Table saw station a la NYW

Looks very good.

-- Jiri

Not a bad addition to your table saw Tom. We all started with less than the best of saws. Hang in there and wait until you can replace that Ryobi with the best saw you can afford. I have a Bosch 4000 (about $500) and it’s a great saw, especially for someone like me that is limited on shop space.

-- Bill - "Suit yourself and let the rest be pleased." http://www.cajunpen.com/

A thought for when you are ready to upgrade: I am very pleased with my Ridgid saw. I have equipped it with a carbide, 50 tooth, thin kerf blade. Its a real workhorse.

Keep that sense of humor….....you will need it in this hobby. Mistakes, everyone makes them. How you deal with them is what makes you a Jock… Good start to your shop.

-- Brian's Table Top Toys http://home.mountaincable.net/~bgraham/

Are you planning on storing this vertically?

The casters on the right intrigue me.

-- No piece is cut too short. It was meant for a smaller project.

tom, wood working is like riding a bicycle you get skun up a bit the first couple times out but before you know it your doin wheelies and jumpin autmobiles !!

This is a great first project Tom, and God knows, we all need a functional shop to produce more. Try leveling your tablesaw to fit the box, by using shims under the saw. (Blame the fact that it’s not level on the floor!)

I agree with your idea of vertical storage to save space, but that would render the box useless for anything but a catchall. Still, we need a place to toss the extras when it’s in use. And I’m willing to bet Norm would be proud.

Here’s a thought for you…When you build your bench, make it mobile on heavy casters, with a recess for this saw. You could also fill this recess with an adjustable height shelf to hold your (future) compound miterbox, planer, grinder, sander, etc. And when you’re done playing, you can push it up against a wall allowing the use again of the garage. A shop vac would also fit nicely underneath allowing the hose to be adapted for dust collection. It would be an “All-in-one” bench right? I’m tempted to build one of these myself but then I’d have to explain to the wifey-poo why I have yet another bench!

-- Bob Vila would be so proud of you!

I admire the fact that you took on such a difficult project this early in your woodworking life. I think you did a great job, and none of your errors were catostrophic so I’d call it a complete success.

-- JP, Shelbyville, KY

Hey, I’ve been using that same saw for 3 years now. I keep planning to get a better one, but something else always comes up that I want more. Here is the table I designed to make mine more functional:

http://www.loyno.edu/~cbmarsh/tablesawstand.htm

-- Charlie M. "Woodworking - patience = firewood"

People ask me how I learned how to do woodworking, I tell them it is trial and error. Mostly error. Learning from mistakes will only make you a better woodworker.

-- Don't delay, do it today! If God is your Copilot, switch seats.

That is really cool. I have been considering something similair from my craftsman contractor saw.

-- David, Charlotte NC (http://beechcreeknaturals.etsy.com)

First off, to everyone who took the time to look at my project and leave there comments, Thank you! If it seems like I’m being to hard on myself, trust me I’m laughing while I write it (all the crying happens when I though another malformed or broken piece on the scrap pile). I just want to remember the mistakes I made so I don’t make them again and have a little fun while I’m doing it.

I do store the saw vertically when I need to get one of the cars in the garage but I generally leave it down when I’m in the middle of a project. I have to clear the cubby out before I store it but it comes in quite handy while I’m using the saw. You can see it in the picture but there is a cutout in the bottom with one of those table saw dust collection shrouds. The DC really needs more suction than my shop vac can produce but it is better than nothing.

Cajunpen & rikkor: I have looked at both of those saws with considerable longing.

Dadoo: Actually the saw already is shimmed so that the edge of the table saw is level with the adjacent table tops. The problem is that the table top itself was bent when I forced the bottom into the dados. If I had realized that was going to happen I would have kept removing material for a better fit but I stopped when I was able to make it fit. I wish I could make that desicion over again. :)

CharlieM1958: Although I like poking fun at my table saws deficiencies, I know that a more skilled craftsman could really take advantage of all the saws capabilities while avoiding its deficiencies. Unfortunately, at least for now, I’m not that skilled craftsman. I’m figuring out slowly how to work around them but it is definitely a learning process. I’m not planning on upgrading the saw until I’ve filled in some of the other tools in my collection. I’m about ready to pull the trigger on a thickness planer. That makes me very happy.

-- Tom, Southwest Florida

Tom,
I bought that saw right around this time last year when it was on sale. I will agree with some of its defiencies, and having to learn how to work with them. My plan is basically the same as yours buy the cheaper stuff as I start out and equip then upgrade slowly as needed.
I like the idea for the station, been trying to figure out how to get mine off that pathetic little stand. Thanks for posting it, it does look good.

CtL

-- Chris L. "Don't Dream it, Be it."

I’ve got a very simple router table on top of the table saw stand now. Eventually I’ll get around to building a cooler router table but for now it works pretty well.

-- Tom, Southwest Florida

all in all, it still looks like a good, functional station to upgrade your saw. I too have a cheap tablesaw… pleased to say it didn’t take me long to outgrow it… but it is taking a lot longer to upgrade from it… How sad that a new blade cost more than the saw did in the first place… yet the debate between spending the time to make it do what we need, or dropping the cash on a better saw is still a hard one to justify some days…. especially when I have access to my Father-in-laws Rigid TS in his garage. Runs like a dream… but also 25 minutes down the road… inconvenient unless I plan way ahead.

-- I am always doing what I cannot do yet, in order to learn how to do it. - Pablo Picasso -- http://blanchardcreative.etsy.com -- http://snbcreative.wordpress.com/

I know, the materials in the station and the replacement blade cost so much more than I paid for the saw it isn’t even funny. But it will be a while before replacing it is my highest priority. Now that I have a planer on the way, I’m sure either a band saw or jointer is next. Unfortunately, next but not any time soon. :)

-- Tom, Southwest Florida

Great job. My first table saw was a Craftsman 7 incher. It had to be clamped to a bench to be useful. I built a 8 ft sail boat with it. That was in 1970. Today the only thing I need is continued good health. See the info on fine dust collection.

-- Abe Low, Fine furniture, Sacramento, CA

Wow, a boat. Very cool. I don’t think I’d want to get in very deep water in a boat I built at my current skill level.

-- Tom, Southwest Florida

I have the same saw sitting in the exact same position in my garage! Too funny! I am on a VERY limitied budget and the Ryobi was a good price for me to learn how to use a table saw. I’ll have to submit my first project, a workshop table. Lots of mistakes and funny asides to the creation of it, I agree that a sense of humor is a must for any hobby. Thanks for sharing and giving an idea to “pimp” my table saw!!

-- "Creativity is...seeing something that doesn't exist already. You need to find out how you can bring it into being and that way be a playmate with God."

Great job. I have always started at the bottom with low cost tools and some of them have held out pretty well, others didn’t last long at all. I try and start in the middle now. Safety First.

-- Ron, Twain Harte, Ca. Portable on site Sawmill Service http://westcoastlands.net/Sawmill.html http://westcoastlands.net/SawBucks2/phpBB3

tat2grl: Definitely post your project. It has been a lot of fun putting mine up and I can’t wait until I have another one finished so I can post again.

TreeBones: Thanks! I have some other Ryobi tools that I love and, to be honest, it is sort of a love/hate relationship with my table saw. Not that there is anything in particular that I love about it other than that it is mine and I’m building stuff with it.

-- Tom, Southwest Florida

Great start. I figured the gap in your ruler was a condition like I did. I was cutting some wood on my chop saw and the aluminum ruler was on the saw table. I cut through the wood and the ruler.

-- What happens in the workshop stays in the workshop. No wait that doesn't sound right. Karson Southern Delaware karson_morrison@bigfoot.com †

I actually started off with something very similar to this. I had an old delta contractors saw which I built into a rolling cart with a built in router table, etc. It was also one of my first projects and had PROBLEMS. Nothing was square, level, etc. But you learn a lot from it and I think it will be better for you in the long run because you will have a chance to really figure out what you want from the next table saw you get. I think you did a great job and obviously have a good attitude about the whole thing. I have never seen that design before.

-- Check out my new website! http://www.blakeweberwoodworking.com

Thanks! It doesn’t seem to be one of New Yankee Workshops more popular projects. I’ve come a across a couple of people who’ve built it but I was specifically searching for it.

-- Tom, Southwest Florida

It’s making the most of what you have. Kudos to you!

-- You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation. (Plato)

I just ordered the plans for this. I may tweak it to include CharlieM’s version as well. Getting ready to install my AutoCad (student version) on this laptop and reintroduce myself to it.

-- "Creativity is...seeing something that doesn't exist already. You need to find out how you can bring it into being and that way be a playmate with God."

Thats a neat table saw station.

-- CJIII Future cabinetmaker