# Tablesaw Workstation



## JohninSD (Sep 29, 2009)

*A little more progress*

Today I made the 3 doors for the front of the workstation. They're simple doors, just 3/4" MDF hung with surface mount hinges. I rounded off the front edges with the router table and installed some 3" oak pulls. Here's a picture.


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## Beginningwoodworker (May 5, 2008)

JohninSD said:


> *A little more progress*
> 
> Today I made the 3 doors for the front of the workstation. They're simple doors, just 3/4" MDF hung with surface mount hinges. I rounded off the front edges with the router table and installed some 3" oak pulls. Here's a picture.


Nice workstation!


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## Bureaucrat (May 26, 2008)

JohninSD said:


> *A little more progress*
> 
> Today I made the 3 doors for the front of the workstation. They're simple doors, just 3/4" MDF hung with surface mount hinges. I rounded off the front edges with the router table and installed some 3" oak pulls. Here's a picture.


This is something that is in my future. I have the plans for a similar unit from Shopnotes. If I could only get the other things off the list. Looks like this will work nicely for you.


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## JohninSD (Sep 29, 2009)

*A little more progress*

No pictures today. All I got done was gluing together two pieces of fir plywood for the right hand side of the top. I plan to edgeband with 3/4" oak and then apply laminate to both sides. I've found that this produces a flat stable sturdy top, provided that both pieces of plywood come from the same sheet and they are glued with the convex sides together.


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## JohninSD (Sep 29, 2009)

*Squaring Up the Tops*

I glued up oversize blanks for the two halves of the new top. I did the right hand one with fir plywood as I have made tops for router tables this way in the past and I know it works. For the left hand half I used MDF - seemed it should work just as well and as the material tends to be flatter than plywood I thought it was worth a try. Each blank is a double thickness of 3/4" material - which is actually 23/32" for the plywood so the right hand side of the table will be 1/16" thinner than the left side. I can adjust the supports so the top surfaces will match up when I install them.

After the glue had dried for a day I went out to the garage to begin trimming the blanks to size, which is an inch and a half less than the plans call for as I will glue 3/4" oak edge banding all around. I had originally thought I might use my router with a straight edge guide to trim the blanks but then I thought about the mess of dust that would create and decided to use a hand held circular saw, which still makes a lot of dust but not as bas as the router. I think it should also be faster. The first thing I had to do was to make a straight edge guide for the saw. To make that I needed a straight edge on a piece of 1/2" plywood. So I dragged out my benchtop jointer. A few passes with the cutting depth set to 1/64" and I had my straight edge. Then I ripped the piece of plywood to size in the table saw, using the jointed edge against the fence. Holding the edges up against the best straight edge I have (the T-square of my Exac-T-Guide) I see no gaps and no rocking so this is straight enough for my purposes.

I cut a piece of hardboard the length of the plywood piece and 8" wider. Then I glued the plywood to the hardboard and ran 6 or 8 brass woodscrews in from the hardboard side to hold it all together. The next step was to trim the edge guide to final size with the Skilsaw. This almost became a problem because when I had measured the distance from the edge of the baseplate to the edge of the blade (twice no less) I had measured to the wrong side of the blade so instead of having about 1/4" to trim off I had about 1/16". Fortunately it was enough. I made one cut on the plywood top blank with the new edge guide and checked it for square in the vertical direction. I got lucky on this one as I hadn't checked the saw or used it for some time but it cut square on the first try. Here's a picture of the new edge guide and the freshly cut edge of the blank. That's it for today - it's kayak night so I'm off to the beach.


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## JohninSD (Sep 29, 2009)

*Straightedge guide not straight????*

An interesting thing happened this morning in the shop. The straight cutting guide I made yesterday for my Skilsaw didn't cut straight. I trimmed one edge of my plywood top blank and when I laid a straightedge against the cut surface it would rock about 1/32". Investigating, I found that my edge guide had a slight bow in it, about 1/64-1/32" in a 48" span. I assumed I had erred in its construction, normally a valid assumption, and set about to make another one. I had a piece of plywood about the right size and the edges both checked straight with my straightedge (an aluminum T-square that's part of my Exac-T-Guide). I cut a new piece of hardboard and proceeded to glue and screw the two pieces together. Checking again with the straightedge I found that the plywood now had a bow in it of about the same magnitude as the one from yesterday. I removed all but two of the screws, leaving the two nearest the ends, and checked again - the glue had not not set up so the wood was free to move. The plywood checked straight again. Apparently when I drive screws I do it cockeyed so I'm going to let this one dry over the weekend while I go out of town. Fortunately I made the top blank big enough to allow for this kind of thing so I can still trim it to final size and don't have to start over.


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## donbee (Feb 7, 2009)

JohninSD said:


> *Straightedge guide not straight????*
> 
> An interesting thing happened this morning in the shop. The straight cutting guide I made yesterday for my Skilsaw didn't cut straight. I trimmed one edge of my plywood top blank and when I laid a straightedge against the cut surface it would rock about 1/32". Investigating, I found that my edge guide had a slight bow in it, about 1/64-1/32" in a 48" span. I assumed I had erred in its construction, normally a valid assumption, and set about to make another one. I had a piece of plywood about the right size and the edges both checked straight with my straightedge (an aluminum T-square that's part of my Exac-T-Guide). I cut a new piece of hardboard and proceeded to glue and screw the two pieces together. Checking again with the straightedge I found that the plywood now had a bow in it of about the same magnitude as the one from yesterday. I removed all but two of the screws, leaving the two nearest the ends, and checked again - the glue had not not set up so the wood was free to move. The plywood checked straight again. Apparently when I drive screws I do it cockeyed so I'm going to let this one dry over the weekend while I go out of town. Fortunately I made the top blank big enough to allow for this kind of thing so I can still trim it to final size and don't have to start over.


It's very common for screws to pull components out of their proper place if there's any way for them to move.

Can you clamp up your assembly until the glue is set and then drive the screws?
That might give a better result.

d


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## a1Jim (Aug 9, 2008)

JohninSD said:


> *Straightedge guide not straight????*
> 
> An interesting thing happened this morning in the shop. The straight cutting guide I made yesterday for my Skilsaw didn't cut straight. I trimmed one edge of my plywood top blank and when I laid a straightedge against the cut surface it would rock about 1/32". Investigating, I found that my edge guide had a slight bow in it, about 1/64-1/32" in a 48" span. I assumed I had erred in its construction, normally a valid assumption, and set about to make another one. I had a piece of plywood about the right size and the edges both checked straight with my straightedge (an aluminum T-square that's part of my Exac-T-Guide). I cut a new piece of hardboard and proceeded to glue and screw the two pieces together. Checking again with the straightedge I found that the plywood now had a bow in it of about the same magnitude as the one from yesterday. I removed all but two of the screws, leaving the two nearest the ends, and checked again - the glue had not not set up so the wood was free to move. The plywood checked straight again. Apparently when I drive screws I do it cockeyed so I'm going to let this one dry over the weekend while I go out of town. Fortunately I made the top blank big enough to allow for this kind of thing so I can still trim it to final size and don't have to start over.


The best laid plans wood may change and screws too.


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## JohninSD (Sep 29, 2009)

*Some progress on the drawers and tops*

Made a little more progress - building the drawers, squaring up the tops. This workstation is already a pleasure to use, as the saw is much more stable and at a much more convenient height. It is also a breeze to move around on the casters. Although it was on casters before, it was so off balance that moving it was almost as difficult as moving it without casters. 
I squared up the top blanks using a Skilsaw and the second straightedge guide I'd made. I left out the screws on the guide until the glue had set up, as suggested by Don Butler. This guide cuts straight. The inside corners of the tops were cut with a Japanese handsaw and touched up with a Fein Multimaster using the triangular detail sander attachment. This procedure worked nicely as the picture shows. 









Top Fit test

The next step was to make the drawers for the right end of the workstation. As I had added 5 inches to the height of the workstation I decided to make 3 drawers rather than the 2 shown in the plans. I found that I could make the necessary parts from 2 sheets of 24"x30"x1/2" Baltic Birch plywood for the sides, fronts and backs and one sheet of 24"x48"x1/4" Birch plywood for the bottoms. The 1/4" plywood from Lowe's actually measures 3/16" but I think it will be adequate. The Baltic Birch from Rockler measures a true 1/2".









1/4"?










Drawer Joint










Setup Test Pieces

Next steps are to glue up the drawer boxes, make the false fronts for the drawers, then glue the oak edge banding to the top blanks and cover the tops with Formica. Then I'll be ready to install the tops and cut the opening for the router plate. Then I'll be done unless I decide to paint the workstation. Haven't decided yet.










Dry Fit Test of one Drawer Box










Setting Depth of Cut










I know I know - too many hobbies

While I've been building this workstation I've thought about the safety aspects of it. I thought that it might be nice to replace the Powermatic saw with a Sawstop unit. Now that they've come out with the Contractor version of the saw it wouldn't be a big deal to make the swap. I sent Sawstop an email to ask if I could buy just the saw, without the legs or the fence but they said that "Industry Regulations" required that they sell the saw with those items. I wasn't looking to save much money - I just hate to throw those things away if I do decide to get the Sawstop. $1600 for the peace of mind is probably well worthwhile - way cheaper than a thumb transplant I'm guessing. But then I've never had anything like a close call with this saw or any other power tool - a year as a tool and die maker's apprentice and 30 years of working around explosives and heavy machines made me develop safe work habits and I've never unlearned those habits. Enough philosophy - back to making sawdust.


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## a1Jim (Aug 9, 2008)

JohninSD said:


> *Some progress on the drawers and tops*
> 
> Made a little more progress - building the drawers, squaring up the tops. This workstation is already a pleasure to use, as the saw is much more stable and at a much more convenient height. It is also a breeze to move around on the casters. Although it was on casters before, it was so off balance that moving it was almost as difficult as moving it without casters.
> I squared up the top blanks using a Skilsaw and the second straightedge guide I'd made. I left out the screws on the guide until the glue had set up, as suggested by Don Butler. This guide cuts straight. The inside corners of the tops were cut with a Japanese handsaw and touched up with a Fein Multimaster using the triangular detail sander attachment. This procedure worked nicely as the picture shows.
> ...


loos like a good plan


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## HokieMojo (Mar 11, 2008)

JohninSD said:


> *Some progress on the drawers and tops*
> 
> Made a little more progress - building the drawers, squaring up the tops. This workstation is already a pleasure to use, as the saw is much more stable and at a much more convenient height. It is also a breeze to move around on the casters. Although it was on casters before, it was so off balance that moving it was almost as difficult as moving it without casters.
> I squared up the top blanks using a Skilsaw and the second straightedge guide I'd made. I left out the screws on the guide until the glue had set up, as suggested by Don Butler. This guide cuts straight. The inside corners of the tops were cut with a Japanese handsaw and touched up with a Fein Multimaster using the triangular detail sander attachment. This procedure worked nicely as the picture shows.
> ...


just an FYI, all plywood is undersized. Don't quote me, but I think 
1/4 is 3/16
1/2 is 7/16
3/4 is 11/16

I think it is similar to 2×4's being 1.5×3.5's. Nice blog post.


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## JohninSD (Sep 29, 2009)

*Drawers completed and installed*

A little more progress - finished assembling the drawers yesterday and installed them today. I used full extension drawer slides and came up with the process as I went along. I installed the bottom drawer first, then added the false front, which is taller than the actual drawer front. The false front is 7" and the drawer fronts, backs and sides are 5 5/16". The bottom drawer false front was installed so it would overlap the case by 1/4" at the bottom and the drawer slides were installed so the bottom of the drawer is 1/8" above the bottom of the case. I don't know what all this adds up to - it doesn't matter. Once the first drawer was in, I put two 1/8" thick pieces of MDF on the top edge of the false front to act as spacers for the next drawer up. These pieces were leftovers from making the false fronts. Using a combination square with the head against the case side and the rule against the spacer I drew lines on the inside of the case. Measured up 3/4" from the lines and 2 3/8" back from the front of the case and marked for a screw. With the slides I used this located the first screw in a horizontal slot. Once the first screw was in I held the square head against the side of the case and the rule against the slide and drove another screw in the next slot back. I put the drawer side of the slides on the drawer centered on a line 3/4" up from the bottom of the drawer. By the time I did the third drawer this process worked pretty well. Once the drawer was in I used one of the 1/8" spacers again to hold the false front in the proper position. Then I drove 2 screws through the holes for the pull to hold the false front temporarily. Taking the drawer to the bench, I drilled countersunk holes from inside the drawer into the false front, then removed the screws in the pull holes. Added the pull and screwed the false front in place using the countersunk holes. Should have taken pictures but didn't think of it until the job was done. At least I got a few pictures afterward. Here's a shot of the drawers in place.










Drawers Installed

And here's an overall view of progress so far










It's Coming Along

And here's one with a drawer open










Open Middle Drawer

I had hoped to get around to edge banding the tops today but I'm tired - and since I'm also retired and there is no deadline on this project that will have to wait until tomorrow - or maybe even Friday. Tomorrow being Thursday it's Mexican lunch day and kayak night - the two things together seem to take up the whole day sometimes. I don't know how I get it all done!


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## ChunkyC (Jun 28, 2009)

JohninSD said:


> *Drawers completed and installed*
> 
> A little more progress - finished assembling the drawers yesterday and installed them today. I used full extension drawer slides and came up with the process as I went along. I installed the bottom drawer first, then added the false front, which is taller than the actual drawer front. The false front is 7" and the drawer fronts, backs and sides are 5 5/16". The bottom drawer false front was installed so it would overlap the case by 1/4" at the bottom and the drawer slides were installed so the bottom of the drawer is 1/8" above the bottom of the case. I don't know what all this adds up to - it doesn't matter. Once the first drawer was in, I put two 1/8" thick pieces of MDF on the top edge of the false front to act as spacers for the next drawer up. These pieces were leftovers from making the false fronts. Using a combination square with the head against the case side and the rule against the spacer I drew lines on the inside of the case. Measured up 3/4" from the lines and 2 3/8" back from the front of the case and marked for a screw. With the slides I used this located the first screw in a horizontal slot. Once the first screw was in I held the square head against the side of the case and the rule against the slide and drove another screw in the next slot back. I put the drawer side of the slides on the drawer centered on a line 3/4" up from the bottom of the drawer. By the time I did the third drawer this process worked pretty well. Once the drawer was in I used one of the 1/8" spacers again to hold the false front in the proper position. Then I drove 2 screws through the holes for the pull to hold the false front temporarily. Taking the drawer to the bench, I drilled countersunk holes from inside the drawer into the false front, then removed the screws in the pull holes. Added the pull and screwed the false front in place using the countersunk holes. Should have taken pictures but didn't think of it until the job was done. At least I got a few pictures afterward. Here's a shot of the drawers in place.
> 
> ...


Looks awesome so far. You're doing a great job so far. The pictures make it look like you'll need to learn way over to get to the router table. Is that so?


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## JohninSD (Sep 29, 2009)

JohninSD said:


> *Drawers completed and installed*
> 
> A little more progress - finished assembling the drawers yesterday and installed them today. I used full extension drawer slides and came up with the process as I went along. I installed the bottom drawer first, then added the false front, which is taller than the actual drawer front. The false front is 7" and the drawer fronts, backs and sides are 5 5/16". The bottom drawer false front was installed so it would overlap the case by 1/4" at the bottom and the drawer slides were installed so the bottom of the drawer is 1/8" above the bottom of the case. I don't know what all this adds up to - it doesn't matter. Once the first drawer was in, I put two 1/8" thick pieces of MDF on the top edge of the false front to act as spacers for the next drawer up. These pieces were leftovers from making the false fronts. Using a combination square with the head against the case side and the rule against the spacer I drew lines on the inside of the case. Measured up 3/4" from the lines and 2 3/8" back from the front of the case and marked for a screw. With the slides I used this located the first screw in a horizontal slot. Once the first screw was in I held the square head against the side of the case and the rule against the slide and drove another screw in the next slot back. I put the drawer side of the slides on the drawer centered on a line 3/4" up from the bottom of the drawer. By the time I did the third drawer this process worked pretty well. Once the drawer was in I used one of the 1/8" spacers again to hold the false front in the proper position. Then I drove 2 screws through the holes for the pull to hold the false front temporarily. Taking the drawer to the bench, I drilled countersunk holes from inside the drawer into the false front, then removed the screws in the pull holes. Added the pull and screwed the false front in place using the countersunk holes. Should have taken pictures but didn't think of it until the job was done. At least I got a few pictures afterward. Here's a shot of the drawers in place.
> 
> ...


The router table is a bit of a reach right now but that will be fixed when I install the new top, which is 8" wider than the one in the picture. Hope to get that done next week.


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## a1Jim (Aug 9, 2008)

JohninSD said:


> *Drawers completed and installed*
> 
> A little more progress - finished assembling the drawers yesterday and installed them today. I used full extension drawer slides and came up with the process as I went along. I installed the bottom drawer first, then added the false front, which is taller than the actual drawer front. The false front is 7" and the drawer fronts, backs and sides are 5 5/16". The bottom drawer false front was installed so it would overlap the case by 1/4" at the bottom and the drawer slides were installed so the bottom of the drawer is 1/8" above the bottom of the case. I don't know what all this adds up to - it doesn't matter. Once the first drawer was in, I put two 1/8" thick pieces of MDF on the top edge of the false front to act as spacers for the next drawer up. These pieces were leftovers from making the false fronts. Using a combination square with the head against the case side and the rule against the spacer I drew lines on the inside of the case. Measured up 3/4" from the lines and 2 3/8" back from the front of the case and marked for a screw. With the slides I used this located the first screw in a horizontal slot. Once the first screw was in I held the square head against the side of the case and the rule against the slide and drove another screw in the next slot back. I put the drawer side of the slides on the drawer centered on a line 3/4" up from the bottom of the drawer. By the time I did the third drawer this process worked pretty well. Once the drawer was in I used one of the 1/8" spacers again to hold the false front in the proper position. Then I drove 2 screws through the holes for the pull to hold the false front temporarily. Taking the drawer to the bench, I drilled countersunk holes from inside the drawer into the false front, then removed the screws in the pull holes. Added the pull and screwed the false front in place using the countersunk holes. Should have taken pictures but didn't think of it until the job was done. At least I got a few pictures afterward. Here's a shot of the drawers in place.
> 
> ...


Looking great


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## Rick Dennington (Aug 27, 2009)

JohninSD said:


> *Drawers completed and installed*
> 
> A little more progress - finished assembling the drawers yesterday and installed them today. I used full extension drawer slides and came up with the process as I went along. I installed the bottom drawer first, then added the false front, which is taller than the actual drawer front. The false front is 7" and the drawer fronts, backs and sides are 5 5/16". The bottom drawer false front was installed so it would overlap the case by 1/4" at the bottom and the drawer slides were installed so the bottom of the drawer is 1/8" above the bottom of the case. I don't know what all this adds up to - it doesn't matter. Once the first drawer was in, I put two 1/8" thick pieces of MDF on the top edge of the false front to act as spacers for the next drawer up. These pieces were leftovers from making the false fronts. Using a combination square with the head against the case side and the rule against the spacer I drew lines on the inside of the case. Measured up 3/4" from the lines and 2 3/8" back from the front of the case and marked for a screw. With the slides I used this located the first screw in a horizontal slot. Once the first screw was in I held the square head against the side of the case and the rule against the slide and drove another screw in the next slot back. I put the drawer side of the slides on the drawer centered on a line 3/4" up from the bottom of the drawer. By the time I did the third drawer this process worked pretty well. Once the drawer was in I used one of the 1/8" spacers again to hold the false front in the proper position. Then I drove 2 screws through the holes for the pull to hold the false front temporarily. Taking the drawer to the bench, I drilled countersunk holes from inside the drawer into the false front, then removed the screws in the pull holes. Added the pull and screwed the false front in place using the countersunk holes. Should have taken pictures but didn't think of it until the job was done. At least I got a few pictures afterward. Here's a shot of the drawers in place.
> 
> ...


Good job, John. It's looking real good. Like you said, being retired(me too), you're not pressed for time, so take as long as you want to! lol lol. Afterall, you ain't getting paid by the hour. That's what I tell my wife when she wants something quick!!! No way. With my bad back-- forget it!!!


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## JohninSD (Sep 29, 2009)

*Working on the Tops*

Today's progress consisted of trimming the tops to correct dimensions. I'd left them 1/16" too long front to back - don't remember why. A few minutes with my router and a straightedge clamp fixed that. Then I proceeded to cut the 3/4" oak edge banding to rough dimension. Final trimming will be done with the router and a flush trimming bit. I decided to install the banding using "butt and pass" joinery; in other words one piece goes beyond the edge of the substrate and the next piece butts up against it and overlaps the substrate on the other end. This picture shows it better than I can explain it.










Butt and Pass Joinery Setup

The inside corner on these pieces throws a bit of a monkey wrench in the works in that one piece has to be cut to the precise dimension so the whole thing will fit together. On a workpiece with all outside corners they can all overlap, making the process easier. Even so, this method is much simpler than cutting outside and inside miter joints and trying to get it all to fit snugly. On the finished piece there will only be one line showing at each joint as Formica will cover the piece out to the face of the oak. There is a little bit of end grain showing but who cares? I built my previous router table wing this way and it's doing fine after about 14-15 years in the garage.

I did the initial "clamping" with brad nails shot from a gun - thanks Norm! - best idea I've ever got from TV. The brads held everything in line while I installed and tightened the clamps. Only did one side today - running low on clamps that are long enough for this job. Here's what it looks like with the clamps in place.


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## a1Jim (Aug 9, 2008)

JohninSD said:


> *Working on the Tops*
> 
> Today's progress consisted of trimming the tops to correct dimensions. I'd left them 1/16" too long front to back - don't remember why. A few minutes with my router and a straightedge clamp fixed that. Then I proceeded to cut the 3/4" oak edge banding to rough dimension. Final trimming will be done with the router and a flush trimming bit. I decided to install the banding using "butt and pass" joinery; in other words one piece goes beyond the edge of the substrate and the next piece butts up against it and overlaps the substrate on the other end. This picture shows it better than I can explain it.
> 
> ...


Thanks


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## JohninSD (Sep 29, 2009)

*One Side of Top Almost ready for Formica*

Took the clamps off yesterday's glue up and routed the edge banding flush with the MDF. The router couldn't reach the inside corners but a few minutes with a block plane and a once over with a random orbit sander with 80 grit paper and the left top piece is nearly ready for the Formica. I need to fill the booboos (technical term) and the holes left by the brad nailer and apply a few coats of varnish to the oak. I'm also thinking I'll use a belt sander and round over the outside corners of the tops before I apply the laminate - can't think of any reason not to and a rounded corner hurts less than a square one when I hit my head on it - as I no doubt will at some point. As the picture shows there is a booboo where the router operator hiccuped - I'd fire him but he works cheap. It's on the back edge and will be under the laminate but I'll fill it anyway so there won't be a hollow - I would eventually tighten a clamp on it if I left it.










Left Top Piece

The next step was to glue and clamp the oak banding to the right top piece, the plywood one. This one was easier to do than the previous one as I am now an expert, having done the other one yesterday and a similar one 14-15 years ago. Last time I did one of these I used dowels to hold things in alignment until I could get the clamps on - the brad nailer is way easier.










Right Top Piece With Oak Clamped Up

Next step is to route and sand the right top piece, then round the corners, fill where needed, varnish the oak, then apply the laminate. Maybe Monday - tomorrow (Sunday) is bicycle day.


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## a1Jim (Aug 9, 2008)

JohninSD said:


> *One Side of Top Almost ready for Formica*
> 
> Took the clamps off yesterday's glue up and routed the edge banding flush with the MDF. The router couldn't reach the inside corners but a few minutes with a block plane and a once over with a random orbit sander with 80 grit paper and the left top piece is nearly ready for the Formica. I need to fill the booboos (technical term) and the holes left by the brad nailer and apply a few coats of varnish to the oak. I'm also thinking I'll use a belt sander and round over the outside corners of the tops before I apply the laminate - can't think of any reason not to and a rounded corner hurts less than a square one when I hit my head on it - as I no doubt will at some point. As the picture shows there is a booboo where the router operator hiccuped - I'd fire him but he works cheap. It's on the back edge and will be under the laminate but I'll fill it anyway so there won't be a hollow - I would eventually tighten a clamp on it if I left it.
> 
> ...


Good progress getting closer


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## JohninSD (Sep 29, 2009)

*Slow Going Lately*

Well no progress to speak of for the past several days. I got distracted when I found a bunch of shed wings in my dining room - drywood termites had swarmed - called the exterminators and the house will be fumigated next week. This entails some prep work on my part so the Workstation is on hold for at least another week - will post again when I get something done.


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## a1Jim (Aug 9, 2008)

JohninSD said:


> *Slow Going Lately*
> 
> Well no progress to speak of for the past several days. I got distracted when I found a bunch of shed wings in my dining room - drywood termites had swarmed - called the exterminators and the house will be fumigated next week. This entails some prep work on my part so the Workstation is on hold for at least another week - will post again when I get something done.


Bad news hopefully the exterminators will take care of that and you can get on with your work station.


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## Rick Dennington (Aug 27, 2009)

JohninSD said:


> *Slow Going Lately*
> 
> Well no progress to speak of for the past several days. I got distracted when I found a bunch of shed wings in my dining room - drywood termites had swarmed - called the exterminators and the house will be fumigated next week. This entails some prep work on my part so the Workstation is on hold for at least another week - will post again when I get something done.


Hey John: Hope you can get them all. Those little boogers can reak some real damage.

Get 'er taken care of , and get back to work. Got to have that work station up and running.


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## JohninSD (Sep 29, 2009)

*Back at it *

The house is now termite free (I hope), after the exterminating company put up a giant tent over it and flooded it with poison gas. Since I had to vacate the house during the 3 days or so this took, it seemed like a good time to use my camper, which had gone unused since January. A two month bicycle trip and various other activities had taken precedence. Of course, it couldn't be simple. For one thing, my truck needed new tires before I felt comfortable loading the camper on it. Anyway, I got everything ready, loaded up and went to a nearby campground for two nights.

I have finally returned to the workstation project. Today's task was to route a rabbet in each top blank to allow clearance for the aluminum angle on which it will sit. This is shown in the plans without any suggestion of how to create the rabbet. I chose to use a router with a straight bit and two straightedges clamped to the workpiece. Rabbets are required where the new tops butt against the cast iron saw top. I made 4 passes on each top, cutting 1/16" each time to produce a 1/4" deep rabbet 1.25" tall. This picture shows the initial setup.










And this one shows part of the completed rabbet.










Note that the rabbet does not go all the way to the end of the workpiece. This end will be at the front of the saw, behind the rip fence. The aluminum angle will be bolted to the saw and will not extend all the way to the front edge of the saw. The short sides, which will be against the back edge of the saw, are rabbeted all the way through as the aluminum angle will be one piece along that edge and these two top pieces will face each other. The gap between them will be filled with a removable block which will allow for blade tilting.

The next step is to cover these pieces with laminate but before I do that I'm off to the local metal store for aluminum angle.


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## JohninSD (Sep 29, 2009)

*New Toy and Rough Cutting the Laminate*

It's getting close to time to apply the laminate to the top blanks. I had purchased a 4×8 sheet of white laminate a few weeks back but had yet to rough cut it to size. I have cut the stuff in the past with utility knives, a purpose made laminate scorer/cutter, saber saws, and table saws. None of these methods is completely satisfactory for various reasons. The knife or cutter is OK for a few straight cuts all the way across the piece being cut but gets problematic when cutting inside corners as I always had to bend the laminate and break it the last little bit - just not patient enough maybe. The table saw works OK other than the usual hassles of handling full size sheets of flexible material and the need to use an auxiliary fence so the material won't slip between the fence and the table. The sabre saw is slow and noisy and leaves a jagged edge. As I was browsing the web I ran across someone's suggestion to use a laminate trimmer with a straight edge and a straight bit to do the rough cutting. I needed an excuse to buy a laminate trimmer anyway as the only other router I have is a DeWalt DW625 which will do the job but it's really quite awkward to use - who needs 3 HP to run a 1/4" flush trimming bit? So off to the local Rockler store I went, where I picked up a Bosch Colt palm router, with a claimed 1.0 HP output and a weight about 25% of the DeWalt. Today I used it to rough out the laminate pieces for the tops. The picture below shows the result of the last cut.










The four pieces I cut for this project used up nearly all of a 4×8 sheet of laminate. It required careful planning to get all four pieces out of the one sheet. I measured, laid out, thought and rethought everything several times before I started cutting. This picture shows the setup for cutting out the last piece - not much wiggle room.










And here's a picture of what was left over from the sheet.










Next steps are to apply a finish to the oak edgebanding, then glue on the laminate. Then I'll measure the tops' thicknesses and cut the MDF supports to length. There are 3 supports, one on the left end of the workstation and two on the right end, where the router table is. The inside edges of the tops, where they butt against the cast iron, will be supported by aluminum angle, cut to length and bolted on using the tapped holes that supported the original tops. I bought an 8 foot piece of 1.25" x 1.25" x 3/16" aluminum yesterday at the local metal store. For anyone who lives in or near San Diego, Industrial Metal Supply in Kearny Mesa is a good place to find this kind of thing for lower prices than the home center stores - they sell by the pound and usually have what I need or something close enough that I can make it work. No affiliation blah blah blah…

Cutting the laminate with the Bosch worked very well although it is a bit wasteful as the cut is about an inch and a half from the guide edge. Using straightedges instead of the actual workpieces could cut this down of course but then that would open up more possibilities of error - and I have enough of those.


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## Julian (Sep 30, 2008)

JohninSD said:


> *New Toy and Rough Cutting the Laminate*
> 
> It's getting close to time to apply the laminate to the top blanks. I had purchased a 4×8 sheet of white laminate a few weeks back but had yet to rough cut it to size. I have cut the stuff in the past with utility knives, a purpose made laminate scorer/cutter, saber saws, and table saws. None of these methods is completely satisfactory for various reasons. The knife or cutter is OK for a few straight cuts all the way across the piece being cut but gets problematic when cutting inside corners as I always had to bend the laminate and break it the last little bit - just not patient enough maybe. The table saw works OK other than the usual hassles of handling full size sheets of flexible material and the need to use an auxiliary fence so the material won't slip between the fence and the table. The sabre saw is slow and noisy and leaves a jagged edge. As I was browsing the web I ran across someone's suggestion to use a laminate trimmer with a straight edge and a straight bit to do the rough cutting. I needed an excuse to buy a laminate trimmer anyway as the only other router I have is a DeWalt DW625 which will do the job but it's really quite awkward to use - who needs 3 HP to run a 1/4" flush trimming bit? So off to the local Rockler store I went, where I picked up a Bosch Colt palm router, with a claimed 1.0 HP output and a weight about 25% of the DeWalt. Today I used it to rough out the laminate pieces for the tops. The picture below shows the result of the last cut.
> 
> ...


I just use my circular saw with for rough cutting laminate. It works well and that way I am not wrestling a full sheet on the table saw.


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## davidpettinger (Aug 21, 2009)

JohninSD said:


> *New Toy and Rough Cutting the Laminate*
> 
> It's getting close to time to apply the laminate to the top blanks. I had purchased a 4×8 sheet of white laminate a few weeks back but had yet to rough cut it to size. I have cut the stuff in the past with utility knives, a purpose made laminate scorer/cutter, saber saws, and table saws. None of these methods is completely satisfactory for various reasons. The knife or cutter is OK for a few straight cuts all the way across the piece being cut but gets problematic when cutting inside corners as I always had to bend the laminate and break it the last little bit - just not patient enough maybe. The table saw works OK other than the usual hassles of handling full size sheets of flexible material and the need to use an auxiliary fence so the material won't slip between the fence and the table. The sabre saw is slow and noisy and leaves a jagged edge. As I was browsing the web I ran across someone's suggestion to use a laminate trimmer with a straight edge and a straight bit to do the rough cutting. I needed an excuse to buy a laminate trimmer anyway as the only other router I have is a DeWalt DW625 which will do the job but it's really quite awkward to use - who needs 3 HP to run a 1/4" flush trimming bit? So off to the local Rockler store I went, where I picked up a Bosch Colt palm router, with a claimed 1.0 HP output and a weight about 25% of the DeWalt. Today I used it to rough out the laminate pieces for the tops. The picture below shows the result of the last cut.
> 
> ...


I use my table saw, but I have a piece of aluminum angle 2 X 3. I clamp the aluminum to my fence, laminate rides in the aluminum, no disappearing under the fence, little waste, no jig to build. Cost?? about 3 dollars. But you still did a nice job optimizing your laminate.


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## JohninSD (Sep 29, 2009)

JohninSD said:


> *New Toy and Rough Cutting the Laminate*
> 
> It's getting close to time to apply the laminate to the top blanks. I had purchased a 4×8 sheet of white laminate a few weeks back but had yet to rough cut it to size. I have cut the stuff in the past with utility knives, a purpose made laminate scorer/cutter, saber saws, and table saws. None of these methods is completely satisfactory for various reasons. The knife or cutter is OK for a few straight cuts all the way across the piece being cut but gets problematic when cutting inside corners as I always had to bend the laminate and break it the last little bit - just not patient enough maybe. The table saw works OK other than the usual hassles of handling full size sheets of flexible material and the need to use an auxiliary fence so the material won't slip between the fence and the table. The sabre saw is slow and noisy and leaves a jagged edge. As I was browsing the web I ran across someone's suggestion to use a laminate trimmer with a straight edge and a straight bit to do the rough cutting. I needed an excuse to buy a laminate trimmer anyway as the only other router I have is a DeWalt DW625 which will do the job but it's really quite awkward to use - who needs 3 HP to run a 1/4" flush trimming bit? So off to the local Rockler store I went, where I picked up a Bosch Colt palm router, with a claimed 1.0 HP output and a weight about 25% of the DeWalt. Today I used it to rough out the laminate pieces for the tops. The picture below shows the result of the last cut.
> 
> ...


Both good ideas - maybe I'll try one of them next time - of course that may be 15 years from now so I might forget…


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## a1Jim (Aug 9, 2008)

JohninSD said:


> *New Toy and Rough Cutting the Laminate*
> 
> It's getting close to time to apply the laminate to the top blanks. I had purchased a 4×8 sheet of white laminate a few weeks back but had yet to rough cut it to size. I have cut the stuff in the past with utility knives, a purpose made laminate scorer/cutter, saber saws, and table saws. None of these methods is completely satisfactory for various reasons. The knife or cutter is OK for a few straight cuts all the way across the piece being cut but gets problematic when cutting inside corners as I always had to bend the laminate and break it the last little bit - just not patient enough maybe. The table saw works OK other than the usual hassles of handling full size sheets of flexible material and the need to use an auxiliary fence so the material won't slip between the fence and the table. The sabre saw is slow and noisy and leaves a jagged edge. As I was browsing the web I ran across someone's suggestion to use a laminate trimmer with a straight edge and a straight bit to do the rough cutting. I needed an excuse to buy a laminate trimmer anyway as the only other router I have is a DeWalt DW625 which will do the job but it's really quite awkward to use - who needs 3 HP to run a 1/4" flush trimming bit? So off to the local Rockler store I went, where I picked up a Bosch Colt palm router, with a claimed 1.0 HP output and a weight about 25% of the DeWalt. Today I used it to rough out the laminate pieces for the tops. The picture below shows the result of the last cut.
> 
> ...


Looking good John


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## cabinetmaster (Aug 28, 2008)

JohninSD said:


> *New Toy and Rough Cutting the Laminate*
> 
> It's getting close to time to apply the laminate to the top blanks. I had purchased a 4×8 sheet of white laminate a few weeks back but had yet to rough cut it to size. I have cut the stuff in the past with utility knives, a purpose made laminate scorer/cutter, saber saws, and table saws. None of these methods is completely satisfactory for various reasons. The knife or cutter is OK for a few straight cuts all the way across the piece being cut but gets problematic when cutting inside corners as I always had to bend the laminate and break it the last little bit - just not patient enough maybe. The table saw works OK other than the usual hassles of handling full size sheets of flexible material and the need to use an auxiliary fence so the material won't slip between the fence and the table. The sabre saw is slow and noisy and leaves a jagged edge. As I was browsing the web I ran across someone's suggestion to use a laminate trimmer with a straight edge and a straight bit to do the rough cutting. I needed an excuse to buy a laminate trimmer anyway as the only other router I have is a DeWalt DW625 which will do the job but it's really quite awkward to use - who needs 3 HP to run a 1/4" flush trimming bit? So off to the local Rockler store I went, where I picked up a Bosch Colt palm router, with a claimed 1.0 HP output and a weight about 25% of the DeWalt. Today I used it to rough out the laminate pieces for the tops. The picture below shows the result of the last cut.
> 
> ...


I always cut mine on the tablesaw also using a small strip against the fence to keep the material from going under. Never had a problem. I only leave about a 1/4" extra on all sides. That's enough to lay and trim off. But of course, I've done this for almost 30 years too….............. You leave less as you get more and more comfortable doing it.


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## Beginningwoodworker (May 5, 2008)

JohninSD said:


> *New Toy and Rough Cutting the Laminate*
> 
> It's getting close to time to apply the laminate to the top blanks. I had purchased a 4×8 sheet of white laminate a few weeks back but had yet to rough cut it to size. I have cut the stuff in the past with utility knives, a purpose made laminate scorer/cutter, saber saws, and table saws. None of these methods is completely satisfactory for various reasons. The knife or cutter is OK for a few straight cuts all the way across the piece being cut but gets problematic when cutting inside corners as I always had to bend the laminate and break it the last little bit - just not patient enough maybe. The table saw works OK other than the usual hassles of handling full size sheets of flexible material and the need to use an auxiliary fence so the material won't slip between the fence and the table. The sabre saw is slow and noisy and leaves a jagged edge. As I was browsing the web I ran across someone's suggestion to use a laminate trimmer with a straight edge and a straight bit to do the rough cutting. I needed an excuse to buy a laminate trimmer anyway as the only other router I have is a DeWalt DW625 which will do the job but it's really quite awkward to use - who needs 3 HP to run a 1/4" flush trimming bit? So off to the local Rockler store I went, where I picked up a Bosch Colt palm router, with a claimed 1.0 HP output and a weight about 25% of the DeWalt. Today I used it to rough out the laminate pieces for the tops. The picture below shows the result of the last cut.
> 
> ...


Looks good so far!


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## MedicKen (Dec 2, 2008)

JohninSD said:


> *New Toy and Rough Cutting the Laminate*
> 
> It's getting close to time to apply the laminate to the top blanks. I had purchased a 4×8 sheet of white laminate a few weeks back but had yet to rough cut it to size. I have cut the stuff in the past with utility knives, a purpose made laminate scorer/cutter, saber saws, and table saws. None of these methods is completely satisfactory for various reasons. The knife or cutter is OK for a few straight cuts all the way across the piece being cut but gets problematic when cutting inside corners as I always had to bend the laminate and break it the last little bit - just not patient enough maybe. The table saw works OK other than the usual hassles of handling full size sheets of flexible material and the need to use an auxiliary fence so the material won't slip between the fence and the table. The sabre saw is slow and noisy and leaves a jagged edge. As I was browsing the web I ran across someone's suggestion to use a laminate trimmer with a straight edge and a straight bit to do the rough cutting. I needed an excuse to buy a laminate trimmer anyway as the only other router I have is a DeWalt DW625 which will do the job but it's really quite awkward to use - who needs 3 HP to run a 1/4" flush trimming bit? So off to the local Rockler store I went, where I picked up a Bosch Colt palm router, with a claimed 1.0 HP output and a weight about 25% of the DeWalt. Today I used it to rough out the laminate pieces for the tops. The picture below shows the result of the last cut.
> 
> ...


The left overs will make a nice table for the drill press!!


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## CaptClaude (Jul 12, 2009)

JohninSD said:


> *New Toy and Rough Cutting the Laminate*
> 
> It's getting close to time to apply the laminate to the top blanks. I had purchased a 4×8 sheet of white laminate a few weeks back but had yet to rough cut it to size. I have cut the stuff in the past with utility knives, a purpose made laminate scorer/cutter, saber saws, and table saws. None of these methods is completely satisfactory for various reasons. The knife or cutter is OK for a few straight cuts all the way across the piece being cut but gets problematic when cutting inside corners as I always had to bend the laminate and break it the last little bit - just not patient enough maybe. The table saw works OK other than the usual hassles of handling full size sheets of flexible material and the need to use an auxiliary fence so the material won't slip between the fence and the table. The sabre saw is slow and noisy and leaves a jagged edge. As I was browsing the web I ran across someone's suggestion to use a laminate trimmer with a straight edge and a straight bit to do the rough cutting. I needed an excuse to buy a laminate trimmer anyway as the only other router I have is a DeWalt DW625 which will do the job but it's really quite awkward to use - who needs 3 HP to run a 1/4" flush trimming bit? So off to the local Rockler store I went, where I picked up a Bosch Colt palm router, with a claimed 1.0 HP output and a weight about 25% of the DeWalt. Today I used it to rough out the laminate pieces for the tops. The picture below shows the result of the last cut.
> 
> ...


Stupid question: Where do you get laminate? I am building something like your workstation and have cut up an industrial solid-core door for the wings. The door is mostly particle board with 1/8" wood veneer on the faces and two layers of hardwood on the edges. I want to laminate the top but don't know where to get the stuff.

And thanks for the tip on the metal dealer, aluminum is always expensive at the big box stores. We have lots of metal suppliers here to choose from.


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## JohninSD (Sep 29, 2009)

JohninSD said:


> *New Toy and Rough Cutting the Laminate*
> 
> It's getting close to time to apply the laminate to the top blanks. I had purchased a 4×8 sheet of white laminate a few weeks back but had yet to rough cut it to size. I have cut the stuff in the past with utility knives, a purpose made laminate scorer/cutter, saber saws, and table saws. None of these methods is completely satisfactory for various reasons. The knife or cutter is OK for a few straight cuts all the way across the piece being cut but gets problematic when cutting inside corners as I always had to bend the laminate and break it the last little bit - just not patient enough maybe. The table saw works OK other than the usual hassles of handling full size sheets of flexible material and the need to use an auxiliary fence so the material won't slip between the fence and the table. The sabre saw is slow and noisy and leaves a jagged edge. As I was browsing the web I ran across someone's suggestion to use a laminate trimmer with a straight edge and a straight bit to do the rough cutting. I needed an excuse to buy a laminate trimmer anyway as the only other router I have is a DeWalt DW625 which will do the job but it's really quite awkward to use - who needs 3 HP to run a 1/4" flush trimming bit? So off to the local Rockler store I went, where I picked up a Bosch Colt palm router, with a claimed 1.0 HP output and a weight about 25% of the DeWalt. Today I used it to rough out the laminate pieces for the tops. The picture below shows the result of the last cut.
> 
> ...


CaptClaude;

I got the laminate at Lowe's - they had several colors but I use white for this sort of thing. If you're in San Diego it's the Lowe's in Mission Valley. Home Depot didn't have it that I could find - the sales guy said that the closest they had was the melamine coated particleboard.


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## JohninSD (Sep 29, 2009)

*Danger - I may actually finish this thing*

These last two days have been eventful. Got the laminate glued onto the tops and got the aluminum angle cut to length and cut the end pieces to support the tops, installed the cleats on them, and screwed them to the workstation. The laminate was glued on with Weldwood Original Contact Cement - the smelly, flammable stuff. They do make a non-flammable, water clean up contact cement now but I think that if it worked as well as the original they wouldn't make the original any more, would they? The instructions say to keep the cement and the workpieces at 65F or warmer for 24 hours before and 72 hours after gluing so I brought everything in the house. It's winter in San Diego, which means that my garage may get down below 65F overnight, not much, but some. Here's a pic of the left top piece after laminating and trimming with the Bosch.










And here's a pic of the right top piece and the laminate after brushing on the glue.










I use the "J" roller in the picture to roll the laminate until it stops "crackling" - that seems to ensure that it's glued down tightly with no air bubbles. It takes quite a bit of pressure. The left top piece is made of MDF and the right one is fir plywood. I found one advantage of using plywood is that it only takes one coat of contact cement. The MDF needed two. Both sides came out flat (and heavy) so other than the extra coat of cement on the MDF the material choice seems to be a tossup. I did encounter one snag in the process, nothing to do with woodworking but rather to do with paying attention. I had purchased a new pint of contact cement on the way to the grocery store the day before I glued the laminate. When the first pint ran out I looked for the new one and it was nowhere to be found in the garage or the front hall where I had left the work pieces and the glue overnight to warm up. After checking my truck, my motorcycle, and the garage and front hall repeatedly I finally thought to look in the kitchen cabinet where I normally stow canned goods. Sure enough, there it was, surrounded by cans of soup. Running on autopilot, I had put the can of glue with the other cans. Maybe I shouldn't combine grocery trips with trips to the hardware store.

On the right end of the workstation are 3 drawers. The top one looked like ot would be susceptible to dust intrusion when the router table is in use so I added an "awning" of MDF above it. It's 3/4" by 1/2" with the front top edge rounded over, attached with glue and brads. Here's a pic.










The tops will be supported on one side by aluminum angle bolted to the cast iron table top and on the other side by MDF panels with oak cleats. I cut the aluminum angle to length and cut the MDF panels and oak cleats to size. The panel for the left end is 1/16" shorter than the 2 panels for the right end as the MDF top is 1/16" thicker than the plywood one. This adjustment will ensure that the two top pieces end up at the same height, flush with the cast iron. This picture shows the aluminum pieces cut to length along with the fancy machine I used to cut them.










And here's a picture of the MDF panels screwed to the right end of the workstation with the cleats ready to accept the top.










And a pic of the left end.










Next step is to drill the aluminum pieces for the bolts and screws. Manana.


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## JohninSD (Sep 29, 2009)

*The End is in Sight (I Think)*

Today I've finished fitting the tops to the workstation - they're not screwed down yet as I just put a coat of Danish Oil on the exposed wood - probably not necessary but I like the way it looks. One minor snag I ran into when I started to fit the tops was that there is a sag in the middle of this thing - about 1/8" or so. I noticed the sag when the top left side didn't sit level, the outer edge was above the level of the edge against the saw. I measured and remeasured the height from the cabinet top to the saw top and the height of the end panel plus the top thickness and they were the same. Finally thought to check the sag and there it was. I ran a quick beam calculation using Young's Modulus for Douglas Fir and assuming a uniform load of 600 pounds and sure enough the calculated sag was just about 1/8". When I reinstall the rip fence and screw the tops down tight and add the oak cleat across the back the sag should be reduced considerably so I didn't want to lock it in. I jacked up one side of the workstation with the levelers and put a piece of 3/4" plywood between the base and the floor about in the middle of the span. Then I let the weight down onto the piece of plywood until the sag disappeared. I'll screw the tops down and install the rip fence and the cleat before I remove that piece of plywood. Might even reinstall the piece of steel angle that the back of the rip fence used to ride on - it won't reach any more. Here's a picture showing the aluminum angle on the left side of the saw with the new top a few inches away. You can see the clearance holes drilled in the oak edge banding to clear the bolt heads.










And here's one of the fitting process for the left top. The straightedge helped to get the aluminum angle positioned correctly. I arranged the tops so they are slightly below the level of the cast iron - 1/64" or so. This should prevent snagging of workpieces (I hope).










And here's one with both tops in place, ready to be screwed down.


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## grizzman (May 10, 2009)

JohninSD said:


> *The End is in Sight (I Think)*
> 
> Today I've finished fitting the tops to the workstation - they're not screwed down yet as I just put a coat of Danish Oil on the exposed wood - probably not necessary but I like the way it looks. One minor snag I ran into when I started to fit the tops was that there is a sag in the middle of this thing - about 1/8" or so. I noticed the sag when the top left side didn't sit level, the outer edge was above the level of the edge against the saw. I measured and remeasured the height from the cabinet top to the saw top and the height of the end panel plus the top thickness and they were the same. Finally thought to check the sag and there it was. I ran a quick beam calculation using Young's Modulus for Douglas Fir and assuming a uniform load of 600 pounds and sure enough the calculated sag was just about 1/8". When I reinstall the rip fence and screw the tops down tight and add the oak cleat across the back the sag should be reduced considerably so I didn't want to lock it in. I jacked up one side of the workstation with the levelers and put a piece of 3/4" plywood between the base and the floor about in the middle of the span. Then I let the weight down onto the piece of plywood until the sag disappeared. I'll screw the tops down and install the rip fence and the cleat before I remove that piece of plywood. Might even reinstall the piece of steel angle that the back of the rip fence used to ride on - it won't reach any more. Here's a picture showing the aluminum angle on the left side of the saw with the new top a few inches away. You can see the clearance holes drilled in the oak edge banding to clear the bolt heads.
> 
> ...


very nice what you have done..it sure makes the work area more enjoyable..i like the cabinet…very pro looking…great job!!


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## JohninSD (Sep 29, 2009)

*Thanksgiving's over - back to work (so to speak)*

It's not really "back to work" since I'm retired and doing this because I want to - anyway, the visitors have gone home so I can finish this workstation.

I screwed the tops in place today, then used the old piece of steel angle that used to provide support for the back of the rip fence to reinforce the back, tying the two sides together. I used about 6 or 7 #10×1 1/4" flathead wood screws to attach it to the oak edgebanding - seems secure. The plans called for an oak cleat along the back, with a notch cut for motor clearance but in my case this works better. The motor comes up tight against the left top when it's tilted to 45 degrees, in fact I had to drill a clearance hole with a big Forstner bit to get the last degree or two. The rip fence was installed with the same 3 machine screws it had in it before, going into the front of the cast iron table. Then I added #14×1 1/2" flathead wood screws in 6 more places. These help to keep things aligned and also to stiffen the assembly.

Today's final task was to jack up the workstation and remove the piece of plywood it's been sitting on to take up for the sag. With everything screwed together tight the sag is pretty much gone. It rolls around on the casters as well as it needs to, considering that it will most likely never leave the garage where it was built.

Here's a picture from the back, showing the angle screwed in place.










And here's one from the front.










I still need to make a block to fill in the hole over the motor - it will be removable for angled cuts - and cut the hole for the router mounting plate. I also need to put a piece of MDF between the front and rear router table supports - this will help to contain the dust. Then I need to drill a hole in the rear router table support for a dust port and maybe make a router table fence - I may try it for a while with just the rip fence that I have. At least now I have a nice tool that I can use to make all these things!


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## Beginningwoodworker (May 5, 2008)

JohninSD said:


> *Thanksgiving's over - back to work (so to speak)*
> 
> It's not really "back to work" since I'm retired and doing this because I want to - anyway, the visitors have gone home so I can finish this workstation.
> 
> ...


Nice work!


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## woodworm (Jul 27, 2008)

JohninSD said:


> *Thanksgiving's over - back to work (so to speak)*
> 
> It's not really "back to work" since I'm retired and doing this because I want to - anyway, the visitors have gone home so I can finish this workstation.
> 
> ...


Very nice work.


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## MKLowman (Oct 31, 2009)

JohninSD said:


> *Thanksgiving's over - back to work (so to speak)*
> 
> It's not really "back to work" since I'm retired and doing this because I want to - anyway, the visitors have gone home so I can finish this workstation.
> 
> ...


Great work and design. Was it your design or did you find plans


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## JohninSD (Sep 29, 2009)

JohninSD said:


> *Thanksgiving's over - back to work (so to speak)*
> 
> It's not really "back to work" since I'm retired and doing this because I want to - anyway, the visitors have gone home so I can finish this workstation.
> 
> ...


Mike;
I used the plans from Plansnow, modified them as I went. The biggest modification was adding 5" to the height - makes it a better working height for me (I'm 6'4").
John


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## JohninSD (Sep 29, 2009)

JohninSD said:


> *Thanksgiving's over - back to work (so to speak)*
> 
> It's not really "back to work" since I'm retired and doing this because I want to - anyway, the visitors have gone home so I can finish this workstation.
> 
> ...


If anyone near San Diego wants a 27" deep x 22 1/2" wide router table extension made of two thicknesses of 3/4" plywood with laminate both sides, 3/4" oak edgebanding and a cutout for a plate 3/8" thick x 11 3/4" x 9 1/4" I have one available free to a good home. Here's a picture.










I used this one for several years but don't need it any more.

John


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## JohninSD (Sep 29, 2009)

*Well it's been a while*

Got busy with a few other things but I've finally got back to putting the finishing touches on the workstation.

I routed the recess for my router plate, making it the right size for the existing plate I had made out of 3/8" Lexan. This is to use with a DeWalt DW625 router. It is stiff enough to hold the router securely for what I do with it. Here's a picture of the setup for routing the recess.










I used pieces of 3/4" MDF and stuck them to the table with double sided tape snug against the router plate with cardboard shims on two sides. The shims made the recess about .020" larger than the plate to make it possible to lift the plate in and out. The suction cup in the photo was used to lift the plate out of the setup before I routed the recess.

I routed the recess with a top bearing flush trimming bit 3/4" in diameter with a 1" cutting length. The 3/4" MDF boards and the 3/8" depth of the recess made this bit the most suitable for the job.

After routing around the inside of the MDF setup I cut out the waste with a saber saw. This picture shows the result.










There are two screw holes in the router plate for 1/4" flathead screws. These allow the plate to be held in position with two through holes drilled in the corners of the recess. Using screws, flat washers and wingnuts makes the setup quite secure. I didn't like the way the saber saw cuts looked, being somewhat wavy. No effect on the utility of the table but it was aesthetically displeasing. I figured there were two choices. I could spend a lot of time and effort with a rasp or a sander to straighten the cuts or I could order an opaque router plate from Woodpecker's to hide them. I ordered the plate from Woodpecker's. I chose their phenolic plate with 3 interchangeable inserts for about $60 as I recall. It has a really nice feature in that two sides have adjustable clearance using ball bearings and adjustment screws - their website shows this better than I can here. Once adjusted correctly the plate sits flush and wobble free without using screws through the table, making bit changes quicker. Here's a pic of the plate installed with a Rockler dust port set up with a flush trimming bit. The Rockler port fits without modification. There are screw holes in the plate that the slots in the port line up with. I hadn't put the screws in yet when I took the picture. Note that the Woodpecker's plate has large corner radii than my original home made one so there are gaps in the corners. I don't think I'll do anything about these as they don't affect the function.










I still needed to fill the gap behind the saw blade that allows clearance when the blade is tilted. The waste piece from the router recess was almost big enough to fit but for the holes I had drilled as starter holes for the saber saw. I had drilled four holes and could work around three of them, leaving a part of the fourth one in the finished block. I decided to use the piece anyway and claim that the partial hole was for a finger grip. Here's a picture of the waste piece set in place over the gap.










And here's one of the finished block in place after all the trimming and fitting. I glued scrap pieces of laminate to the long sides to make it fit better and maybe last longer.










Guess now I no longer have an excuse for putting off the kitchen face lift. Plan is to make new cabinet doors and drawers, replace the countertops, new hardware, etc. The hardest part is getting started of course - it means cleaning out fifteen years of "stuff" from the cabinets and finding some place to put it. Most will go right in the trash but there is SOME good stuff in there.

Thanks for watching, stay tuned.

John


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## a1Jim (Aug 9, 2008)

JohninSD said:


> *Well it's been a while*
> 
> Got busy with a few other things but I've finally got back to putting the finishing touches on the workstation.
> 
> ...


great job john


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## JohninSD (Sep 29, 2009)

*New casters from Woodcraft - much easier rolling.*

I bought the Woodriver leveling casters from Woodcraft when they were on sale for $80 a week or so ago. Put them on the workstation yesterday when they arrived and found that the workstation rolls much easier than it did with the big box cheap casters I had been using. Haven't tried the leveling function yet - I'll post a review after a few weeks of use. BTW, Woodcraft has by far the lowest price for similar casters - at least that's what I've found after a few searches. Other outifts want as much as $120 each for what appear to be very similarly designed casters with identical load ratings - maybe those will last 100 years instead of only 20 or so - who knows?


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## 559dustdesigns (Sep 23, 2009)

JohninSD said:


> *New casters from Woodcraft - much easier rolling.*
> 
> I bought the Woodriver leveling casters from Woodcraft when they were on sale for $80 a week or so ago. Put them on the workstation yesterday when they arrived and found that the workstation rolls much easier than it did with the big box cheap casters I had been using. Haven't tried the leveling function yet - I'll post a review after a few weeks of use. BTW, Woodcraft has by far the lowest price for similar casters - at least that's what I've found after a few searches. Other outifts want as much as $120 each for what appear to be very similarly designed casters with identical load ratings - maybe those will last 100 years instead of only 20 or so - who knows?


Sounds good, glad you like them. Thanks for sharing


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