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Radial Arm Saw

	A 1980's saw, with newly added dust collection hoses and hood - before this, the saw was a big source of airborne dust in the shop. The right blade for a radial arm saw has teeth with a low or negative hook angle - this reduces the tendency for the saw to self-feed while crosscutting. Some recommended blades are the Forrest Woodworker I, or miter saw or radial arm saw blades from Infinity. Interestingly, I don't think that Sears has ever sold a suitable blade for this saw.
	Fences are consumable items - made from 1x3 or 1x4 pine, then tossed when they get too cut up.
	My main fence is used for 90 deg. crosscuts, so an adjustable stop block comes in handy. Since the fence is removable, a finely calibrated scale doesn't really make sense here. For precise positioning, I just set the stop block measuring from the (stopped) blade with a tape. Much of the time, just having pieces all the same length is what's really needed.
	Since getting a table saw, I don't generally rip stock on the radial arm saw anymore. The exception is cuts on very small pieces that are unsafe to rip on the table saw. This simple L-square fixture can hold even small, narrow pieces for ripping with this blade in the crosscut position.
	A sanding drum can mount to the auxiliary drive shaft on the back of the motor.
	By using the fence in conjunction with the sanding drum, I can also sand small parts to a uniform thickness. This is how the all trim pieces on the front of my DVD cabinet were done.

Lumber Cart

	I built the rolling lumber cart from ShopNotes #55. I really like the combination of flat storage for longer boards, bins for shorter cut-offs, and the whole other side for sheet goods. Even the 5'x5' Baltic birch panels fit on this cart. Now, I always seem to make some modifications - my available space only allowed this rack to be 6' long (although the original 8' is better)
	I also beefed up the base using a 2x4 frame underneath the plywood deck, and increased the width of the side for storing sheet goods to 10". Good ball-bearing casters make it relatively easy to roll around, even when fully loaded with "future projects".

Saw Blade Storage

Drill Press Table

	A vintage Rockwell/Delta drill press - from sometime in the 60's. This is version 3 of the table. It has the customary sacrificial drilling surface. The 2 large flat-head screws fasten the table top to the small drill press table. The T-tracks are used for both the fences and hold-down clamps. The workpiece needs to slide smoothly over some tables (router, table saw) but for the drill press you want to hold the workpiece stationary. I find that melamine or other laminates are too slippery for this application, and plain wood a better material choice for this surface. Since this is a benchtop drill press, the bits and accessories are in a drawer in the bench.
	The low fence - used for most drilling. The fence has T-bolt slots routed into it for positioning the stops. The high fence can get in the way of the chuck when drilling in the face of a board - so both fences are necessary.
	The high fence - gives extra support when drilling into the edges of boards. The T-slot in the fence is positioned so this can use the same stop blocks as my router table.
	The high fence can also be positioned back further than the low fence. Maybe this is not a consideration on larger drill presses, but this benchtop model  has less than 6" of clearance from chuck to column. The table and T-bolt rails extend back beyond the column to mount this fence.
	I also made some hold-down clamps. An improvement in this version of the table are metal T-bolt rails that are securely fastened to the plywood top with extra screws. The T-bolt slots routed into the previous tabletop didn't hold up to the stresses of this type of clamping.

Planer Stand

	A stand with folding infeed and outfeed tables for a DeWalt 735 planer. This design could be adapted for any small planer. My original sketch was just the skeleton for a stand, but adding drawers and a "skin" provides additional storage space that I can always use. The visible wood ended up being mostly oak, either solid or ply, that was left over from other projects.
	The frame is constructed from plain ol' 2x4s that were trued up square and to a consistent size (using the new planer!) to accommodate real joinery - mostly half-lap joints. This shows the 2x4 frame with some oak trim and drawer dividers. The infeed and outfeed tables mount to the outer, top-most rails (which are also oak).
	The planer sits on a plywood deck and is bolted directly into the upper frame members.
	The stand now is fully functional with the infeed and outfeed tables - I just have to make the drawers.
	The tables have three-point mounting for stability plus height micro-adjustments. The tables are aligned exactly to the bed of the planer, then the outer ends are slightly elevated to help reduce snipe. There is a shallow indentation in each rail under the tables to consistently locate the support bolts. All the adjustment bolts are mounted using T-nuts - next time I would use threaded inserts instead.
	Close-up of height adjustments. The vertical adjustment screws protrude into shallow holes that have a metal washer inside them. The mounting hole right next to the hinge is a vertical slot. These two screws are tightened after the table adjustments are made to help hold things in place.
	A main consideration for chosing this planer was the built-in sawdust extraction fan - since I don't have a dust collector. However, without some kind of collection bin, it will quickly make a mess of your shop, garage, driveway, or yard. I tried a cheap trashcan "cyclone" lid, and that was a joke - don't waste your money. Once the container got about 1/4 full, the sawdust would start flying out. So I built a Phil Thien baffle sized to fit my 30 gallon trash can, and it works very well. Now, the can gets filled almost up the bottom of the baffle - about 3/4 full - and all the sawdust stays inside. Note that attached to the planer, the container is pressurized, so some bungee cords hold the lid on, plus a couple extra clamps at the edge.
	Inside view of the baffle and air duct connections.

Neandering

Panels that are too wide for the power planer need to be flattened by hand. A well sharpened scraper will also produce nice fluffy shavings... faster and easier than sanding to smooth away machining marks left by a saw, jointer or planer.

Router Table

	A nice (I think) router table. I desperately needed shop storage space, so I opted for a design that included drawers and cabinets. I like the top overhanging the case - this allows for clamping things to the table when required.
	It's not apparent from the picture, but there are two 3/4" ply panels that support the table top. The four support "ears" were a late design addition. I was afraid the 1/2" deep groove for the miter gauge track would weaken the front of the top.
	I used a top insert plate, planning for when my current PorterCable 690 router gets replaced with a beefier version that would be mostly dedicated to the router table. Stop blocks and feather boards easily attach to the T-slots routed into the fences. It's important to have separate fence faces that can slide to adjust the width of the opening around the bit. These also allow the left face to be shimmed slightly forward for "jointing" operations, or to accommodate other cuts that remove the entire reference edge.
	The MDF fence faces are anchored to a very sturdy 3" x 3" x 3' aluminum angle. Certainly not as spiffy as Pat Warner's router table fence masterpieces - but still very functional. There is slippery tape on the bottom of the aluminum angle, which both slides easily and fines tunes the 90 deg. angle to the table top.
	The 10" tall fence faces securely support routing panels on edge. Both sets of fence faces are 2 laminated layers of 1/2" MDF.
	I haven't seen the need for a $200-300 fixture to raise the router. A bare PC690 base is attached to the top insert plate and the insert plate is bolted to the table top. The standard height adjustment can be set to within 1/64". And it only takes a few seconds to unplug the router, flip the release lever, and remove the motor from the base for bit changes.
	I discovered an additional benefit to using T-slot rails to mount the fence. Clamping a stop block in each slot allows me to easily set a reference position for the fence. Then I can make deep router cuts in several passes, using a shallow cut for each pass and repositioning the fence in between. The stop blocks allow me to reliably return to the same reference position so the finished cut dimensions are the same on all pieces.
	The main fence is easily removed, and other fences can be installed. I constructed this one using the original Incra-Jig kit.
	I was disappointed when I discovered that all the inserts I bought for this router plate were dished down by .010" to .015". This did not work well when trying some fancy joinery using the Incra Jig. I quickly made my own inserts that are very flat. The top piece is 1/8" hardboard, with a smaller diameter piece of 1/4" MDF glued onto the bottom. This is plenty stiff enough for the 4" span of the opening. A little tape or sanding fine tunes the fit of the inserts dead flat to the plate and table. They have different sized holes to match the diameter of the router bit (plus an extra plate is still awaiting customization).
	A later update added dust collection both above and below the table. There is an air plenum in the center of the fence that captures most of the chips when cutting the edge of a workpiece. The fence face pieces can slide closed, shutting off this airflow path when cutting grooves, or not using the fence.
	This is the lower plenum - it attaches to the router mount below the table and captures any chips that fall through the router plate insert. You can just see the blue vacuum hose behind the router motor. I like this setup better than the scheme where the dust collection uses a sealed lower compartment, as that tries to draw air down around the router bit - fighting the airflow of the internal fan in the router. This setup captures most of the chips that fall through the insert plate.
	There is also a dust pickup port for use when freehand routing using bits with pilot bearings (and without the fence). While it catches some of the chips, the cutter really tends to throw stuff sideways... still this helps.

1950's Sears table saw

	I got the saw and table for helping out a neighbor. I put on a couple more casters and replaced the badly sagging top. Now that big surface doubles as an assembly/glue-up table. Then I added a new miter gauge and a built a rip fence. Unlike conventional setups, there is a larger cut capacity to the left of the blade. This provides excellent support for the material when cutting 4' x 8' sheets. However, I generally cut down large sheet goods using my circular saw guide and table.
	I built a clone of a Biesemeyer fence for about $100. The parts are mostly standard sized steel angles and tubes - some welding required. Drawings and instructions - Page 1, Page 2, Page 3 Here is a pic of the scales that were added later...
	I also made a zero clearance throat plate - with splitter. The standard throat plate on this saw is constructed from 3/32" aluminum. While a thicker insert would be nice, this works well enough.
	Construction is simple - trace the original throat plate, cut and file to fit, then drill and countersink the mounting holes. Mount the plate on the saw, hold it down (not above the blade) using the fence, then cut the slot by slowly raising the blade up to its full height. A block of wood is mounted underneath to hold the splitter, with the splitter centered on the blade slot. To make the slot for the splitter, I first drilled a line of holes, then filed it smooth with a needle file.
	The throat plate is held down by two flat-head screws - front and back. The splitter is made from the same 3/32" aluminum, rounded on the front edge. It just slides snugly into the slot - and is easily removable. If a thin-kerf blade is used, the splitter could be made a little thinner on its top half. While this setup is not a good as a riving knife, I flat refuse to use a table saw without some sort of splitter.
	Some other accessories I've made for the saw. Seems every project requires one or two more - see the Jigs section of these pages for more details...

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