Homemade Table Saw

I admire your ingenuity, maybe its not the top of the line Sawstop or Grizzly, but I am sure it will do what you need it to do. Just be careful :)

-- Martin ....always count the number of fingers you have before, and after using the saw.

Necessity is the mother of invention. Nice going.

helluvawreck aka Charles
http://woodworkingexpo.wordpress.com

-- If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away. Henry David Thoreau

Great idea, BE VERY CAREFUL!!!

-- Kelly, woodworker under construction

Well done Adam, that’s a good idea and the jigs you have made look good too, and the push sticks as well. You have a nice saw to work with now. Make sure you use all the safety rules when operating it.

-- Roger-R, Republic of Texas. "Always look on the Bright Side of Life" - An eyeball to eyeball confrontation with a blind person is as complete waste of Time.

Be carefull with your saw

-- If I can do it.....so can you! -AJswoodshop

Good idea but keep safety when making some dust…

-- Smile...make every day a holiday...

Its nice to see you using ingenuity to save money. However, safety is very important. I would strongly advise that you add a splitter. The Micro Splitter Jig, though I have not personally used seems to get good reviews and will make your saw markedly safer. It is available for under $17.00 from Lee Valley (among many other sources). Additionally make sure your fence does not toe in toward the blade or you will get a kickback.

I admire you ingenuity!

-- list your handcrafted treasures @ www.generationwoodworks.com for free!

Well done Adam. I am sure you will get a lot of work out of it. I had a small Wolfcraft metal table with clamps to fix a circular saw underneath. I used it for many years and in fact I still use it for work outdoors or away from home.

-- Mike, American in Norway

That’s a clever solution if you need a cheap tablesaw. I’d recommend waxing or otherwise finishing the MDF top to make wood slide across it easier. Also, look into making a zero clearance insert for it to get cleaner cuts.

That’s a pretty good idea. Although the push sticks are a good idea, I would get rid of the particle board and replace them with solid wood or some plastic ones. That particle board isn’t very sturdy and with a little down pressure I could see the handle snapping off and you don’t want that to happen when your hand is over the blade! Did you rewire a new switch onto it?

Tanks everyone for all the great ideas and suggestions. @bobasaurus yes i will defenitely be making a zero fence soon and ill get a better blade aswell, @dlow trust the push sticks are plenty strong i have put them through a lot of work and they have worked out fine i cant een break them if i tryed haha and yes i shouldve have mentioned that in the pictures of the saw you may see a white strip attached to the mdf well that is my switch it works great and is very safe i put it to the side so i would never switch it on by accident and when im not using it i have it pluged out anyway. And to everyone i will make sure to be cautious be i can assure you safety is always on mind and my eyes are always on my fingers and the blade, i may post a video of me cutting with it next week.

-- Adam, Ireland, http://adamswoodcreation.com

Very clever design, and I’m impressed by your ingenuity. But I’m genuinely scared by the whole thing. MDF is not the strongest material, and having your saw hang from the underside of it, presumably held by just some screws, is asking for trouble. The weight of the saw, the vibrations of the motor, any binding that may occur, etc, will all slowly force the threads of the screws to rip their way out of the MDF. As that happens, the blade will no longer be fixed and sturdy in relation to the MDF, and worse, the saw might eventually fall out of the bottom, potentially while running. Sorry for being such a pessimist here, but I just wanted to express my concerns. I can see very bad things happening with that. But again, very resourceful thinking though.

-- Andy Panko, Edison NJ, http://www.andypanko.com

nice work. I’d echo what everyone else has said about safety, but with precautions you can minimize danger. With any tool you should always give it and your surroundings an overview before you turn it on to make sure things are safe. With this being built out of MDF, just dont get careless- check the integrity of the MDF parts and make sure to replace parts if they get at all sloppy or wobbly. same goes double for the particle board parts.

That said, judicious use of polyurethane finish on every MDF surface will make it a lot more durable, safe, and also easier to use. Basically i would flood it until it wont take any more, then let it dry and harden for several days.

Finally I would invest in a good blade – one with nice sharp carbide, like a freud or something. It will make cuts faster, smoother and therefore safer.

Be careful with your homemade table saw.

-- CJIII Future cabinetmaker