upgrades to Ridgid TS2412

[Justin Bancs]

I have an old Ridgid TS2412 that is in good working condition. I just bought a used shop fox fence (biesemeyer style), and I'm installing that this weekend. I'd like to make some other upgrades to the saw to improve dust collection. I'm wondering if it would be advisable to build a box to enclose the motor and the large gaping hole in the back. I'm basically just worried about cooling of the motor. I would also like to put a tray at the bottom of the cabinet to attach a dust collection hose to. Has anyone done this? I'm trying to get a few more years out of this saw so I can hopefully move to a new house with a larger garage that I can get a true cabinet saw. Also is there anywhere I can source a replacement standard throat plate that isn't going to cost an arm and a leg? The saw only have a zero clearance insert so I'm unable to make any cuts with the blade angled. Or is there an advisable way to open that ZCI up to let me cut 45 degrees? Any help or input would be greatly appreciated.

[Justin Bancs]

Well, I mounted the front rail of the shop fox fence, and I'm excited to finish this up. I think it will be a decent saw. Still hoping I can get input on whether boxing in the back side of the saw is do-able or something I should avoid. Mainly concerned with causing any undue stress on the motor. Picture of the rail installed. and yes I know the garage is a mess. I bought some base cabinets I'm going to use to build a miter saw station/storage for the R4221 miter saw in the background.

IMG_0504_zpsc5i2ighx.jpg

[scott spencer]

The fence rail looks good. Fence is 90° out of whack though... . While you're at it, this is a good time to consider adding some rip capacity by sliding the front rail tube over the right by one bolt hole....no drilling.

[Justin Bancs]

I think I might have to do that, I've been dying to be able to rip more than 24" as was the case with my old fence. I'm thinking of ditching the stamped steel wing and going with a wooden one with a router lift. This is a two car garage (barely) and space is at a premium, so I'm trying to find multi-purpose shop furniture to help give me all the goodies without being too cluttered.

[Curt Harms]

I had a Craftsman 113.xxxx saw years ago. I made a portable base for it that looked a little like a gravity emptying grain wagon. 3 sides sloped and came together in the back. I had a smaller dust collector with 4" hose so I put a 4" pvc flange where the 3 sides came together in the back. The box assembly was on wheels, I made the base bigger than the saw base so it wasn't narrow and tipsy. It worked out pretty well, the saw dust coming off the blade sprayed pretty close to the vacuum hole. I used some thin plywood on either side of the belt held in place with magnets. That way if I tilted the saw without moving the plywood panels, the magnets would just slide and wouldn't stress the motor mount or belt.

[Justin Bancs]

Curt, That sounds like a great idea...not sure why I haven't thought of doing something like that before. You wouldn't happen to have a picture of the mobile base you built, would you? That might make more sense given my smaller shop, I can build a wide table for the saw to give me the additional ripping capacity, and then make a folding outfeed wing that I could put up when necessary and fold away when I don't need it. Also, I could butt the work surface right up to my top and not need the rear support for the fence.

[Curt Harms]

Curt, That sounds like a great idea...not sure why I haven't thought of doing something like that before. You wouldn't happen to have a picture of the mobile base you built, would you? That might make more sense given my smaller shop, I can build a wide table for the saw to give me the additional ripping capacity, and then make a folding outfeed wing that I could put up when necessary and fold away when I don't need it. Also, I could butt the work surface right up to my top and not need the rear support for the fence.

I wish I did have a picture - I don't. think about something like this only make it square and put the dust collector connection where the door is.

https://www.umequip.com/grain-handling/gravity-boxes/

I built mine into a 2 X 4 frame, put two lawn mower wheels near the back of the saw and mounted two handles sort of like those on a wheel barrow on the front. I sat the saw on a couple angles running side to side and filled in the gaps around the saw with 1/4" plywood. I doubt this would work well using a shop vac as a dust collector, it wouldn't have enough CFM. If I were using a shop vac, I'd probably use one of the commercially available hoods.