This is a continuation of Table Saw Modification – Router Table Enclosure: Part 1 – Carcase and Table Saw Modification – Router Table Enclosure: Part 2 – Laminate.

A while back I converted my side extension table into a router table. Although not strictly necessary, I am going to enclose the router and add dust collection, while also creating much-needed storage and enclosing the electrical.

So you can see what I have in mind, here’s a sneak peek of the finished enclosure.

Attaching the doors and drawers

The main carcase is assembled and ready for the hardware.

To start with, I attach the main door. I use some 1/8″ thick MDF pieces as spacers on each edge of the door.

With the spacers holding the door in position, I attach a piano hinge.

To position the air vent, I put some blue painters tape across the opening and mark the center lines where the screw holes on the vent should line up.

I then position the air vent with the lines going through the center of the screw holes…

…and drill pilot holes for the screws.

I then installed a magnetic door catch to hold the door closed.

I can then close the door. The 1/8″ spacers made a nice gap.

On the inside of the door, I drill a hole as close to the metal plate of the door catch as I can so I can attach a handle.

I then attached a handle to the door.

I also attached the door for the electrical in the same way except I didn’t attach a handle. I’ll explain why later.

I decided to get cheap and I got some 16″ euro-style drawer glides.

I need to thicken the walls of the carcase where I am attaching the drawer glides so I cut some wood strips 16″ long and 1-1/2″ tall and pre-drilled and countersunk some holes for drywall screws.

I then glued and screwed these to the inside of the carcase everywhere the drawer glides will be attached. The screw placement may seem random but it isn’t. They are arranged so they won’t interfere with the screws for mounting the drawer glides.

Due to a mis-measurement when I cut the pieces for the big drawer, I needed these pieces to be 5/8″ thick rather than 1/2″ thick as planned. Here they are in place with the drawer sitting roughly in place.

I attached the drawer sections of the glides to the main drawer body.

I used a few pieces pieces of plywood as spacers to hold up the cabinet section of the drawer glides and I screwed them into place.

This allowed me to insert the drawer, It’s now ready for the face.

Double-sided tape was attached to the back of the drawer face.

I used the same 1/8″ thick spacers to position the drawer face.

Then I pressed the drawer face onto the drawer body.

Once that was done, I pulled out the drawer to I could access the inside.

I then secured the face to the drawer with some drywall screws.

I drilled some holes through the face and the body so I could attach a drawer pull.

The drawer pull was attached and this drawer is complete. I also temporarily attached the electrical paddle. The reason I didn’t install a drawer pull on the electrical door is because I’m not expecting to go into that area very often, if at all, and if I need to, I can just pull the paddle out and it doubles as a handle.

Before finishing up the smaller bit storage drawers, I decided to paint the inner edges of all the openings. For this I used some black Valspar latex enamel.

I painted the edges with a cheap foam brush. It doesn’t matter if I get it off the laminate. It’s really easy to remove. I’ll show you how in just a bit.

I removed the doors and the drawer so I could get the edges. The lip that runs along the inside of the doors doesn’t need to be full covered since it will be covered with weather stripping later.

I also painted the edges of the doors and the face of the drawer.

It’s finally time to attach the weather stripping. I cut pieces to size and attached them to the door lip.

After removing the backing tape, you can see that it makes a nice black barrier that should regulate the airflow in the cabinet.

I could then reattach the doors and the drawer. With the edges painted, it has a nice finished look.

To attach the drawer glides for the bit storage drawers, I cut some 1/2″ plywood into strips.

These were then attached to the inside of the cabinet opening.

The drawer glides were attached…

…and one of the drawers was inserted.

I used the drawer face and a few 1/8″ spacers to mark where the top of the upper strips should be mounted.

The strips were glued and screwed like the others.

To position where I wanted the drawer glides, I used a combination of a piece of 1/2″ plywood plus a 1/8″ spacer – which is how I positioned the lower glide – pluse two more 1/8″ spacers and the faceplate for one of the drawers.

The drawers are now in position.

I attached the faces the same way that I did for the bigger drawer. First I attached some double-sided tape…

…and attached it using some 1/8″ spacers on the edges.

Then I removed the drawer and drilled and countersunk some holes for drywall screws. I also drilled a hole for the knob hardware. The screw wasn’t quite long enough to go through both pieces of plywood so I had to drill a recessed area for the head of the screw.

Then I attached the knob.

After that, I repeated the process for the upper drawer then I painted their edges like I did for the other drawers.

Installing the electrical

To hook everything up, I’m going to need two lengths of 3-conductor S.O. cord, which can be purchased at nearly any home improvement store. I bought a 10′ length and inserted one end through the electrical door and routed it through the electrical box on the inside of the main cabinet.

3-conductor S.O. cord has just that…3 conductors. In this case, it’s a hot, a neutral, and a ground. This is a standard setup for 110 VAC systems. I start by stripping the wire to exposed the stranded wires, which I then twist so they are easier to work with.

I hook up these wires to the outlet just like you would when installing any standard electrical outlet. Black to the gold terminal, white to the silver, and the green to the ground terminal.

I then fed the wire back into the electrical box so the outlet would sit flush. I’m not securing it at this time.

I got an outlet cover to help keep the sawdust out. It turns out that this was a bad choice as I will explain later.

I installed the outlet faceplate which also secures the actual outlet into the electrical box.

The box then flips down to cover the outlet.

I cut the cord so it would be long enough to reach into the front electrical box with the door open. I’ll come back to this.

I threaded the strain relief into the smaller hole in the back.

I then fed the rest of the cable into that hole far enough to reach the front electrical box and then tightened the strain relief screws.

Then it was time to feed both cables into the front electrical box.

I closed the door so I could finish the wiring.

I stripped the wires and bent the hots and neutrals so they would go around the screw terminals easier. The grounds can stay straight since they will be connected together with a wire nut.

This will vary by switch but I just wired the hots and neutrals according to the directions.

The ground wires are tied together with a wire nut.

The switch body is then inserted into the electrical box and the extra wire is fed back into the cabinet.

Then I attached the faceplate for the main switch.

The only thing left on the electrical is to connect a plug to the end of the cable. This is the type of plug that I decided to use.

It uses two screws to hold it together. When these screws are removed, the plug hinges open.

Once again I strip the wires and twist them.

Follow the directions for whatever plug you choose but this one was easy. You just insert them and tighten some screws.

Then I closed up the plug with the two screws I removed earlier.

Electrical is all done.

Making the legs

I need to shorten the legs that support the side extension table. One end has holes drilled for the hardware that attaches it to the underside of the actual table. The other has the threaded hole for the feet. I decided to keep the end where the feet screw in since that would be more difficult to recreate than the other end which is just holes.

To determine the length of the legs, I simply measured the height of the cabinet. This provided me with the amount that I needed to remove. I then measured down from the top of the legs and marked it with a silver Sharpie. This is where I will cut.

I used my chop saw to cut along that line.

The chop saw leaves a pretty nasty burr that I will want to remove.

A few seconds at the disc sander quickly rounded over the edges enough to remove the burr.

I use the discarded upper end of the leg and a silver Sharpie to mark where I will need to drill.

I used my drill press and some 3-in-1 oil to drill out those holes.

The just need to be cleaned up a bit and they’re ready to use.

I reattached the hardware and now I have some mini-legs. Ain’t they cute?

Attaching the cabinet to the table

Time to finish this up.

I start by turning my extension table upside-down.

The router enclosure fits in-between the angle iron I attached earlier and the end of the actual table.

I need to mark and drill the holes for the screws that will attach the enclosure to the angle-iron.

I used a silver Sharpie to mark these holes.

I also marked the holes on the side where the screws will go through the front rail on the table saw, the table, and the enclosure.

I then pulled the enclosure out so I could drill these holes.

To keep the bit from wandering on the slippery Formica, I drilled a small pilot hole at the center of the mark.

I then drilled the holes.

I also wanted to insert some tee-nuts into the holes to help strengthen it a bit. I started by taking the table out and setting it on its side so I could access these holes.

The tee-nuts fit into the holes perfectly.

These were easy to hammer into the holes as long as I supported the board on the opposite side.

I put the enclosure back in place.

I installed the screws. They hold it nicely. Almost too nicely. I was actually surprised that this worked as well as it did.

I marked where I would drill three holes in the front where I would secure the enclosure to the table. I drilled these holes.

Since I’m using the countersunk screws that would normally attach the extension table to the rails, I needed them to be countersunk.

I painted the countersunk area black so it would blend in better. Then I installed the screws and secured them with washers and lock nuts.

I Chose where I would install the legs to the enclosure. I used my combination squares to align them. This allowed me to easily position each leg so they match.

Both legs are now attached.

So close! Only one thing left to do before I actually attach it to the saw which is to install a dust port. I’m using a 90-degree port which will allow me to angle it to the back of the saw if I choose to down the road sometime.

I could finally attach the extension table to the saw. I used longer bolts than the ones provided by SawStop to go through the rails, the extension table, and the enclosure.

I inserted put the router lift in and tried it out. It works perfectly.

That pretty much covers it.

If I had it to do over again, I would do something different to the outlet faceplate in the main cabinet. The cover for it, which I intended to keep closed while the router is plugged in is too shallow so unless I change the plug on the router power cord to a right-angle version, I can’t keep the faceplate closed while the router is plugged in.

Also, I would probably just make an entire new table that has all of these features built-in, rather than reusing the existing table.

One last thing I would do differently is that I would use better drawer glides. I always have trouble getting the euro-style glides installed squarely so the drawer face is flush with teh rest of the cabinet.

If you have any questions or suggestions, please leave a comment below.

<< Back to Table Saw Modification – Router Table Enclosure: Part 2 – Laminate.

<< Back to Table Saw Modification – Router Table Enclosure: Part 1 – Carcase.

Table Saw Modification – Router Table Enclosure: Part 2 – Laminate

Tutorials, Woodworking

Trent DavisApril 14, 2017April 30, 20174 Comments

This is a continuation of Table Saw Modification – Router Table Enclosure: Part 1 – Carcase.

So you can see what I have in mind, here’s a sneak peek of the finished enclosure.

Preparing the table for the laminate

Before applying laminate, I always like to make the work surface fairly smooth. The first step to accomplishing this is to fill in the nail holes and any other gaps with wood filler. I actually would normally use Bondo for this but this time I’m using MinWax Wood Filler which is basically just beige-colored Bondo.

Like Bondo, the MinWax Wood Filler is mixed together from two parts.

I applied the wood filler and let it set for about 15 minutes.

Once the wood filler was cured, I took a random orbital sander to it.

The surface is now flat and smooth.

There were a few areas where the individual pieces of the front didn’t quite line up and made gaps. I packed those full of wood filler and then sanded it down.

This results in a pretty smooth cabinet.

Cutting the laminate

I found that Home Depot carries a matte black Formica laminate that perfectly matches the laminate used on the SawStop extension table so I picked up a sheet of that to use. Normally I like to have a small gap at the bottom of the faceplate on my table saw fence but as you can see, this is going to be a problem when cutting laminate. I’m going to have to bring the faceplate down as far as I can, otherwise the laminate may slide under the faceplate rather than ride against it.

To adjust the faceplate on a SawStop fence you need to loosen the 5mm allen bolts which are accessible from the underside of the main fence body. Start by turning the fence on its side with the faceplate you want to adjust facing down.

You will need a 5mm ball-end allen wrench.

The ball-end on the wrench allows you to access the bolts at an angle. You don’t need to remove them, just loosen them a bit.

I used a rubber mallet to persuade the faceplate to rest closer to the top of the table.

I’m going to start by ripping the laminate to the widest width that I’ll need, which is 28-1/4″. I actually ripped it to 29″ so I would have a little overhang.

When cutting laminate, I like to use a SawStop 80-tooth Titanium blade. It gives a really smooth edge. Also, when cutting something as thin as laminate, I like to have the blade raised up above the material quite a bit more than usual since the material will try to climb up the blade otherwise.

This was the most awkward cut.

Then I cut two pieces that will cover the front and back, which are 19″ high. I decided to cut the pieces down to 20″ each.

This can be a bit awkward too but it was still easier than wrestling with the full sheet of laminate.

The two pieces of laminate are cut down.

I then measured the sides and cut pieces for them.

Applying the laminate

I’m using Wilsonart International 600 contact adhesive.

I used a foam roller to apply a coat of contact cement to the front surface of the carcase.

I then applied contact cement to the back of the laminate. Here I am applying to just the areas that will be contacting the wood. Right after I took this photo I realised that I forgot to apply some where the laminate will touch the two vertical walls so I added some there.

The contact cement sets up pretty quickly. You want to wait till it isn’t really sticky anymore. The surface should be just a bit tacky. Once the two pieces touch each other, they’re pretty much staying like that. In order to attach the laminate correctly, lay some scrap strips of wood on the work surface…

…then lay the laminate, sticky-side-down, on top of the strips of wood. Use this opportunity to position it correctly.

I like to work from the center-out so I first remove the inner-most wood strip(s).

Press down firmly right in the center and work your way to the front and back edges.

Then remove one of the adjacent strips and press the laminate down working your way from the middle to the outside edge.

Then do the same thing for the opposite end of the laminate.

You can use a laminate roller to make sure that there aren’t any air bubbles. Again, work your way from the center to the edges.

To trim the laminate flush with the cabinet, use a router with a straight pattern bit.

Position the router bit so the bearing will ride along the edge of the work surface.

Route the edge.

The edge should be pretty smooth. One problem you may run into is that the contact adhesive will build up on the edges of the wood. This can get gummed up in the bearing on your bit or even make a bump that the bearing will roll over, causing you to have an uneven edge.

Before attaching the laminate to the back of the cabinet, I decided to drill the holes for the dust collection port and the wiring. I started by marking line on the center of the back wall. This view shows the cabinet sitting on it’s back so the surface we are looking at is the inside of the back wall.

To cut the hole, I used a 4″ hole saw on my cordless drill.

I started from the inside and cut it about halfway through.

Then I switched to the outside, inserting the pilot bit into the hole that I made from the inside. Cutting halfway through from each edge helps prevent tearout.

I’m using a strain relief that you would normally using when putting in a junction box. It measures almost 1″ in diameter on the threaded end. I won’t be using the threaded ring so I take that off.

I marked where it would look best to drill the hole.

I decided to try using a 15/16″ spade bit. I should have just used a 1″ bit.

Both the holes have been cut out.

I inserted the strain relief in order to cut some threads in the hole. I wanted to do this now rather than after I got the laminate in place so it wouldn’t get all scratched up.

I apply the contact cement to the back laminate piece…

…and to the back of the cabinet.

Then I applied the laminate and trimmed it like I did the front. Notice that the holes are covered with the laminate. I’ll cut them out later.

I then applied the laminate to both ends. I didn’t apply any to the underside since that won’t be seen.

To cut out the holes, I started by drilling a pilot hole through the laminate from the inside of the cabinet.

Once the pilot holes were drilled, I went to the outside and made the hole bigger using a step bit.

I just need the hole big enough to fit my 1/2″ pattern bit into.

I use the same setup as I used to trim the edges of the laminate.

I do this for both holes.

I use the same technique to cut out the openings in the laminate on the front.

I marked the center of the main door and drilled a 3″ hole in it. This will be for the adjustable air vent.

I attached the laminate to the face of the main drawer…

…to the face of the bit storage drawers…

…and the main drawer.

All of the pieces have had the laminate attached and the hole cut out.

Except for one. I still need to make the door for the electrical. This is going to have the main On/Off paddle in the face of it so I’ll need to cut out the opening for that. This is the electrical box for the paddle.

I decided to make a simple routing template using some scrap MDF.

I attached the two side pieces to one of the ends using pocket holes.

I then used the electrical box to mark and cut the sides down to the proper length.

I attached the other end with pocket holes as well.

I marked the center of both the door piece and the inside opening of the template.

I lined up the routing template and traced around the inside.

This showed me how it would be placed and allows me to attach some double-sided tape.

Here you can see the double-sided tape.

I attach the template then drill a starting hole big enough for the router bit to fit through.

I cut out the opening with the same pattern bit that I’ve been using.

Here you can see how the electrical box fits in place.

I attached and trimmed the laminate like I did for the other pieces.

I used the same routing template to cut out the opening for the electrical box that the router will plug into.

The router bit makes a rounded opening. Although I like the look of it, the openings in the cabinet need to be squared, not rounded.

This is easy to fix with a flat file.

All of the openings have been squared. You can see some residue from the contact adhesive on the corners. I’ll take care of that later.

Sealing the doorways

I’m using some sponge window seal to make the doors more airtight.

I needed to make a simple frame inside the doorways. I figured out the sizes of plywood strips that I’ll need and cut them out on my table saw.

The pieces make a frame inside each door. I need to add a rabbet to each piece so the seal has somewhere to rest.

I set up my dado stack to cut just a bit shallower than the thickness of the window seal, which is 1/4″ thick.

I wanted to add a 3/4″ wide dado stack, that is 1/2″ from the edge.

I added the rabbets to each piece…

…making the frame pieces.

I pre-drilled and counter-sunk holes through the thickest parts of the frame pieces.

I inserted screws into each piece to make it easier to attach.

I glued and screwed each frame piece in place.

Before attaching the window seal, I want to clean up the edge of the laminate. I do this with a 7-degree bevel bit. I have the bit just barely protruding from the base of the router and run this along each edge.

It has trouble getting into the corners but it cleans up the rest of the edges really nicely.

I then do a pass at about 45-degrees with a hand file. This is also how I clean up the corners.

The end result is a nice edge that isn’t too sharp and will help prevent chipping.

I now need to finally clean off the contact adhesive. This is really easy to do with lacquer thinner and some blue shop towels. Here is a before…

…and after.

The laminate’s in place. In the next article, I’ll cover cleaning up the edges a bit more, attaching the hardware, and doing the electrical.

If you have any questions or suggestions, please leave a comment below.

<< Back to Table Saw Modification – Router Table Enclosure: Part 1 – Carcase.

Table Saw Modification – Router Table Enclosure: Part 1 – Carcase

Tutorials, Woodworking

Trent DavisApril 7, 2017April 30, 20172 Comments

So you can see what I have in mind, here’s a sneak peek of the finished enclosure.

Preparing the table

To start with, I removed the router lift and detached the extension table from the saw.

Once the table is turned upside down, you can see that I will need to remove the wooden bracing, both legs, and the electrical hookups in order to accommodate the new enclosure.

I removed all of that but decided to keep the router lift supports since they shouldn’t interfere with the new enclosure.

One of the things I wanted to accomplish with this was to beef up the bracing under the table. I don’t think that the wooden bracing that came with the table was doing much to prevent sagging from the added weight of the router lift since it mainly runs from left to right. I decided to run a piece of angle iron from front to back that I will use to not only support the table but attach the router enclosure to. The inside area of the table measures just under 28 3/8″ I’ve decided to make a cabinet that is 28 1/4″ wide.

I cut a piece of 1″ angle iron to ~28 3/8″.

The chop saw leaves a pretty nasty burr which I removed with a flat file.

The piece fits nicely between the front and rear edge of the table.

The screws that I’m using to attach the angle iron to the table will need to be 3/16″ wide to accommodate the screws.

Using a silver Sharpie, I made marks on the angle iron about 3″ apart.

Using my drill press, I installed a 3/16″ bit and used some 3-in-1 oil to drill each of the holes.

I added a countersink to each hole so the screws sit flush

Scrounging through my coffee can of miscellaneous hardware, I was able to find some countersink bolts that match up with the 1/4 – 20 tee nuts that I had. I will use these to attach the cabinet to the angle iron.

The bolts require a hole that is 17/64″ in diameter.

I laid out where I am going to drill the holes about 4″ apart.

I installed a 17/64″ bit in my drill press and using some 3-in-1 oil, I made the holes.

I added a countersink to each of the holes so the bolts sit flush with the angle iron.

I decided to make the cabinet 18″ deep so I clamped some speed squares to the front and back walls of the underside of the extension table and positioned the angle iron making sure that the smaller holes are facing down.

I attached the angle iron using the screws chosen for the job.

Assembling the cabinet carcase

The cabinet was originally going to be made from 3/4″ plywood that I had as scrap. I made a mock-up of it and quickly realized that it was going to be pretty heavy and unnecessarily bulky. I redesigned it in SketchUp out of 1/2″ plywood.

Before we continue, I am going to assume a few things about you, the reader, for the sake of brevity.

I am assuming that you are using a table saw that is 27″ deep. This is a fairly standard size for a 10″ table saw. My saw happens to be 30″ deep so the measurements I cut to most likely wouldn’t be appropriate for your saw. That being said, here are the outer dimensions of the router enclosure that I made. This is just to give a general idea of what I made and you can use it as a starting point for your enclosure.

I’m also assuming that if you are interested in making a router enclosure for your table saw that you know how to cut plywood down to size. As such, I won’t go into great detail on how I cut each piece and what size I cut them to.

I will, however, cover a few things that may be of interest to you. Let’s get started…

To put together the cabinet, I’ll need to make some dadoes and rabbets. For the two internal vertical walls I could just do full dadoes but I chose to do stopped dadoes instead. I don’t need them to be particularly neat as far as how they stop so I decide to just cut a dado and stop cutting at the dado that runs left to right.

To set these up I made a mark on the board where the dado should end then put some blue painters tape on the fence and made a mark that lines up roughly with the center of the blade.

I push the material through and cut the dado. When the two marks meet up, I stop feeding the material and stop the saw.

This results in a stopped dado. I make a second one for the other vertical wall.

I then make a complete dado (technically a groove since it runs along the length of the material rather than the width) for the horizontal piece.

After I finish the dadoes, I need to make several rabbets on the edges of some of the workpieces. I set up a sacrificial fence and made all of the rabbets.

The back piece has a rabbet along the bottom edge.

The two side pieces will have rabbets along the bottom and back edges.

I cut the dadoes and rabbets on the side pieces.

The horizontal piece has two dadoes that line up with the two stopped dadoes in the back piece. Other than the drawer (which I cover later) nothing else has any dadoes.

I dry fit the workpieces to make sure everything fits together well. The bottom and the two inner walls don’t have any dadoes, grooves, or rabbets.

For the glue-up I started by putting a bead of Titebond 2 in all of the dadoes.

I placed the horizontal workpiece in its corresponding dado on the back piece. Then I inserted the vertical pieces in their corresponding dadoes on the horizontal piece and the back piece.

I used a combination square to mark a line on the underside of the horizontal workpiece directly underneath the dadoes.

I secured the pieces down by adding nails with a nail gun along the lines I drew.

I then did the same thing on the back.

I attached both side pieces by adding a bead of glue in the dado and along the rabbet on the back edge.

The side pieces slid right into position and I made a line to correspond with the horizontal piece.

I nailed the side on along the back edge and the line I just drew.

To attach the bottom, I flipped the assembly upside-down.

I ran a bead of glue along the rabbets that I put on the bottom edges.

Then I nailed it in place.

I decided to piece together the front rather than cut it out of a single sheet because I didn’t want to waste any plywood if I could avoid it.

I laid the enclosure on it’s back so the front was facing upward. I then started attaching the pieces of the front starting from the bottom.

Since this is being put together from several smaller pieces, they don’t always align perfectly. This is fine. I’ll deal with this before I attach the laminate.

I then attached the vertical pieces. The outer ones went on easily. The inner walls are 1-1/2″ wide so they should overhang the vertical wall with 1/2″ on each side. I used two scrap pieces of the 1/2″ plywood to help position the vertical pieces, starting from the lower end and nailing it down before moving up to the top.

I eyeballed the placement of the nails and managed to not screw this part up. All that’s left is to attach the top horizontal piece. I purposely cut this piece a bit wider than I needed, just in case the front pieces didn’t assemble as cleanly as I wanted. I placed the piece in place and marked where I needed to trim it down.

I then applied some glue on the remainder of the vertical walls and finished it up by nailing it in place.

This is where I realized that I trimmed the top front piece a bit too much so it sits about 1/32″ too low. That’s well within my own tolerance range for this project so I’m going to let it slide.

Making the drawers.

I didn’t do anything fancy for the main drawer. It’s very utilitarian. I just cut out the sides and put a 1/4″ dado (or groove) in each piece for the drawer bottom. With the pieces cut, I laid them out for easier assembly.

I applied some Titebond 2 wood glue to the dado and along the side pieces where they will meet up with the front and back.

I then assembled it and secured it with some nails.

The router bit storage drawers are a bit different. I decided to just make drawers without sides. I also wanted the bottom of them to be 1″ thick so I cut down some pine to make the bottom boards then some matching 1/4″ MDF for the top surface.

I glued them together and clamped them up.

After drying overnight, there was quite a bot of glue squeeze-out that needed to be sanded away. I used a random orbital sander to sand it smooth.

After a bit of sanding, I got it all smooth.

I drew a 1/2″ grid on top of the MDF to help lay out the hole pattern.

I used an awl to punch a hole pattern. I decided to space them 1″ apart down the length of the drawer and each row staggered 1/2″.

I set my drill press to drill halfway through the material. After a lot of tedious drilling with both 1/4″ and 1/2″ forstner bits, I finally got all the holes drilled.

I sanded the top smooth which got rid of the pencil marks and did a test fit with some of my router bits.

The drawers will have a front piece that the drawer face will attach to. This is a simple piece of 3/4″ plywood cut to the width of the drawer and 1/2″ shorter than the height of the drawer face.

I pre-drilled and countersunk the holes for some drywall screws to attach the front to the base. Then I glued and screwed them together.

That’s it for the main cabinet carcase. In the next article, I’ll cover applying the laminate. I’ll follow that up with adding the hardware, doing the electrical, and attaching it to the underside of the table.

If you have any questions or suggestions, please leave a comment below.

>> Continue on to Table Saw Modification – Router Table Enclosure: Part 2 – Laminate

Pen-making on my lathe – Christmas 2016

Tutorials, Woodworking

Trent DavisFebruary 3, 2017December 10, 2021

For Christmas 2016, I decided to make some pens for my co-workers.

I remember when I first got started turning, and pen-making in particular, I would scour the web looking for different approaches and techniques from various wood-turners. I made a lot of expensive kindling in my attempt to learn to turn. Although I still have a lot to learn, I feel that I pretty much mastered the finish that I put on my pens.

In an effort to educate, I have roughly documented my technique below. This isn’t intended as a complete tutorial; more of an outline of my process. If this post generates enough interest, I will make a more detailed walk-through and an accompanying video. If you are interested in such a tutorial, please leave a comment at the end of this post.

I started by choosing a pen blank to go along with the kit. I try to look for pen blanks that have a lot of character, although sometimes a flat walnut will look good with the correct hardware.

For this project, I used a storage caddy to hold the pen kits and blanks. Seven of the nine kits are classic slimlines. Two of them are Cigar pen kits from Woodcraft.

Pen kits and blanks organized. — Kits and blanks all organized.

For each kit I lay out the blank and the tubes. I look for any markings in the wood that look interesting and focus there. Of course, the outer grain is going to most likely be different from the inner grain, but a look at the end of the blank can help show what type of character the finished pen will have.

Pen blank marking tools. — Tools for marking pen blanks.

Using one of the pen tubes and a silver Sharpie, I make a mark just past the length of the first tube. You’ll notice that the tube isn’t right up to the end of the pen blank. I’m not going for precision in this step. I just want to make sure that I have enough material for both tubes.

I draw a line over the mark using a 6″ combination square.

Tracing a line on the pen blank. — Tracing a line where the blank will be cut.

Then I lay the other tube on the blank using the newly drawn line and make another mark.

Tracing a line where the blank will be cut.

One trick that I picked up is that I make an “X” over the first line. This makes it easier to line up the wood grain once you put it on the lathe. You’ll see what I mean later…

Marked an "X" through the first line. — Marked an “X” on the first line.

Here are the wood blanks all marked.

Once they’re marked, I take the wood blanks to the band saw and cut on the lines I made. Here you can see them cut. The X that I made is now split in two, making it much easier to match up the wood grain.

The blanks after being cut along the first line.

I drill the holes for the tubes on my lathe. There are many ways to go about this but this is the method I prefer.

I try to stay consistent with how the blanks are lined up. For example, you’ll notice in the following picture that the wood has half of the “X” facing me and on the right end. After I finish drilling this piece I’ll put the other half in but I’ll make sure that the other half of the “X” is still facing me but this time it goes on the left end.

Mounted the pen blank on my lathe for drilling.

I drill out the blank being careful not to let the bit get too hot. I also have dust collection going and although it doesn’t get all of the big shavings, it does get the fine dust.

All the holes drilled.

Another trick I picked up is to sand the tubes before inserting. I do this by wrapping a piece of 150 grit sanding strip around the tube and spinning it while pulling it through. Just be careful not to use that piece of sandpaper for anything other than the tubes.

Now it’s time to glue the tubes in place. I use a few cheap IKEA kids plates, which you’ll see later, while I’m making my pens. I use one with a blue shop towel or just a plain paper towel over it. This doesn’t necessarily protect the plate, but rather the plate keeps the blue towel from getting glued to the workbench. For gluing the tubes in place, I use Titebond Medium cyanoacrylate glue. I recently learned from another pen turner that he’s had problems with the chemicals in stabilized woods causing the cyanoacrylate to cure before getting the tube fully inserted. This results in a wasted tube and possibly the pen blank. Instead, he uses 5-minute epoxy.

Materials for gluing the tubes in place.

I put a coat of the cyanoacrylate glue on the sanded tube and use an insertion tool to push the tube into the wood.

I always try to have some extra material. This gives me room to true up the edge but also helps the grain flow more smoothly by taking up the room that the center band takes up on the final pen.

Once I’ve allowed sufficient time for the glue on the tubes to cure, I mount each of the blocks in the lathe and use a pen mill to trim down the edges. This ensures that the end of the finished pen section is nice and flat where it meets up with the pen hardware.

Mounted the blank on the lathe for milling.

Take your time with this. I’ve had certain woods, such as zebrawood, use this as an opportunity to split. You want to trim it down to the edge of the tube. If you see any brass shavings coming off with the wood shavings, you’ve gone too far. Not the end of the world, but still…calm down there, tiger.

Here you can see the edge of the brass tube showing. This is what I look for.

When you can see the edge of the brass tube, you're done. — When you can see the edge of the brass tube, you’re done.

I could take this one down just a bit more but it isn’t necessary.

All the pieces are now ready to go on the lathe.

I mount the blanks on the pen mandrel using the “X” that I drew before to line up the pieces. I tend to turn my pens with the left side being the tip of the pen and the right being the end cap. It doesn’t matter how you do this, but I prefer to stay consistent. For slimline pens it doesn’t matter at all.

I’m not going to go into detail how I turn them. There are much better woodturners that you can learn that from. The important thing is that I turn it down to where it’s almost the final diameter.

Turned it down to close to the final size and shape.

I sand it to it’s final diameter and shape using cloth-backed 150-grit sanding strips. This is where having the dust collector on my lathe really comes in handy.

Sanding the pen blanks to their final diameter.

After sanding with 150-grit, I move on to 240, 320, 400 and finally 600. After each grit, I always stop the lathe and sand it left-to-right, or “with the grain”. This removes banding that can occur which is very visible since it goes across the grain of the wood.

Done sanding...for now. — Done sanding…for now.

Then I do a quick sanding with 0000 steel wool. One very important step at this point is to wipe down the sanded blank with denatured alcohol. This removes the extra sawdust while giving you a sneak peak at what the finish will do to the colors in the wood. Also, this removes surface oil from certain wood species that may keep the finish from adhering to the wood. If you skip this step with wood like Olivewood, you may find that the CA finish you apply will start to peel off at the edges almost immediately.

Here you can see one of the crappy IKEA plates that I put on my lathe for the remainder of the pen project. This thing is beat to hell. It is there to help protect the cast iron bed of the lathe.

To apply the finish you’re going to want a few things. I use a thin CA glue and a spray activator.

Additionally, I use a pair of nitrile gloves and an extra baggie that the pen kit came in. This is another trick that I picked up. I put the baggie over my first two fingers. Then I hold little pieces of paper towel that I use to wipe on the thin CA glue. When you apply CA glue, it gets pretty warm and can actually melt through the gloves. I find that using the baggies over my fingers helps the gloves last longer. Before doing this, I was typically changing my right glove with every coat of CA glue that I applied.

I will go into more detail on actually applying the CA glue in a later article. This is a photo of a pen after 8 coats of thin CA glue have been applied.

I then use a micro mesh sanding system to polish the CA glue. I sand it down using 1,500, 1,800, 2,400, 3,200, 3,500, 4,000, 6,000, 8,000 and 12,000 grit sanding sponges. I use the 1,500 grit sponge to do the bulk of the final shaping and smoothing. Also, as with the dry sanding done before, I always stop the lathe after sanding with each sponge and sand the pen going with the grain as well.

After sanding, it is ready to come off the lathe.

I lay out the pen blanks carefully so I don’t lose the orientation of each piece. Otherwise, the “X” that I drew earlier would be for nothing. I use a little scrap of 600-grit sandpaper to break the edges of the finish.

I simply angle the pen blank and carefully rotate it on the sandpaper. This removes the CA burr that has formed which if left in place can cause the finish to chip off when I press the pen together.

I have a beat up piece of scrap wood that I routed a few coves in so I can lay out the pieces without losing anything.

I use my small arbor press and a few scrap pieces of leather to put the pen nib in place.

Be careful not to put too much pressure on the pen and to guide the nib in straight.

Then I turn it upside down and press the twist mechanism into the pen. I push it in so the groove that is visible lines up with the top of the blank. It’s best to err on the side of caution. I usually press it in so it sits above the blank by a hair, then I insert the pen refill and twist it to see how the tip looks when fully extended. I also make sure that when the pen is twisted closed, the tip doesn’t still stick out past the end of the nib.

A little bit of trial and error to get this right.

Then I grab the other half of the pen and attach the clip and end cap. You want to be careful that you have the orientation right. I also look for a part of the wood that had rather boring features and line up the clip there, although that can be adjusted after assembly.

Then I’m done.

Here are some photos of the finished pens.

I hope that this was helpful. If you have any techniques or tricks to share, please leave them in the comments section below. Also, please consider signing up for my mailing list to be notified of future articles. I am also available on social media and can be reached at the links below.

Table Saw Enhancement – Converting Extension Table Into Router Table.

Tutorials, Woodworking

Trent DavisJanuary 27, 2017December 10, 20217 Comments

SawStop industrial cabinet saw with sliding crosscut table, extra wing, and router table.

This is a continuation of my other table saw enhancements, Attaching a Sliding Crosscut Table Without Cutting Down the Rails and Attaching an Extra Cast-Iron Extension Wing.

The additional cast iron wing that I attached to my table saw moved the wooden extension table another 10″ past the end of my rails. This allows me to relocate my router table to the far-right edge of the table saw without having to cut notches in my front and rear rails to accommodate the miter slot.

Converting the extension table into a router table.

I had to remove my fence in order to attach the additional cast iron wing. I didn’t want to put my fence back on yet but I realized that I needed to so I can cut a dado in the wooden extension table for the miter slot. This is the same extension table that I had previously removed. I temporarily reattached the front rail and did a quick fence alignment so my cut would be parallel with the edge of the table. This led to a slight problem as you’ll soon see.

Temporarily reattached the front tube so I can use the fence to cut a dado in the extension table.

I wanted to make sure I didn’t accidentally cut through any screws so I removed the legs for the table.

I figured that I would make the miter track 6″ from the edge of the table. This would ensure that I didn’t hit any screws while cutting the dado. I wasn’t worried about hitting a screw and activating the brake in the SawStop since a screw by itself is too small to activate the safety system. I mainly didn’t want to mess up the carbides on my dado stack. I positioned the fence at the 6″ mark.

I applied some blue painters tape to help prevent chipping and scratching the laminate on the edges of the dado. In keeping with tradition, I miscalculated where I should put the tape. You’ll see what I mean in a second.

Taping where I'll be cutting. — Taping where I’ll be cutting.

I clamped some scrap wood on the side of the table to help prevent tear-out. I made sure the clamps were positioned where they wouldn’t get hit by the blades.

Clamping some scrap wood to help prevent tearout.

I lowered the dado stack so it would make a scoring cut first. This is another step that can really help prevent the edge of the laminate from chipping.

Lowering the dado stack so it''ll just cut through the laminate. — Lowering the dado stack so it”ll just cut through the laminate.

I made my first pass. As you can see, the blue tape wasn’t positioned correctly so my first cut didn’t have tape on each edge. As it turns out this wasn’t a big deal. The laminate that SawStop recently switched to for use on their extension tables is some high-quality stuff and didn’t tear out at all. I didn’t have similar luck with the laminate for their older extension tables.

Didn't position the tape correctly but it didn't matter in the end. — Didn’t position the tape correctly but it didn’t matter in the end.

Here you’ll see one of the areas where I screwed up. Remember when I said I did a “quick fence alignment”? Well, I should have taken my time. If I had, I would have noticed that in aligning my fence I also slightly loosened the clamping pressure of the fence on the front tube. This caused my fence to slide a little bit as I was cutting and caused a slight unevenness in the dado.

As you can see, the scrap wood kept the laminate from chipping on the edge.

I reattached the legs and temporarily clamped the extension table to the rails and the right wing, making sure it was flush. Then I drilled new holes through the sides of the wooden extension table for the bolts to attach it to the rails.

Lined up the table and drilled holes for the mounting bolts.

I then did the same thing on the back. After the holes were drilled, I reattached the table to the rails using the appropriate bolts, washers, and nuts.

Drilled the mounting holes on the back of the extension table.

I then reattached my outfeed table to the rear rail.

Now it’s time to mark the opening that I’ll be removing. I’m going to remove most of it with my jigsaw then clean up the rest with my trim router and a pattern bit.

Using the old router table as a template.

I laid the pattern on the tabletop in the spot where I am going to remove the material. Absolute precision is not critical at this point. I used a few pieces of painters tape to mark the inner edges of the opening.

Temporarily marking the inner edges of the template.

I then took the template off and ran some strips of painters tape over where the edges will be. The actual edges should be somewhat centered in the strips of tape.

Applied blue painters tape over the edges where I will cut out the insert opening.

Then I put the template back in place. Again, absolute precision isn’t critical at this point.

I used a red Sharpie to trace the opening on the blue painters tape.

Traced the outline of the opening with a red Sharpie.

I then removed the template yet again so I can see the outline I just traced.

Removed the template after tracing the outline.

I drilled 1/2″ holes near the inner corners.

I’m using a jigsaw to remove the bulk of the material, roughly cutting it out about 1/4″ inside the lines.

I'm going to rough-cut out the opening with a jigsaw. — I’m going to rough-cut out the opening with a jigsaw.

Nice and sloppy. The critical thing is not crossing over the line.

I reapplied the painters tape since it got a bit chewed up then laid out the template. This time positioning is critical so I took my time. I got one end clamped down…

Carefully positioned the left edge of the template and clamped that side in place.

…then used a try square to make sure the template was square with the table.

Using a try square to ensure the template is square with the table.

Once I was satisfied that it was square, I clamped down the opposite end then applied one more clamp to each edge just for good measure.

Carefully clamped the other end in place and secured with additional clamps.

I outfitted my trim router with a 1/2″ pattern bit.

Positioning the router to cut out the opening.

It was throwing up quite a bit of dust so I set up a dust collection hood to grab most of it out of the air.

Getting pretty dusty so I set up my dust shroud.

I had a problem with the bearing on this pattern bit coming loose and the whole bit slipping. This caused a little gouge on the inner-right edge of the opening.

Chewed up the opening a bit when the bearing came loose. Otherwise, it looks okay.

I removed the template and the painters tape so I could inspect the edge. There was a little divot where the bearing came loose but other than that, it wasn’t bad.

Removed the painters tape. Other than the small goober on the right, it didn't turn out bad at all. — Removed the painters tape. Other than the small goober on the right, it didn’t turn out bad at all.

I used a file to break the edge a bit.

This particular extension table has some support bars underneath. They are only screwed in and are easy to remove.

The table braces are going to get in the way so I'm going to move them. — The table braces are going to get in the way so I’m going to move them.

I removed the support bars so I would have room for the Kreg PRS3040 Precision Router Table Insert Plate Levelers which installed easily from underneath the table.

Installed the Kreg PRS3040 Precision Router Table Insert Plate Levelers.

Each leveler has two set screws that are used for leveling the router insert.

I reinstalled the support bars. I had to move them by about 1/4″ from their usual spot.

I reattached the supports under the table.

The next step was to start hooking things up. I installed a 4-outlet electical box that was wired to a motor power switch.

I hooked up an electrical outlet and a knee switch under the table.

Then it was simply a matter of dropping the Rockler router lift in place and plugging in the router.

The router lift has been placed in the table and the router plugged into the outlet.

A little bit of leveling and I’m all done.

I can use the table saw fence with the router table. This photo shows how close I can get it to the router bit. I will be making an auxiliary router table fence with built-in dust collection that I can attach to my table saw fence, but that’s a project for another day.

I can use the table saw fence with the router table as well.

That’s it! Up next is an enclosure for the router and maybe some drawers for storing router bits. For now, I’ve got some other projects that require my attention.

If any of this has been helpful to you, or if you have any suggestions or questions, please take a minute to post a comment below. I’d especially like to hear any suggestions for projects that you’d like to see me tackle.

Table Saw Enhancement – Attaching Sliding Crosscut Table Without Cutting Down the Rails.

Table Saw Enhancement – Attaching Extra Cast-Iron Extension Wing.

Table Saw Enhancement – Attaching Extra Cast-Iron Extension Wing.

Tutorials, Woodworking

Trent DavisJanuary 27, 2017December 10, 20213 Comments

SawStop Industrial Cabinet Saw with an extra cast iron wing.

This is a continuation of Table Saw Enhancement – Attaching Sliding Crosscut Table Without Cutting Down the Rails.

Now that I’d removed my existing router table, I needed to relocate it to the right edge of my table saw. Since I use a miter slot on my router table and I wanted to avoid cutting notches in my front and rear fence rails, I decided to add an additional cast-iron extension wing to the right of my main saw table.

Installing an extra cast iron wing.

I had to remove the wooden extension table in order to attach the new cast-iron wing. As a result, I needed access to the bolts in the rear rail so I took off my outfeed table. This is giving me a good opportunity to clean some neglected areas of my saw as well.

Removed the outfeed table so I could access the rear bolts.

I then removed my wooden extension table.

I used some magnetic tool holders and attached them to the inside of the front and rear rails. These will help hold up the cast iron extension wing while I get it bolted to the table.

Magnetic tool holders help to support the new cast-iron wing.

I temporarily attached the new wing to the existing wing using three bolts along with washers and lock nuts. I was very careful to get the seam between the two cast iron wings nice and flush. There wasn’t anything holding the new wing to the front and rear rails yet. That was my next step. I marked the holes in the new wing on the inside of the rails using a silver Sharpie. Then I took this new wing back off.

Temporarily attaching the new wing to the existing wing.

I used a small drill bit (somewhere in the neighborhood of 1/8″ in diameter) to drill a starter hole. You will want to take your time and use plenty of cutting oil when drilling through powder-coated steel.

Drilling the ~1/8" starter hole. — Drilling the ~1/8″ starter hole.

I then moved up to a step bit once the starter hole was drilled. I believe I drilled this to be 3/8″ in diameter. Again, take your time.

I added a countersink to the front of the hole once the hole was the correct diameter. The bolts that are used for attaching the cast-iron wing to the rails are countersunk allen bolts.

Adding a countersink to the front of the hole.

This took a long time to do. The steel on the SawStop rails is pretty tough stuff and I wanted to avoid having the powder-coating start to chip off.

Take your time with this so you don't chip the powder-coating. — Take your time with this so you don’t chip the powder-coating.

It took a while but finally the countersink was deep enough so the bolts didn’t stick out at all. This is important so they don’t interfere with moving the fence back and forth.

Took a while but I'm done. — Took a while but I’m done.

I loosely reattached the wing and started tightening up the bolts. The holes in the cast iron wing are over-sized and not threaded so I had a little bit of wiggle room to help with alignment.

I got the wing all tightened up and aligned properly.

The additional cast-iron has been nice to work on. Drilling through the powder-coating wasn’t as bad as I was expecting it to be. I’ll most likely add one or two more cast-iron wings in the future. I know that there is a limit to how much I can add before the saw starts to tip when I try to move it but the sliding crosscut table may help offset the weight of all the cast iron.

If this has been helpful or if you have any questions that I failed to answer, please leave a comment below.

Up next, I’m adding a router table to the right end of my table saw extension table.

Table Saw Enhancement – Attaching Sliding Crosscut Table Without Cutting Down the Rails.

Tutorials, Woodworking

Trent DavisJanuary 27, 2017December 10, 20215 Comments

SawStop Sliding Crosscut Table installed without having to cut down the front or rear rails.

My table saw is fairly decked out and I’ve made some modifications to it in the past but some of them weren’t working that well for me.

My saw is a SawStop Industrial Cabinet Saw 3 HP single-phase, 230 VAC machine (ICS31230) with a 52″ fence system and the sliding crosscut table. As an experiment, I had previously taken the left cast-iron wing off and replaced it with a custom router table. The reason behind having the router table in that spot is because I didn’t have any room on the far-right edge of the saw the way my shop was set up previously. I needed to have it on the left but I wasn’t sure if it would work with the sliding crosscut table or if that would be in the way.

As it turns out, it wasn’t too awkward having the router table there. It did, however, affect the accuracy of the sliding crosscut table since it wasn’t supported by anything but a wooden table.

After I rearranged my shop I decided to move the router table to the far right edge of the table saw and reattach the sliding crosscut table to the left cast-iron wing as originally intended. In order to accommodate the router table miter slot without having to cut notches in the front and rear rails, I decided to add another cast-iron wing to my saw thereby pushing the extension table out another ten inches.

I also decided to use this opportunity to document how I attach the sliding crosscut table to the left cast-iron wing without having to cut my rails down. Since this is a fairly long post, I decided to break it up into individual posts. The links to the other modifications are at the end if this article.

Removing the router table and installing the Sliding Crosscut Table.

This is how my sliding crosscut table was attached previously. Notice that the cast-iron wing on the left of the main saw table has been removed and replaced with a wooden router table.

Time to undo this mess.

The sliding crosscut table mounted to a router table on the left of the saw.

I started by removing the router lift from my existing router table as well as the sliding crosscut table. I also removed the front tube that the fence clamps to.

Then I removed the old router table. I’m using this as my routing template on my new table so I’m not getting rid of it just yet.

I reattached the cast iron wing. The problem with adding a sliding crosscut table to a table saw is that you will typically have to cut your rails and tube down since they will usually stick out past the cast iron.

I got some 3/4″ thick HDPE and cut it to the dimensions for the side of my saw, which is 1-1/2″ thick and 30″ deep. After cutting this down I drilled holes to match the side of the table.

HDPE spacer for attaching the sliding crosscut table to the left wing.

Once it’s drilled, you can hold it in place on the side of the cast iron wing and attach the sliding crosscut table to it.

You’ll most likely need to get longer bolts for this. With the SawStop sliding crosscut table, the bolt type and size isn’t too critical. You just need to make sure they don’t interfere with the sliding mechanism.

Loosely fitting the sliding crosscut table and the HDPE spacer to the left cast-iron wing.

Get it all tightened up and flush and you are good to go. I recommend using a pretty dense material for this spacer. You could probably use some sort of hardwood but you really want to be particular with how you cut it since any discrepancies can cause your table to be out of alignment.

Tighten it up and you're done — Tighten it up and you’re done

This is the first of three table saw enhancements that I implemented this time. Check out the next two below. Did this help you? Do you have any suggestions or a completely different way of attaching a sliding crosscut table to your saw? If so, please leave a comment.

Tag: drill

Table Saw Modification – Router Table Enclosure: Part 3 – Hardware and Electrical

Attaching the doors and drawers

Installing the electrical

Making the legs

Attaching the cabinet to the table

Table Saw Modification – Router Table Enclosure: Part 2 – Laminate

Preparing the table for the laminate

Cutting the laminate

Applying the laminate

Sealing the doorways

Table Saw Modification – Router Table Enclosure: Part 1 – Carcase

Preparing the table

Assembling the cabinet carcase

Making the drawers.

Pen-making on my lathe – Christmas 2016

For Christmas 2016, I decided to make some pens for my co-workers.

Here are some photos of the finished pens.

Table Saw Enhancement – Converting Extension Table Into Router Table.

Converting the extension table into a router table.

Table Saw Enhancement – Attaching Extra Cast-Iron Extension Wing.

Installing an extra cast iron wing.

Table Saw Enhancement – Attaching Sliding Crosscut Table Without Cutting Down the Rails.

Removing the router table and installing the Sliding Crosscut Table.