support at the table saw.

Tom Bussey

Member
Messages
145
Location
Nashua Iowa
I also made an infeed table support for my table saw. The top of my new bench is almost 8 foot long . I made a plywood sled to hold the long pieces of hickory for so I could get a straight line rip I have a roller stand but if I position out far enough to support every thing at the beginning I ended up catching everything half way into the cut. and visa versa and it also works good for plywood. I bought the individual ball bearing rollers at Harbor Freight for about .68 each.

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ooooo, I like that idea. Nicely done.

I have since added more rollers since the photo was taken. It is a little flimsy. I made it out of light aluminum angle.I think I may change it to a wooden frame made out of pine which it will still be light weight. and make the legs hinged. I do like the fact that it is level with the saw's top and the legs also have a roller bearing at the floor so the support table easily slides sideways. It makes it hander when changing widths.
 
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A great idea, if you cut large sheets on your table saw. I have a friend who uses tall saw horses, but hitching it to the saw is better, in my opinion. At work they have a hinged leg with a hook end on the side of the table saw, to help when only one person is getting sheet stock from the cart onto the table saw. The just place the bottom edge of the sheet in this hook and then rotate the sheet up onto the saw table. Then moving the sheet toward the fence releases this hook and the hinge lets it fall away.

I don't cut large sheets on my Unisaw, even though it has a 54" Unifence. My shop is way too small to make doing this easily. Instead, I use a cutting table outside on the driveway along with long aluminum straight edge clamps and a circular saw that I have added a Lexan saw shoe to provide the zero clearance function at the front of the blade. I've also installed a narrow kerf fine tooth blade to the saw for minimum chipping. This has worked very well for me, but a true track saw would probably be an improvement.. It just hasn't been a priority because of the cost. I break the sheets down into pieces about 1/4" over size and then take them into the shop where I finish cutting them to exact size on my Unisaw. My cutting table is just a 1 X 4 pine frame about 30" X 70" in size with pieces of 2 X 4 laid flat across the narrow dimension and flush with the top edge of the 1 X 4 frame, located where necessary to attach banquet table style legs to their underside, plus one more 2 X 4 across the middle for strength. The table was assembled with biscuits and glue, so there is no metal in the top, except for the short screws that attach the legs to the bottom of the 2 X 4 cross pieces. In use, I set my saw to cut about 1/4" deeper than the thickness of the sheet stock and make the cut down the approximate center of the table. In doing this, nothing falls as I complete the cut. Both the sheet and the off cut remain on the table, quite unlike when trying to do this when working on saw horses. I then remove the off cut and re-position the sheet so the next cut will be roughly down the center of the table. Then make the next cut. When I'm finished breaking down sheets, the banquet legs fold up into the bottom recess of the table and the table gets stored on edge against my uncut sheet stock in the end of my shop. I've found that this cutting table is so handy that it goes with me whenever I work anywhere away from my shop. It is my portable workbench as well as my cutting table.

With a full sheet of 3/4 plywood on top and folding chairs around it,my cutting table also makes a great expansion picnic table for those "larger than planned" family picnics at home when more friends and relatives show up than was expected.

Charley
 
A great idea, if you cut large sheets on your table saw. I have a friend who uses tall saw horses, but hitching it to the saw is better, in my opinion. At work they have a hinged leg with a hook end on the side of the table saw, to help when only one person is getting sheet stock from the cart onto the table saw. The just place the bottom edge of the sheet in this hook and then rotate the sheet up onto the saw table. Then moving the sheet toward the fence releases this hook and the hinge lets it fall away.

I don't cut large sheets on my Unisaw, even though it has a 54" Unifence. My shop is way too small to make doing this easily. Instead, I use a cutting table outside on the driveway along with long aluminum straight edge clamps and a circular saw that I have added a Lexan saw shoe to provide the zero clearance function at the front of the blade. I've also installed a narrow kerf fine tooth blade to the saw for minimum chipping. This has worked very well for me, but a true track saw would probably be an improvement.. It just hasn't been a priority because of the cost. I break the sheets down into pieces about 1/4" over size and then take them into the shop where I finish cutting them to exact size on my Unisaw. My cutting table is just a 1 X 4 pine frame about 30" X 70" in size with pieces of 2 X 4 laid flat across the narrow dimension and flush with the top edge of the 1 X 4 frame, located where necessary to attach banquet table style legs to their underside, plus one more 2 X 4 across the middle for strength. The table was assembled with biscuits and glue, so there is no metal in the top, except for the short screws that attach the legs to the bottom of the 2 X 4 cross pieces. In use, I set my saw to cut about 1/4" deeper than the thickness of the sheet stock and make the cut down the approximate center of the table. In doing this, nothing falls as I complete the cut. Both the sheet and the off cut remain on the table, quite unlike when trying to do this when working on saw horses. I then remove the off cut and re-position the sheet so the next cut will be roughly down the center of the table. Then make the next cut. When I'm finished breaking down sheets, the banquet legs fold up into the bottom recess of the table and the table gets stored on edge against my uncut sheet stock in the end of my shop. I've found that this cutting table is so handy that it goes with me whenever I work anywhere away from my shop. It is my portable workbench as well as my cutting table.

With a full sheet of 3/4 plywood on top and folding chairs around it,my cutting table also makes a great expansion picnic table for those "larger than planned" family picnics at home when more friends and relatives show up than was expected.

Charley
 
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