I checked to make sure the blade is at 90 degrees.


I then used my router to rout out a channel along each edge the same depth as the thickness of a steel rule.


Used more gripfill and stuck down some steel rules flush with the table top surface.


Leave a gap to take into account the thickness of the saw blade.


Make up some guides for the fence (yet to be built).


More gripfill and screws to secure a guide either side.



Make a simple fence, just make sure its 90 degrees.



The "channels" I routed out in the fence guide are just wide enough to lock a 12mm coach bolt.


Cut out some small blocks to fit between the fence base and table. Drill through the whole lot (I drilled 12mm to fit my 12mm coachbolts).


Push the coach bolts through from the bottom and secure on the top with penny washer and wing nut. The fence will slide along the guides until lockked off in position with the wing nuts.


Test out (for now I taped the "on" switch on the circular saw so it fires up as soon as you switch it on at the mains). I set the fence to 10mm and ran a sheet of MDF through it, then measured the piece it cut which was 10mm so the rulers I used are in the correct position. Job done!




I'm sure that there are many ways to improve this so don't take this as the best or only way to make a table saw as it definately isn't. However, for £15 you can't go wrong

Bonus pics of my DIY router table with dust extraction port (again, cost around £15/20):





Feel free to post any pics of DIY tools that you have made, there must be loads of good ideas/inventions among the PH contingency

Edited by Toilet Duck on Thursday 19th May 20:04

[Paulbav]

Sadly nothing to do with me but a chap on another forum I frequent made this bad boy..

http://www.ultimatereef.net/forums/showthread.php?...

[mgtony]

A couple of things I think you sould do. The riving knife that should be behind the blade, I'd put back on and bring it through the table top with the blade. It will help to stop timber binding on the blade and risk it throwing it back at you.
I'd also try and fit some sort of guide, either from the top of the riving knife, or on a long arm from the side of the table.
I have a home made router table, will post some pics tomorrow, I fitted a NVR (no volt release) switch on the edge of the table with a plug on one side and an extension socket on the other. This means you can plug in which ever tool you are using and the other end in the mains.So there is an off switch to hand. If you're setting the saw up and someone switches on the mains, you wont lose a finger with the NVR switch fitted.

And make a couple of notched push-sticks

[mgtony]

Paulbav said:

Sadly nothing to do with me but a chap on another forum I frequent made this bad boy..

http://www.ultimatereef.net/forums/showthread.php?...

Wow, now that's cool. I now wont be posting a pic of my "bits from skips" router table.

[sharpfocus]

Nice!

[Toilet Duck]

Paulbav said:

Sadly nothing to do with me but a chap on another forum I frequent made this bad boy..

http://www.ultimatereef.net/forums/showthread.php?...

Wow that is simply amazing!! Makes my efforts look like a crappy kinder egg toy

mgtony said:

A couple of things I think you sould do. The riving knife that should be behind the blade, I'd put back on and bring it through the table top with the blade. It will help to stop timber binding on the blade and risk it throwing it back at you.
I'd also try and fit some sort of guide, either from the top of the riving knife, or on a long arm from the side of the table.
I have a home made router table, will post some pics tomorrow, I fitted a NVR (no volt release) switch on the edge of the table with a plug on one side and an extension socket on the other. This means you can plug in which ever tool you are using and the other end in the mains.So there is an off switch to hand. If you're setting the saw up and someone switches on the mains, you wont lose a finger with the NVR switch fitted.

And make a couple of notched push-sticks

Sorry, but what is a "riving knife" and what would the guide do that you recommend fitting to it or on a long arm (sorry if I'm missing something obvious!).

The bodged/taped up power switch is just temporary. I'll wire in a proper switched socket underneath the table saw at some point so I can switch it on/off there properly.

What is a "notched push-stick?" Is that something to poke the timber you want to cut towards the blade so you don't chop your fingers off?

Cheers for the tips

[mgtony]

This is a riving knife, there sould be one fitted as standard on any circular saw.



I meant guard instead of guide, just to make it a bit safer.

And yes a couple of sticks to push your stuff passed the blade.

[mgtony]

A 90 degree guide like this will also be handy for both the saw and router table,

just rout a groove parallel with the blade.

http://www.diytools.co.uk/diy/Main/sp-2-9070-65921...

[Toilet Duck]

mgtony said:

This is a riving knife, there sould be one fitted as standard on any circular saw.



I meant guard instead of guide, just to make it a bit safer.

And yes a couple of sticks to push your stuff passed the blade.

Ah I see . I didn't remove anything off of my circular saw. However, the blade is covered with a retracting shield thing, so as you push the circular saw blade towards whatever you want to cut, once you reach it the shield thing starts to slide back exposing the blade as it cuts. Maybe this is in place of a riving knife? This shield thing is still attached, but its retracted back as the blade pokes through the table. Its probably because its not really meant to be used as a table saw. However, I dont see why I cant fabricate something to act as a riving knife. Thanks for explaining

[Mr GrimNasty]

Reminds me of that DIY accidents program where the bloke put the circular saw down before the blade had stopped spinning, whereupon it climbed all the way up his leg to savage his crotch area.

[Simpo Two]

A circular saw in a table deserves respect, but a handheld one can be amazingly dangerous - in the current climate of H&S it's amazing you can buy them.

[virgil]

Toilet Duck said:

Sorry, but what is a "riving knife" and what would the guide do that you recommend fitting to it or on a long arm (sorry if I'm missing something obvious!).

The bodged/taped up power switch is just temporary. I'll wire in a proper switched socket underneath the table saw at some point so I can switch it on/off there properly.

What is a "notched push-stick?" Is that something to poke the timber you want to cut towards the blade so you don't chop your fingers off?

Cheers for the tips

Good sto see some DIY gear...all too easy to spend 10s or 100s on something that only take a few minutes/hours to make and fit's 'your' job perfectly. My panel cutter cost a couple of board off cuts and works perfectly!

Do use a NVR switch - My table saw is a circular saw inverted in a 'table' and the NVR switch died so now operate it from the wall socket. The amount of times Ipve switched it on by accident thinking it was something else plugged in is scary and I'd say I was very careful in the workshop!

[GreenDog]

Simpo Two said:

A circular saw in a table deserves respect, but a handheld one can be amazingly dangerous - in the current climate of H&S it's amazing you can buy them.

I've seen a couple of episodes of Real A&E recently where guys have been a bit careless with circular and chop-saws - they make a nasty mess of flesh and bone.

[hairyben]

Simpo Two said:

A circular saw in a table deserves respect, but a handheld one can be amazingly dangerous - in the current climate of H&S it's amazing you can buy them.

Used properly, with the spring back guards etc and with your brain switched on they're quite safe. What surprises me is the existence of items such as wood ripping blades for angle grinders... absolutely lethal.

OP: Nice effort, but I can't help thinking "why?" when you can buy a cheap table saw for about £50.

Mind, I did build a multi-functional and foldable cable drum stand out of ply and conduit when I was an apprentice that every spark who every saw it though it was the nuts, lasted me 15 years till last year when some thicko polish "builders" smashed it to use the conduit for paint stirrers or something.

[Toilet Duck]

hairyben said:

OP: Nice effort, but I can't help thinking "why?" when you can buy a cheap table saw for about £50.

Because I enjoyed making it myself (gives me a sense of satisfaction ), I used only materials I already had laying around or left over from other projects so it effectively cost me nothing, and it works just as well as "cheap" proper ones (and is a lot bigger, the table is approx 90cm by 100cm). I have no doubt that a decent (expensive) one from the shops will show mine up for the DIY effort that it is, but for now I'm more than happy with the results . Also, making it gave me an excuse to down tools on my kitchen refurb for a while

Edited by Toilet Duck on Friday 20th May 15:05

[mgtony]

Lots of router table accessories here:

http://www.axminster.co.uk/router-table-accessorie...

[andy43]

Pah. Table saws are for amateurs.
Freestylin's where it's at.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_ZisaAd7bo

[virgil]

Toilet Duck said:

Because I enjoyed making it myself (gives me a sense of satisfaction ), I used only materials I already had laying around or left over from other projects so it effectively cost me nothing, and it works just as well as "cheap" proper ones (and is a lot bigger, the table is approx 90cm by 100cm). I have no doubt that a decent (expensive) one from the shops will show mine up for the DIY effort that it is, but for now I'm more than happy with the results . Also, making it gave me an excuse to down tools on my kitchen refurb for a while

Edited by Toilet Duck on Friday 20th May 15:05

Don't under sell it. It's probably more accurate than a 50quid table saw...cheap stuff in the end is generally a waste of money. Id rather have 'well home made' than 'cheap bought'.

If there's any chance of laminating it (both sides so it doesn't warp) with melamine or equiv. t'll make it a lot easier to pass work over...same with the router table...

[annodomini2]

Paulbav said:

Sadly nothing to do with me but a chap on another forum I frequent made this bad boy..

http://www.ultimatereef.net/forums/showthread.php?...

Cool as it is, you wouldn't build that for £15, the ball screws alone will be £200 each

[ExChrispy Porker]

I wouldn't work with a table saw without a guard.
Call me picky if you like.