sawstop – Page 2 – TrentDavis.net

Sorry for the delays in my posts. The holidays are always pretty hectic so I’ve been busy.

Teaching

Two weeks ago I was given the opportunity to teach a class for The Guild of Oregon Woodworkers on The Care and Feeding of Your SawStop. The class went really well, with over 20 saw owners attending. I got to do a hot dog demo in order to demonstrate how to remove an activated brake and blade from the saw. I will be creating an article for this blog consisting of the documentation that I created for the class in the coming weeks.

Last-Minute Gig with Cody Weathers and The Men Your Mama Warned You About

It’s short notice but I have a gig on December 16th at The 45th Street Pub & Grill in Portland starting at 9:00. I’ve been friends with Cody for a few years now but I’ve never played with these guys so it’ll be interesting. Swing on by if you’re in the area.

Wedding Pens

A friend of the family is getting married in a few weeks and they requested that I make them pens from their birth woods, Ash and Hazel. I’ve never turned either of these woods and I didn’t know what to expect. To make things even more interesting, the hazel was still wet and was already starting to warp and twist. From what they say, they only need the pens for the actual wedding ceremony so I just need them to last a few weeks. This is good because the hazel pen seems to be cracking in a few places already.

Studio Desk Part 5

I’m still working on the articles for the studio desk. It’s done and I’ve been using it for over a month but there are several things I want to change about it and a few components I decided to add to it so there is a bit of a delay in updating the articles. I hope to have part 5 posted this week.

News – November 2nd, 2017 – Wiring, teaching, and recording

News

Trent DavisNovember 2, 2017November 2, 2017

I’ve been lax in posting news updates. I’m going to try to be better about this.

Wiring

I’ve got the studio desk pretty much done, but I’m doing some additional wiring, such as adding a few electrical outlets to the desk itself.

I’m also making all new audio cables. This includes 32 XLR cables for inside the desk, 16 XLR cables for the drum mics, dozens of 14″ TRS cables, and a 16-channel XLR snake. I keep pushing this off since I’m not looking forward to that much soldering. Tedious work while hunched over a workbench gets old really quick. I’m going to do these in batches.

Shure SM57 Right-Angle Mod

I have several Shure SM57 microphones that I am going to perform the right-angle mod to. I plan on documenting this thoroughly so anyone can do this. In the following picture you can see the microphone on the right, which has the right-angle mod applied, is much more out of the way than the one on the left, which does not have the mod applied.

Teaching

On November 29th, I will be teaching a class for The Guild of Oregon Woodworkers on the care and feeding of a SawStop (the class isn’t advertised on their site yet). It’s been a while since I taught a class so I’m really looking forward to this. I’ll try to convert all the info into articles on my blog so if you are unable to make it to the class – due to previous commitments or the fact that you are thousands of miles away from Portland Oregon – you can still make use of the information.

Recording for Bright & Shiny

Recording is still going on for the album by Bright & Shiny. It’s hard for me to get time to record, lately. I only have the drum tracks to a few songs left, then I can proceed with the auxiliary percussion. After that, I will begin posting videos of each song.

The Map of Alice

Sadly, I had to call it quits with The Map of Alice. There were some personality conflicts and the visions for the project were just not lining up. It was mostly fun while it lasted.

Studio Desk – Part 3: Assembling the Racks

Tutorials, Woodworking

Trent DavisOctober 5, 2017One Comment

The top and bottom are ready to be stained and finished. I’m going a bit out of order at this point. I have already finished the top and the underside of the bottom but I’m going to bundle that in with my next post. Here, I’m going to show how I assembled the carcases for the racks.

If you look closely, you will notice the stained desk bottom in the background of some of these photos.

I started with the boards all cut. I’m not going to show you how I did this since it’s just a bunch of cutting at the table saw and is quite boring. For something like this, I think it’s really important to clearly label the pieces. I did this with blue painters tape and a Sharpie.

Assembling the PC Case

Before doing any glue-up I like to do a dry fit just to make sure I haven’t screwed anything up. I did this with some corner clamps and a quick-release clamp. Everything looks good.

I decided not to have any visible fasteners on the wooden parts of the desk so I’m holding the whole thing together with a butt-load of Titebond II wood glue. Here, I am attaching the inside of the tops and bottoms to the outside of the tops and bottoms of the PC case. I spread a good amount of wood glue on the underside of the insides…

…then flip them over and lay them on the outsides. I used a scrap piece of 3/4″ particleboard up against the inside piece to ensure that they are positioned correctly.

Then I clamped it all up and let them sit for about a half hour.

I tend to over-glue (as you’ll see in a bit) so there is usually some squeeze-out that I have to clean up. For particle board I prefer to let it cure quite a bit then come back with a chisel to take the glue beads off. In this case I wasn’t allowing enough time for the glue to cure so I had some messy blobs to work around. This wasn’t a problem as you’ll see in the next step.

The two pieces glued up effectively make a piece that is 1-1/2″ thick with a 3/4″ X 3/4″ rabbet along two edges. I applied glue along these edges so I could attach the sides.

I used quick release clamps to hold one side in place while I maneuvered the second side in place.

The same quick-release clamps held both sides in place so I could drop the top assembly in place.

The top is just like the bottom so I added glue to the rabbets.

I dropped the top part in place and kept the clamps loose enough so I could nudge the pieces so they were well aligned.

Rather than make the side pieces on the inside of each rack the entire length of the rack itself, I made them 4″ wide. This will accomplish a few things. It will lighten each rack a bit, although they still weigh a ton. Mainly, they will aid with airflow. Also, I’m installing cable pass-through grommets and they work best when the material they are going through is 3/4″ thick. I cut four pieces for the sides of each rack and slathered on the glue.

I then clamped them in place.

After letting it sit overnight, the PC rack is assembled and ready to be shaped and cleaned up.

Assembling the Two Racks

I then repeated the process for the equipment racks. The tops and bottoms were glued up and ready to be assembled with the sides.

Lots and lots of clamps were used for the assembly since I am relying on glue to hold this all together.

As you can see, I got a little crazy with the wood glue. It cleans up easy enough and shouldn’t interfere with the finish at all.

Too much glue is better than not enough.

Cleaning up the Racks

I used a random orbital sander to clean up the edges on one face of each rack.

I also cleaned up the tops and bottoms.

To clean up the final face, and to ensure that both of the equipment racks are the same depth, I shaved off the edge of the last side at the table saw.

I shaved off just enough to clean up each edge.

Once each face was clean, I decided to try something different. I’m going for a rough industrial look with this. I had seen a piece of furniture once that was made with MDF and had some (what I assume is) wood filler in certain parts. The way that the filler reacted with the stain and finish had a really interesting rough look. I decided that I would try this on the racks. If I end up not liking it, I can always just remake the racks.

I spread wood filler into each seam and let it sit for an hour.

After letting it sit I cleaned up the edges with my random orbital sander then applied a 1/4″ roundover to each edge just like when I made the desk top and bottom.

I cleaned up the routed edges with my random orbital sander again as well as with some careful hand sanding.

This concludes part 3.

Closing remarks

They’re all ready to be stained and finished.

As I said before, I don’t have a lot of room in my shop right now so it’s difficult to get this built but it’ll be worth it in the end.

If you have any suggestions, please leave them in the comments below. I’d love to see any desk builds you’ve done. Also, if you haven’t already, please consider signing up for my mailing list so you get e-mail notifications when I post new articles.

Studio Desk – Part 2: Final shaping of the top and bottom

Tutorials, Woodworking

Trent DavisSeptember 27, 2017September 27, 20172 Comments

The tops and bottoms are cut to size and glued up. The next step is to fix a few mistakes and apply the roundovers so I can stain and finish them.

Fixing my mistakes

I make a lot of mistakes. More than I would like. I made a few while I was routing out the shapes of the desk bottom pieces.

First I slipped up when modifying the outline for the bottom of the desk. I was able to correct this when cutting out the other half of the bottom but it left a nice gap that needs patching.

The second mistake was when I was cutting the aforementioned second half of the bottom. As I was coming up on the area where I had made the mistake on the first half, I guess I was focusing on correcting for the first mistake and I ended up making another slight mistake. You can see in the following photo that the inner corner is a little wonky. I think the router, whose base is a little unstable, tipped a little and it caused this.

The following technique won’t always work, especially if you will be staining the piece but I’m going for a more utilitarian/industrial look so I actually welcome this.

Start with a blob of wood glue. If you are wanting to stain this, I recommend trying stainable wood filler instead.

You’ll also need some sawdust, preferably from the same wood that you’re repairing.

Add the sawdust to the wood glue and mix it together.

This will take some trial and error in order to get something that works for you. I was going for a dry yet pasty texture.

I rubbed a bit of wood glue on the spot that I needed to repair so the patch job can adhere to it better.

I then smushed (sorry for the technical term) a gob of the glue/sawdust paste into the repair spot, being sure to fill up all the space that needs to be filled.

When this dries, it’s going to be pretty hard. I also need to flip this piece so I can repair the other spot. To ensure that this wasn’t going to cause a problem, I waited till it had cured a bit then I took a utility knife blade and sliced off any of the filler that protruded from the top of the wood.

This left it flat enough to flip the piece without damaging the filler.

I did the same thing on the other mistake.

This one will be easier to hide since it is all on flat surfaces rather than an inner curve.

I let the filler fully cure for a day then I took my random orbital sander to it. I placed a piece of blue painters tape next to the filler so you can see how it blends in. It isn’t perfect but it’ll be good enough for this project.

The filler on the inner curve was a lot more difficult to deal with.

I ended up having to carefully use a drum sander attachment on my hand drill to get it smoothed out.

This one didn’t turn out as well but it’s good enough. I’m putting a roundover on the edges so I’m not worried with how jagged it is.

Applying the roundovers

It was time to put the roundovers on the wood. I decided to just use one of my little trim routers in an effort to avoid the mistakes that I just had to fix which were caused by the unsteady base on my larger router. I outfitted it with a 1/4″ roundover bit.

I applied the 1/4″ roundover with the intention of then applying a 1/2″ then finally a 3/4″ roundover. This is where I ran into a problem; I liked the look of the 1/4″.

I even liked how this looked in the corner where the patch job made an interesting little shape.

I really liked the look and feel of this roundover.

It looked especially nice when you backed off a bit and took the whole thing in.

I couldn’t make up my mind, and I only have one shot at this so I decided to ask for more opinions. I took some scrap particleboard and did a mockup. The left half is the 1/4″ roundover and the right half is a 1/2″ roundover. I decided I didn’t want to do a full 3/4″ roundover. I posted this photo along with a few others to several Facebook groups, Google+ groups, Instagram, and Twitter. I wanted to see what others preferred. Most feedback seemed to be favoring the 1/2″ but two opinions in particular stood out to me. One was my wife, who said she preferred the 1/4″, especially since she sometimes attaches vices and jigs to the workbench that I made her and a big roundover would make that difficult. The other was from Paul Jenkins (a.k.a. The Wood Knight). He also favored the 1/4″. In the end, I agreed with these two so I left it as 1/4″

The last step for this part of the project was to clean the pieces up to get them ready for finishing. I sanded the top and bottom faces of each piece with a random orbital sander and 220-grit sanding discs. The edges were cleaned up first with a coarse and then a fine-grit sanding sponge.

This concludes part 2.

Closing remarks

This is a difficult project, not in a woodworking sense since it’s ridiculously simple in it’s construction but in that I don’t have a lot of room in my shop at the moment. My shop is currently difficult to walk in, much less build in.

I’m going to stain the wood next then apply several coats of matte finish polyurethane. This isn’t going to be particularly interesting and will be time consuming so the next update might not have much to it.

Before I attach the legs and set up the desk, I need to also build the racks that will store the computer and recording gear. These will determine the final placement of the legs since they are used to hold up the racks. I’m going to try to get these built while I work on the finishing but I also want to make sure that the finish is protected from sawdust from building the racks and like I said, I have very little room in my shop right now.

Studio Desk – Part 1: Preparing the top and bottom

Tutorials, Woodworking

Trent DavisSeptember 19, 2017One Comment

I finally settled on a design for my studio desk. It needed to fit into the breakfast nook, be mobile, and house the various racks of gear needed to record music. I went through almost 20 designs before I settled on this one, not because it was the best, but because I knew I would never find the “perfect” design so I should just pick one and go with it.

The desk will mainly consist of a top and a bottom that are joined with vertical pipe sections. The electronic gear will be stored in racks that will be modular, in that I can change their placement at a later date if I decide to. I decided to use two layers of particle board for both the top and bottom. It’s not apparent in the rendering but I’m also going to do a roundover on the tops and bottoms of each piece. I’m also planning on staining the particleboard a dark color and protecting them with several layers of polyurethane.

Cutting the pieces to size

I started with the pieces cut slightly oversized on the panel saw. Then I cut them to their exact length with a circular saw. I did this by cutting a little bit off one side then flipping the board around and cutting it down to the exact length on the other side. I did it this way so I wouldn’t have any factory edges on the final board, which may have nicks on them.

Next, I ripped them on the table saw to get them to their final width. I did the same thing where I took a little off one edge then flipped it and ripped it to the final width.

Marking the outline

The next step was to mark out where I was going to cut. Now, I should mention that although this desk has been planned out, some of it is dealt with on the fly. I had some measurements but they were just guidelines. The important thing is that it isn’t too wide to fit in the breakfast nook, or “control booth” as I’m now calling it. That being said, the marks for cutting aren’t permanent so I drew them on painters tape at first.

Once it was decided where the cuts will be, I marked 2″ over in both directions from the inside corner so I could drill a 4″ hole. This will be clear in a little bit.

I didn’t want my hole saw to wander so I grabbed a hammer and a punch and made an indentation where I wanted the hole to be centered.

Then I was able to use my (dull) 4″ hole saw to make this cut.

I wasn’t too concerned about blowout on the other end because of the roundover I plan on adding. as such, the material wasn’t supported underneath.

I wanted similar radius’s on the outside corners, but they didn’t need to be exact. I used the cutout from the hole I made to trace a corner radius on each of the outer corners.

I had the entire thing planned out and traced on the board.

Cutting out the first (and most important) piece

With the outline traced, I used a jigsaw to cut close to the line.

With the desktop shape cut out, I used a random orbital sander and a belt sander, both equipped with an 80-grit sanding disc and belt, to sand up to the line.

One layer of the desktop is complete. I’m going to use this as a routing template for the other three pieces, with a slight modification for the two bottom pieces.

Using the first piece to cut out the second

To cut out the second piece of the top, I use the piece that I just shaped and trace an outline in pencil on the second piece.

Once again I use a jigsaw to cut out the shape just outside the line.

I attempted to secure the two pieces with some double-stick tape (which although it looks wimpy, has never let me down in the past).

After placing the second piece in place, I realized that the double-sided tape that had never let me down, was letting me down. As a solution, I added two screws since this was going to be the underside of the desktop and wouldn’t be seen.

I equipped my router with a 1/2″ straight pattern bit.

I then routed out the second piece of the top.

An exact replica.

Cutting out the first bottom piece

This is where it got tricky. The bottom needed to match the top but with the central area a bit deeper than on the two top pieces. I accomplished this by tracing most of the outline then I pushed the top piece back a bit and traced the inner section.

Once again I cut it out with the jigsaw.

I then clamped the bottom piece to the top pieces, which were still screwed together.

I routed as much as I could.

I then moved the bottom piece a bit forward so I could route a bit more of the inner edges using the top pieces as a template. To make sure I got it pretty even, I used a combination square to move each edge forward the same amount.

And this is where I screwed up. I got a bit of the inner left edge routed fine then I went over to the right side. Because of the placement of the router, I couldn’t see that I was coming up on the front corner of my template. As a result, I took a chunk out of the bottom piece. Fortunately, this will be easy to fix later since I’m using particleboard. I’m just going to keep going and fix it later before I put the roundover on them.

After moving the bottom piece forward again I was able to get the inner corners to match those on the top pieces.

Cutting out the second bottom piece

I then traced the bottom piece onto the last piece of particleboard.

Then cut it out with the jigsaw.

Due to space limitations, I’m working with all the pieces stacked on top of each other. Here, I’ve got all the pieces clamped together. I’ll be using the bottom piece that I routed out (and screwed up) to route out the second bottom piece.

I managed to not screw this piece up in the same location. Instead, I accidentally tipped the router as I was going around the inner corner. Both bottom pieces will need some repair work before I do the roundovers.

All four pieces are cut to shape. Time to glue them up.

Gluing the tops together

I apply a liberal coat of glue to one of the top pieces.

I then place the second top piece in place and clamp them together. I’m using clamping cauls to help provide some firm pressure on the wider parts.

I let it sit overnight to cure.

After removing the clamps, the top is very sturdy. I didn’t notice the two pieces coming apart anywhere when I removed the clamps.

Gluing the bottom pieces together

Now to do the same with the bottom pieces.

I glued this up in the morning then came back to it in the evening after performing at a show.

I don’t like to wipe the glue squeeze out when working with particleboard. I’d rather let it cure in drips which can be easily removed with a chisel.

Final shaping

Both the top and the bottom are fully cured. Now I’m going to do some final shaping and cleanup.

To ensure that both pieces are the same shape and have smooth edges I clamp them together so I can sand them smooth as if they were all one piece.

Here you can see that the edges are still a bit rough and there is still some glue squeeze-out to deal with.

After hitting them with my sanders, they are all much smoother and a uniform shape.

I had to get creative on the inside area. This took a bit of moving and sanding, then moving again, and sanding some more.

Getting the inside corners was pretty tricky. I used sanding sponges but that was taking a long time. I then tried using the large spindle for my spindle sander and that worked a lot better. I still have a lot of work to do on the inside corners but it’s getting there.

That’s it for part 1.

Closing remarks

I’m still working on the inside corners but I ran out of steam for the weekend.

The next steps are to put the roundovers on the edges and do some more sanding. Then I’ll be staining them and adding several coats of polyurethane.

I haven’t decided on the size of the roundover I’m going to put on the edges. My original intent was to put a 3/4″ roundover on both the top and bottom edge which would effectively make the edge a half-round. I might try a 1/4″ or a 1/2″ to see how I like them. It sounds like I need to do a mock-up on some scraps first…

Tool Maintenance – Protecting A Cast Iron Tabletop

Tutorials, Woodworking

Trent DavisJune 13, 2017December 10, 202110 Comments

Materials Needed

WD-40
Grey Scotch-Brite Pads (7448)
Some sort of treatment such as…
- Johnson Paste Wax
- MinWax Paste Wax
- Renaissance Wax
- T-9 BoeShield (Lubricant, Rust Free, Blade & Bit)
- GlideCote

Optional

0000 Steel Wool (instead of the Scotch-Brite pads)
Denatured Alcohol
Bag Of Rags
Blue Painters Tape
Blue Shop Towels
Hand Pad Holder or Sanding Block

Setting Up

Cast iron gets rusty. Period. You can take steps to help prevent it but you’ll still have to deal with it eventually.

In my case, I have a SawStop Industrial Cabinet Saw with an additional 10″ cast iron wing that has some rust forming on it. It’s not too bad but I should definitely do something about it. You can see a big greasy hand print right on my right miter slot. (How that happened is a long story but rest assured, our lights work now.)

A close-up of the hand print shows that it isn’t pitting yet so it should mostly come off.

The paw prints are a bit more severe. I don’t see any pitting but I won’t know for sure until I scrub it away.

Here are a few more paw prints.

I don’t know exactly what caused these rust bands but I am assuming that this is from moisture being locked under boards that sat on the table top for a day or two. This is why you shouldn’t leave wood sitting on cast iron overnight, especially during the summer.

Another mysterious rust spot. It isn’t too bad so it should mostly come off.

Removing The Rust

Some people prefer to use 0000 steel wool to remove rust, and it will do a pretty good job. Personally, I prefer to use Scotch-Brite 7448 pads. These are the grey pads, not the green ones you use in your kitchen. They are the same grit as 0000 Steel Wool but you can use a sanding block to apply even pressure over the entire pad. This is a lot harder to do with steel wool.

The grey Scotch-Brite pads are pretty big so I prefer to cut them in half. A box of these will last a long time and can be used on pretty much any tool with a cast-iron top. I also use them for woodturning in place of steel wool.

I’m going to be applying WD-40 and it tends to splatter. I’m not a big fan of getting that gunk off of my wooden extension table so I am going to tape it off to protect it. I start by laying down some blue shop towels along the edge of the extension table.

I then use some blue painters tape to mark off the end of the extension table and secure the shop towels down. This should help protect it during the next step.

Next, I apply a generous coating of WD-40 to the entire table top. You want to let it sit for a while so it can penetrate the iron and start to break apart the rust and even some of the slight discoloration that cast iron can sometimes get. I will typically let it sit for at least 15 minutes but in this case I let it sit for about an hour and a half.

After it has sat like this for a while, I take my grey Scotch-Brite pad and a hand pad holder, or in my case I just use a scrap block of 2 X 4 and start scrubbing.

You should scrub in a front-to-back-to-front motion. Try not to focus on one little spot since that will lead to an inconsistent shiny spot. Instead, use some elbow grease and cover the entire depth of the cast iron.

I like to scrub until I at least get a dark slurry started. It will typically require more scrubbing if your table top is as rusty as mine was.

After tackling the entire table top, I do the bulk of the clean-up with blue shop towels. The table top should look a lot better at this point.

If rust sits for a while it can permanently discolor the cast iron. You can see this here. The rust is gone but the iron is stained. Personally, I’m cool with this. It doesn’t affect the usability of the saw.

The hand print is mostly gone. I can still see a slight shadow but you have to know it’s there in order to see it.

Surprisingly, the paw prints are completely gone. I thought these were going to be there forever.

Technically, you can stop here. I find that no matter how much I scrub with shop towels I can never quite get all the WD-40 up. This leaves a slightly greasy feeling to the table top which can transfer to the material you are cutting. I find that the best way to clean this up is with denatured alcohol.

I start by pouring some denatured alcohol on the table top. This picture may be cringe-worthy but worry not. This won’t cause your table to get rusty at all. Then, use a shop towel to wipe it all up. This should get the rest of the WD-40 off the cast iron.

The cast iron is now completely exposed and needs to be protected.

Protecting The Surface

There are many ways to protect the surface of cast iron tools. I’ve had good experiences with T-9 BoeShield or GlideCote, but I personally prefer using a furniture wax like Johnson Paste Wax, although MinWax and Renaissance Wax will work as well. I like Johnson Paste Wax since it is softer, which means it applies easier and also buffs out a LOT easier than either MinWax or Renaissance.

You can use shop towels to apply the wax but you’ll have better luck with a cloth rag. I try to always keep a Bag of Rags on hand. These are just scraps of white tee shirts so if you have any shirts you’re just going to throw out you can use them for this instead.

Use the rag to scoop up a generous amount of the paste wax.

Apply the paste wax to the cast iron. You don’t need to apply it in any particular fashion, just be sure to get it all over.

After you have the table top coated, let it sit for a while. I usually let it sit for about 15 minutes.

You’ll know it’s ready to buff out when the paste wax gets a cloudy look to it.

Use a fresh rag to wipe the wax off and buff it out. This can take some experimentation but the way I handle it is to use one rag to wipe the bulk of the wax off but I don’t worry about it looking good yet. You’ll still have some streaks and maybe a few missed blobs of wax. After that, I take another fresh rag and wipe it down to buff it out. You’ll notice that when you first start buffing it, the table will be slightly “grabby” with the rag. Just keep buffing. You don’t really need to apply much pressure or buff in any particular direction, just go back-and-forth for a while to build up some friction. You’ll find that eventually the table will get very slippery. That means you’re done and ready to move on to the next section.

After you finish, I recommend that you apply at least two more coats of wax.

That’s it. You’re done. You now have a nice slippery cast iron table top that won’t rust up as quickly (if at all). I like to repeat this process as needed, which may be every six months or every six years. It all depends on how you use your saw.

Also, it is a good idea to apply some paste wax to the exposed metal on the front tube where the fence rides back and forth.

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

Tutorials, Woodworking

Trent DavisApril 28, 2017April 30, 20173 Comments

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

Workbench/Outfeed Table Work Surface

Tutorials, Woodworking

Trent DavisMarch 10, 2017January 8, 20186 Comments

UPDATE:

I’ve tested this for almost a year. Read my final opinion here.

Behind my table saw is a large outfeed/assembly table that consists of a torsion box top that sits a little bit lower than my table saw. Since this table is used for glue-up, finishing, andlots of other destructive activites, I have a sacrificial work surface that sits on top of the table and takes my abuse rather than destroying my torsion box.

Removing the Existing Work Surface

My current work surface has seen better days. It’s probably time to replace it. In reality, it’s actually not that bad, I’m just sick of the sight of it.

I typically use a sheet of 1/8″ hardboard that sits loosely on top of the torsion box which is made out of MDF and finished with a few layers of polyurethane.

By using a sacrificial work surface I am able to keep the actual bench-top relatively nice looking and flat.

Laying Out and Sizing the New Work Surface

I originally wanted to change things up and replace it with a sheet of hardboard with a smooth white coating, sometimes referred to as markerboard. My reasoning was that glue and paint could be easily scraped off. When I went to the local big-box home store, I saw a material I hadn’t worked with yet and I decided to give it a try.

I got a sheet of PolyWall, which is advertised as being a good way to protect walls. It’s thinner than hardboard and has a slight texture to it. The sheet is larger than my bench-top which measures 30″ deep and 8′ in length. I’ll need to cut this down.

My workbench is actually a little longer than 8′. This will actually help me cut it down as you’ll see in a later step. For now, I leave a little bit of the workbench exposed on each end. To make sure I trim this down squarely, I am using a combination square on one side and set the new work surface the same distance from the edge of the workbench all along that end.

Now I’m using something to hold the new work surface down. For this I just grabbed one of my cauls and clamped it down with some quick release clamps. I did this on each end.

Then I clamped a straightedge along the front edge. This is where it helps to have the workbench stick out from under the work surface. Since my straightedge is also a little bit longer than 8′ in length, I used the workbench to line up the straightedge and clamp it down on each end.

Cutting this material is really simple. I just ran a utility knife along the straightedge to score the material, then repeated a few times until it simply fell away.

The finished edge has a slight burr to it that can be removed with a file, sandpaper, or a scraper.

After that I moved the straightedge to the back of the workbench and repeated the process there. To simplify, I could have just lined up one of the factory edges of the material with either the front or back of the workbench top but I just felt like doing it this way.

Securing the New Work Surface

That’s all the cutting I’m going to need to do. As you can see, the material likes to raise up at the far edges. This is because I had to roll up the sheet to fit in my car when I bought it and it tends to have a memory to it that fades with time. I can fix this by simply letting the sheet lay on the workbench for a few hours.

To keep the sheet from slipping, I am applying some strips of double-stick tape between the benchtop and work surface.

Now we have it.

I’ve never used this material as a work surface before. I’m going to test it out for a few months under normal use and report back with how it works. So far, I like the slightly textured surface since it causes the material to glide across it much easier. I’m mostly concerned with the toughness. It seems pretty tough but awfully thin. I’ll let you know how this holds up.

Have you ever used this material for anything? What do you put on the top of your workbench? Share it with us in the comments below.

UPDATE:

I’ve tested this for almost a year. Read my final opinion here.