keith Boutselis
Member
- Messages
- 208
- Location
- central florida
I received all the items I think I will need to make my new router table but when I was telling a friend about it he exclaimed " I wonder if you'll ever finish it the way you "finished" working on you RAS.
He was right. I use it a little but I never made a decent table for it and never made all the adjustments it needs. I felt kinda bad. So I forced myself to try and finish that project. finishing a project is not what I do best.
I started making a table for it. I assumed it would not be flat because none of the tables I have made turned out flat.
this one did.
I tried this once before but this time it worked. I jointed some 2x4s and ripped them parallel. then I put them on my work bench and shimmed them so they were as flat as I could make them in front, center, and rear as well as on the diagonals
I made a variation of the Mr. Sawdust table with steel flats running on edge sandwiched between two 3/4" sheets of mdf (forgot to take a picture of that) The steel is epoxied into 1/4" deep slots in each sheet. Then I clamped the whole thing down and let the epoxy in the slots dry over night. The next day, while still clamped I put in a ton of screws. NO GLUE. Other than the epoxy for the steel flats I used no glue. I made sure there was no squeeze out from the epoxy either. I think the fact that I didn't slather an uneven spread of glue is why it turned out flat. I have my tiny 12" blade on there now and the guard is not on. you can see the old 20" blade in the back ground.
I was able to get the table very parallel to the arm in all position. hope it stays that way.
I also discovered something I thought was very interesting about this saw. I was looking for some direction on finer adjustments. Off course, this saw is different than all the other old RAS's people have restored. I guess not to many people are crazy enough to want one of these. I was discouraged because I couldn't find any info on it. In desperation I went to the Original Saw Company web site and looked at some of there larger models to see if I could at least get some hints. Figured it was a long shot. I was wrong. From what I can tell so far the Original saw company just used the designs from the old commercial duty dewalts to build their new saws. So far they seem identical. Even the shape of the motor. I have a type 8 3553. Its the little 20" saw. the larger one has a 52" arm. mine only has the 44". Cost new is $8500. Doubt mine is worth any where near that but its nice to know.
Just thought that was kinda neat. doesn't look like they changed anything.
He was right. I use it a little but I never made a decent table for it and never made all the adjustments it needs. I felt kinda bad. So I forced myself to try and finish that project. finishing a project is not what I do best.
I started making a table for it. I assumed it would not be flat because none of the tables I have made turned out flat.
this one did.
I tried this once before but this time it worked. I jointed some 2x4s and ripped them parallel. then I put them on my work bench and shimmed them so they were as flat as I could make them in front, center, and rear as well as on the diagonals
I made a variation of the Mr. Sawdust table with steel flats running on edge sandwiched between two 3/4" sheets of mdf (forgot to take a picture of that) The steel is epoxied into 1/4" deep slots in each sheet. Then I clamped the whole thing down and let the epoxy in the slots dry over night. The next day, while still clamped I put in a ton of screws. NO GLUE. Other than the epoxy for the steel flats I used no glue. I made sure there was no squeeze out from the epoxy either. I think the fact that I didn't slather an uneven spread of glue is why it turned out flat. I have my tiny 12" blade on there now and the guard is not on. you can see the old 20" blade in the back ground.
I was able to get the table very parallel to the arm in all position. hope it stays that way.
I also discovered something I thought was very interesting about this saw. I was looking for some direction on finer adjustments. Off course, this saw is different than all the other old RAS's people have restored. I guess not to many people are crazy enough to want one of these. I was discouraged because I couldn't find any info on it. In desperation I went to the Original Saw Company web site and looked at some of there larger models to see if I could at least get some hints. Figured it was a long shot. I was wrong. From what I can tell so far the Original saw company just used the designs from the old commercial duty dewalts to build their new saws. So far they seem identical. Even the shape of the motor. I have a type 8 3553. Its the little 20" saw. the larger one has a 52" arm. mine only has the 44". Cost new is $8500. Doubt mine is worth any where near that but its nice to know.
Just thought that was kinda neat. doesn't look like they changed anything.