Project Information
I know there are more than a few garage woodworkers out there. My home has a 21×21 attached garage, so I wanted to design an inexpensive and practical workshop, but without dedicating the space only to woodworking. I found a lot of great ideas on the web, but I couldn't find a complete shop that really integrated all of those great ideas. I hope there are some people out there who can benefit from this project, and I welcome any comments or questions you may have. Thanks!
Here is my budget-friendly mobile tablesaw/router workstation.
The outfeed table folds down so the whole thing can slide up against the wall next to the radial arm saw and under the dust collector.
This is the simple design I used for the tablesaw fence. I salvaged the rear (secondary) lock from the stock fence and fabricated the rest. It cost me about $40 for everything and works great with zero deflection.
My overall goal was to have a system that could easily be setup or taken down, so I can still use the garage as a garage. It takes only a few minutes to roll out the workstation, lower the dust collection down from the ceiling (it uses rope and pulleys), connect the hose with a 1/4 turn and plug in the power cord. (You can check out my 3hp dust collection system in my first project)
Within the workstation is a 2-way valve or diverter box. It is simply a box with one outlet (to the DC), two inlets and a hinged door, so you can close off one source or the other. It is actuated with a lever, so you can quickly switch dust collection to either the tablesaw or router without fumbling with multiple hoses.
The router is mounted inside a box. The DC draws air from above and below the table at the same time. To do this, I made the fence system hollow. It has an opening routed out of the bottom that mates with an opening in the tabletop (that leads into the box).
The fence has a coarse and fine adjustment. The coarse adjustment is similar to the tablesaw fence. The whole assembly slides wherever you want it and then you lock it down in the front and back.
The fence is mounted to a sliding inner-box, or carriage. The black knob in the picture is connected to a pair of wedges between the back and the carriage, so that when the knob is tightened, the carriage is pushed out. When the knob is loosened, spring pressure pushes the wedges back down and spring tension retracts the carriage. It gives me about 3/8" travel and acts as the fine adjustment.
Here is my budget-friendly mobile tablesaw/router workstation.
The outfeed table folds down so the whole thing can slide up against the wall next to the radial arm saw and under the dust collector.
This is the simple design I used for the tablesaw fence. I salvaged the rear (secondary) lock from the stock fence and fabricated the rest. It cost me about $40 for everything and works great with zero deflection.
My overall goal was to have a system that could easily be setup or taken down, so I can still use the garage as a garage. It takes only a few minutes to roll out the workstation, lower the dust collection down from the ceiling (it uses rope and pulleys), connect the hose with a 1/4 turn and plug in the power cord. (You can check out my 3hp dust collection system in my first project)
Within the workstation is a 2-way valve or diverter box. It is simply a box with one outlet (to the DC), two inlets and a hinged door, so you can close off one source or the other. It is actuated with a lever, so you can quickly switch dust collection to either the tablesaw or router without fumbling with multiple hoses.
The router is mounted inside a box. The DC draws air from above and below the table at the same time. To do this, I made the fence system hollow. It has an opening routed out of the bottom that mates with an opening in the tabletop (that leads into the box).
The fence has a coarse and fine adjustment. The coarse adjustment is similar to the tablesaw fence. The whole assembly slides wherever you want it and then you lock it down in the front and back.
The fence is mounted to a sliding inner-box, or carriage. The black knob in the picture is connected to a pair of wedges between the back and the carriage, so that when the knob is tightened, the carriage is pushed out. When the knob is loosened, spring pressure pushes the wedges back down and spring tension retracts the carriage. It gives me about 3/8" travel and acts as the fine adjustment.