Another new guy!

Doc74 · 11-10-2009, 06:55 AM

Hi all, I am new to woodworking and to this forum so I thought I'd start with introducing myself.

For about 18 years I did all sort of car/motorcycle restorations and custom work and general collision work.
I was lucky enough to do this for a living since I love to work with metal but circumstances made me leave the job and I now work in health care.
Nothing wrong with that but there's no tools to play around with and nothing to create from scratch!

Since I really don't have the space (yet) to restore a car, I decided to throw myself in the woodworking game.

In the past months I have aquired a few tool, all cheap since I had no idea if I would actually stick with this or not.

It seems though that woodworking is becoming a big part of my life and I love every single minute of it.

The projects I have lined up so far are pretty basic. I have two large cupboards that look dated which I will upgrade by making new doors for them and do some other modifications.
I alos promised the wife I would build her a rolltop desk once I am comfortable enough to cut up a bunch of oak!

Most of the projects though will be building guitars. Both electric and acoustic. My first build will be the most basic, a telecaster.

My tools are a plunge / fixed base combo Craftsman router, model 17543 and I love it!

I have a Central Machinery (Harbor Freight) 14" bandsaw which I got for a few bucks. I'm doing some modifications to it now and it's starting to run really nice. Dead quiet and stable but I'll need some new blades for it soon.

I have not one but two table saws, found them both for under $50.
Both are the 113.298 series Craftsman, one is a 1hp, the other a 3hp (110v so not really 3 but that's what it says on the housing...)

I cleaned them up and they both look like new again. Since I always hear about the hassle of changing blades I decided to use both of them.
What I did was make a cabinet that is 60L x 26W x 24H and it is on 4" caster with brakes.
I found a Craftsman XR-2424 fence with 60" rails for very low bucks and connected both tablesaws together. Now I have one for my regular blade and one for dado or whatever else it needs. As it is now I have the 1hp on the left with a cast iron 'webbed' extension on it's left and the 3hp on the right. My initial plan was to put a dado in the 3hp and a thin kerf blade in the 1hp but now I'm in doubt. I've heard from several people that a dado will work in a 1hp so maybe I should use the stronger 3hp as my main table. Question is then do I want that table to the far left or in the middle of my work space?

The plan is to add a homemade router table extension to hook up to the right saw so that will give me an even bigger work space.

Here's the thing though...I need to watch the budget. I'm buying stuff left and right and by the time I have what I need to start, I won't have the money to buy wood!

I found a complete table extension for about $180, I know I can't post any links yet but I'm sure you know which one I'm talking about.

I thought about getting it but I find it a bit pricey and besides I have a ton of mdf and formica so I can easily build the table top myself and have fun doing so.

So I started shopping for the router table parts and found, from the same store, a small build kit for table saw extensions at around $100.

Still a lot and I don't see any magnets with the acrylic insert plate. Also, how many t tracks do I need?
The kit comes with two 11 1/2" pieces for the front of the fence. Don't I need some for the table top for the fence to ride in?

If I would buy all parts seperate where would I go for the best bang for the buck?

This is my checklist, am I missing anything?

fence core for 27" wide top (aluminum at 24" ish?)
27" miter track (miter, t track combo maybe?)
2 x 11 1/2" t tracks for fence
t tracks for fence to ride in
dust collection
bit safety cover
knobs to hold fence to table
table insert plate (would the 19.99 plate from harbor freight do? It seems to be identical to the more expensive ones)

For the table saws I'll need two zci's, not sure which ones to go with yet.

I wish I could just go to the store and buy all I need but alas I need to get it all online. I'm hoping there's a one stop shop out there with reasonable prices.

Thanks for reading!
Dirk

BrianS · 11-10-2009, 08:07 AM

Hi Dirk. Welcome to our little corner of the 'net.

Ann Arbor makes us almost neighbours. There are a few forum members from the Metro Detroit area.

As for your router setup, most here subscribe to the KISS priciple... Keep It Simple Stupid..

T-tracks are not really necessary IMHO, neither are mitre slots. I think they limit the versatility of the router table. If you have a good fence, just set it up so it can be clamped to the table with small c-clamps. The bit is round, so will cut in any direction. Hmm.. I should clarify that statement. Feed direction is always right to left, and NEVER feed the wood between the fence and bit. It's easier if you have a square block to ride along the fence to support your work. And a fence can be anything that is straight, from a simple 2x4 that you have jointed the edge to be straight right up to the fanciest comercially available fence. And yes, the Harbour Freight table insert is an excelent choice.

It's also better to have a free standing router table, rather then one that is part of a table saw. This is just my opinion mind you... lots of forum members have put their routers in a wing of their table saws and have great success using them.

It's unfortunate that The Router Workshop is no longer shown on PBS. You would be amazed how easy it is to produce items without all the fancy bells and whistles.

Doc74 · 11-10-2009, 08:14 AM

Hi Brian, thanks for your reply. I was wondering if all the tracks would be necessary but I thought it wouldn't hurt to have the option to use featherboards.
Is there really no need for one with a router table?

The reason I'm going for the table saw extension is that I have a space issue. If ever I feel the need to upgrade to a dedicated table I can simply use the parts from the extension table, Right?

I thought of building a router table fence to attach to my table saw fence and I still might go that route. Hoewever I believe it'll be much easier to just get an aluminum core and build a dedicated router fence. That way I can have dust collection on it and won't have to mess around with the table saw fence.

It's still all new to me so I'm just guessing! : )