Tuesday, July 13, 2010

A table for the tablesaw

Alright, I got myself a tablesaw. It is a small jobsite one with the rationale that it can be stowed away when needed (I've got a very small area to dedicate to the shop). The bad news is that, in order to operate it safely, I will need to build a table for it. It isn't so much a bad news, but rather that I'd prefer trying my hand with dovetailing on a nice piece of hardwood...

Problem

I need to take the top of the tablesaw to waist height, or 31". I will build a matching workbench which can be also used as an outfeed table. Here are the constraints:
  1. Must be cheap (no fancy hardwood structure here): I prefer to keep my scarce money for a bandsaw, a jointer and a planer for the moment.
  2. Must be solid: no vibrations nor wobble that would make operating the saw dangerous.
  3. Should have a bit of storage underneath.

Design

The design of this table is very simple: It will be made with framing spruce in the 2"X4" and 2"X2" stocks. The traversal section are made of 2"X4", mounted atop of the legs to ensure very solid joints. The Table top and lower shelf are made of 3/4" plywood.  The L-shaped legs will be both light but sturdy and match the legs on the workbench (to maximize the clamping area near the corners). I plan to make dowels as I go from rounded rods of lumber, although I think that I'll have to use lots of screws to tighten the whole thing.

The diagram doesn't have dimensions on it for two reasons: Inkscape doesn't have a measuring tool, and most measures have to be made on the go (especially with rough lumber such as spruce), which makes keeping track of precise dimensions futile. The only important measure here that isn't going to change is that the top of the tablesaw (13 1/4" height) must fit slightly above at 31": so the legs and tabletop together must add up to 17 3/4". The distance between the bolting holes is also fixed by the dimensions of the table (18" frontage, 20" depth).

Hopefully, I'll get the lumber tomorrow and get cracking on this project: I've got some tenons to make for my pair of desktop shelves to match the desks that I recently completed.

2 comments:

  1. [...] Bongotastic’s Gist Hobbying in less than an hour a day. Skip to content Home ← A table for the tablesaw [...]

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  2. [...] this (sketches here): Not much to look at, but at least, I can use the tablesaw [...]

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