Enough with the Craftsman Table Saw!!!

Sounds expensive. I would be patient and cruise craiglist/bargain corner/garage sales in the area and find a good saw. Look for something that was made prior to the 80’s. You can often find saws for less than the cost of materials on what your talking about.

I originally had planned to build a top/cabinet around my Delta 36-600 but I ended up buying a Rockwell Model 10 for what the materials woudl have cost, I had bought a T2 on sale already and put it on the Rockwell and sold the orignal Rockwell fence. Between that and selling the little Delta I came out pretty good on the deal.

I would agree. Buy a new saw and be done with it. Good luck!!

-- Pat, Colorado

I don’t know what model saw you have but I don’t think the Craftsman top will fail with a heavy fence. I have one with the webbed cast iron extensions. At one point I did some custom tables for it in my old shop. I took off the left wing and moved it to the right. I then added a 3rd used one, to the right as well. On the left I did a 20” router table extension. I did add a small wooden table to the right and a set of legs (I knew any weight out there would tip the saw over). But before I did. I put a straight edge across the table and the 3 wings to the right. Flat as can be. No sag what so ever (no shims needed). I combined 2 craftsman fences so I could rip 54” to the right. I had this set up for about 3 years.

I have a hard time believing the top is not strong enough for a heavy fence. I can understand the frustration with power and lack of a “good” fence though. ;)

-- Ben, Living the good life in Maine now (almost, just need to retire in 2 decades time)

Dude… $550 will get you the best contractor’s saw on the market. The Ridgid TS3650 from Home Depot is in heavy use on job sites, boat shops, cabinet/furniture shops around the country. Get you a card and pay for it over a year. You won’t regret it. It ain’t no flimsy Crapsman…

-- Jarrod, Eagle Nest, NM http://anthologyfinefurniture.wordpress.com

One of the smartest things I ever did was getting rid of my CrapMan Contractor Saw and buying a PM66. Start driving and eating less, selling blood, robbing banks – whatever. Just get rid of the CMan, you’ll never regret it.

-- Use the fence Luke

Okay! Used 1 1/2” x 1 1/2” x 3/16 angle and 2” x 1/4 for the frame. Here are some pictures of what I accomplished today:

Above is where $35 got me.

Once I skin the top of it with 3/4 MDF, I’ll have pretty close to the same cutting depth as the original craftsman. I’m happy with what I got for $35.

-- If I knew what I was doing, someone would be paying me to do it!

This should be interesting….... keep us posted.
JJ

-- Make things with wood.

Did some more design work in my head this afternoon – decided to purchase the Delta T2 Fence (which I picked up an about an hour ago at Lowes).
My home made rig (call this the “Primary Frame) above, is 36” X 26”, so I will build another frame (“Secondary Frame”) from angled steel measuring roughly 1/4 inch larger than the primary frame’s depth (26 1/4”) and the full length of the new Delta T2 fence rail (aprrox. 53”). I will attach the fence rails to the secondary frame as a “control” – so the rails are perfectly parallel to each other.
The reason I want the secondary frame to be slightly larger than the primary frame is so I can use some 1/4-20 screws as micro adjusters to bring the blade true with the T2 fence. With the screws in the secondary frame, I can rack the primary frame until it is true with the fence.
Note: Since I’m pretty much designing this by the seat of my pants, I forgot that I would need to micro adjust the blade to the fence, so the motor and blade do not have any adjust ability. Oops!
Also, I need to bring down a gusset to further secure the tilt hardware from tweaking when in use.
I will post more as soon as I get to it. The metal shop is closed tomorrow, So I’ve done what I can for this weekend.

-- If I knew what I was doing, someone would be paying me to do it!

Cool, looks like your jumping right in. Aligning miter slots will be a pain too. But I was just thinking, if you made 1 corner a pivot. And on the other side made a simple bracket to the top and frame. You could make a micro adjuster for the entire top. Then tighten down the top over the rest of the frame.

Only thing that worries me is safety, kickback and guard! And ideas for that yet?

-- Ben, Living the good life in Maine now (almost, just need to retire in 2 decades time)

I am aware of the fact the miter slots are going to be tricky. I’m thinking the way I might go about it will work out in the end. If I work the secondary frame out correctly, with the fence squared to it, then why wouldn’t installing miter slots on the primary frame, square to the blade, work? Once I micro adjust the primary frame to the secondary frame, everything should come together.
I’m thinking about using 1” HDPE (plastic) about 6” wide running the full length of the primary frame with dados for aluminum miter T-Bars. I can secure the HDPE with countersunk hardware which I can channel to allow for adjustments.
As for safety – Last on my list. I have always hated working with the plastic guards over the blade. Makes it difficult to see whats going on, etc. As for kickback…If I find it positively necessary, then I’ll figure something out. To each his own. The best safety is common sense and patience.

-- If I knew what I was doing, someone would be paying me to do it!

Decided to see how closely I got the blade square with the primary frame (table top). Amazingly I am a razor blade thickness (don’t have a feeling gage) out of square. I clamped a level up against the frame and used a drafting T-Square to check. Don’t think I could have gotten any closer if I tried. All I used was a beat up tape measure and my eyes. LOL. No fine micrometers so far.
If the metal shop was open today, I would have the secondary frame built and the Delta T2 fence mounted!

-- If I knew what I was doing, someone would be paying me to do it!