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Thread: Radial Arm Saw Table Modifications

  1. #16
    Join Date
    Jan 2011
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    Southeast MI.
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    Quote Originally Posted by Bob Pellerin View Post
    Too late to chime in?
    As a mater of fact No, Your just in time!

    I decided to rebuild the top while I'm at it & I'm just getting ready to layout the dado's needed to recess the "T" track.

    I'm pretty sure I'll end up going with both options, Parallel to the blade & parallel to the fence.

    Doug
    Last edited by Doug Walls; 04-28-2017 at 9:52 PM.

  2. #17
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    Jan 2011
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    Quote Originally Posted by Bob Pellerin View Post
    I added a t-track to the left of the cut by a few inches - just enough to have the star knob clear the blade guard.

    I like your version of setting up a 45 degree cut to the right-hand side of the table & just leaving the arm at 90 degrees! How do you fasten the back side of the 45 degree fence to the table?

    Doug
    Last edited by Doug Walls; 04-28-2017 at 11:52 PM.

  3. #18
    Join Date
    Dec 2007
    Location
    South Central MA
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    4
    Clamps. I replaced the normal fence with short pieces centered at the table clamps for the room to shift the fixture into position.

    I was setting up to cut slots across plastic trim for gable end vents. The part I was cutting is trapped between fences and the gap front to back is the width of the slot. Dust collection was on the wrong side once the saw head was tipped over, so I kept the vacuum busy after each cut. I used in indexing block after each cut to move the right side of the fixture and the part along the left hand fence.

    2011-08-09_0129.jpg2011-08-09_0131.jpg

  4. #19
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    Jan 2011
    Location
    Southeast MI.
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    Quote Originally Posted by Bob Pellerin View Post
    Clamps. I replaced the normal fence with short pieces centered at the table clamps for the room to shift the fixture into position.
    Thanks for the info!

    The parts I will be making for my flower pots will need a 45 degree half-lap joints & seeing that I won't be cutting all-the-way through the 45 degree fence, Your 45 degree fence set-up should work out good for me.

    That gives me a few more ideas

    Doug

  5. #20
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    Jan 2011
    Location
    Southeast MI.
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    Got the "T" track installed over the weekend using my router & a DIY dado jig.
    I ended up using some of Woodpeckers double T-track since I happened to have it on-hand from a old router table build.

    Still have several things to finish up on it! Going to add some red oak edge trim & a new rear fence clamping system. Also need to make a new fence / dust collection system since this new table is 48" wide & the old one was only 40" wide.

    IMG_2961.JPGIMG_2958.JPGIMG_2960.JPG

    Doug

  6. #21
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    Jan 2011
    Location
    Southeast MI.
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    Finally got everything finished up, Including the dust collection shute.

    I also added a combo miter/t-track to the front, I plan to make a jig that will slide in the miter track so I can square-up uneven stock.

    Doug
    Attached Images Attached Images

  7. Quote Originally Posted by Kurt Kintner View Post
    Doug.....I modified mine like this.... I milled a T slot in the fence and only use it for positioning a stop, but would be very easy to make the hold-downs you require....
    I like the dust collection. My RAS really needs to be up graded.

  8. #23
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    Jan 2011
    Location
    Southeast MI.
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    Quote Originally Posted by Bill Berklich View Post
    I like the dust collection.
    Yeah it works ok for straight cuts, But doesn't help much on rip cuts!
    I'm still working on a simple design that can be easily adjusted for different cuts.

    I also need to add a separate small vacuum extension hose & blast gate to the system to use for cleaning out the "T" tracks! The "T" tracks are a nice addition, But they tend to get filled with sawdust especially on rip cuts.

    Doug

  9. #24
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    Mar 2003
    Location
    Upland CA
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    Hey Doug,

    Now that you have used it a while, anything you would do different? Is it working out like you hoped?
    Rick Potter

    DIY journeyman,
    FWW wannabe.
    AKA Village Idiot.

  10. #25
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    Jan 2011
    Location
    Southeast MI.
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    Quote Originally Posted by Rick Potter View Post
    Now that you have used it a while, anything you would do different?
    I never thought I would say this! But I've actually used this RAS more for ripping now with the T-track added.
    I used it to clean-uo & square-up some rough cut pallet lumber & I was able to cut some pretty thin slices off the boards.

    Not part of the T-track set-up, But another nice feature on the replacement for the "Recalled" guard is the riving knife/splitter addition.

    It was probably overkill to use the double T-Track & the short front to back strips, But seeing that I already had them I figured why not.
    Attached Images Attached Images
    Last edited by Doug Walls; 02-03-2018 at 6:19 PM. Reason: correction

  11. #26
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    Jan 2011
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    Southeast MI.
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    Quote Originally Posted by Rick Potter View Post
    Is it working out like you hoped?
    Yeah other than being a little bit of a hassle cleaning out the sawdust from the T-tracks, It's worked out really good. The T-tracks really come in handy for clamping short pieces in place!

    Another aspect that I've found useful is with the stock being held down to the table, I can now safely push the blade into the board like using a sliding miter saw. Using a normal RAS in this manner the blade can grab & lift the piece of wood causing it to jam or even fly back at you.

    With the stock clamped to the table & using the
    blade pushed into the stock method described above, I cut the lap-joints shown in pic# 3 above. The cuts were made at full depth (a little over 1" deep) with a 3/4" wide Freud stack dado set.

    Doug

  12. #27
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    Mar 2003
    Location
    Upland CA
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    Thanks Doug.I appreciate the info.
    Rick Potter

    DIY journeyman,
    FWW wannabe.
    AKA Village Idiot.

  13. #28
    Untitled.jpg
    I am in the middle of rebuilding my ras.. I added a few rows of buried threaded inserts for ability to add/ remove tracks, jigs, stops, whatever..
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    Last edited by Bill Warwick; 02-08-2018 at 10:10 AM.

  14. #29
    Quote Originally Posted by Doug Walls View Post
    I'm looking to make a bunch of angled & mitered dado cuts on my RAS & some of the pieces will be fairly short under 6".
    I'm planning on adding some "T" track to my saw's table so I can use hold downs to keep the pieces in-place.
    Putting anything besides sacrificial top on the top of the table limits your ability to cut angles because once you move your saw out of 90 degree crosscut you probably will cut whatever else you put on your table. You would have to use a "broken" (not extending the full width of the table) fence as Bob Pellerin did to cut angles. You would use an angled guide such as Andy Besette did against the fence that stops just to the left of your blade to make an angled cut.

    Quote Originally Posted by Kurt Kintner View Post
    Yes, it works very well....The only time dust gets on the table is when shaving
    a little material off the end of a piece....
    Do you dado with your saw? Mine has decent dust collection with crosscuts, even with just shaving a fuzz off the end, but even with 2 4" ports connected to a 2300 cfm dust collector dadoing makes so much dust and chips it still blows quite a bit out and around the dust collection hood.

  15. #30
    Join Date
    Apr 2011
    Location
    Williamston, MI
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    464
    I experimented with an aluminum T-track but found I could accomplish the same thing by using a slot cutting bit to put what amounts to a T-track in the 3/4" MDF sacrificial top. Use it all the time for jigs and featherboards.

    IMG_0778.jpgIMG_0779.jpg
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