Another Axminster TS 200 workstation wip with photos

[Tim_H]

I thought I would post my on going work on my TS 200 workstation as I have shamelessly borrowed from several previous threads on this site and as I have also made several not very intelligent design decisions maybe someone will avoid the mistakes I made.

I bought the bare bones saw about a year ago and as you can see it desperately needed a base making. I also wanted a. better fence, a side table and a zero clearance plate and new riving knife.

I decided to make a safer base at a height compatible with my work units along one wall of my garage that I had salvaged from an update of our utility room. It works much better at this height as I can see what I am doing more easily and it is so much safer

As you can see my workshop is a mess and my plan this year is to build a range of units and tidy up! I need to build a proper work bench, mitre saw station, pillar drill table and station, wall cupboards and a router table base for my Dakota top amongst other things.


I made the basic unit out of 18mm MDF which I cut down with my Scheppach plunge saw which whilst no Festool is fine for what I need.

I used my inexpensive Kreg pocket hole jig which worked brilliantly and routed out some dados and rabbets on the base and top to help positioning before screwing and glueing together. I am tempted to invest in the bigger pocket hole jig but the small one was probably more flexible for this job.

This is the dry run without the back on.

The mistakes (design alterations) I have made so far include cutting the drawers to fit and then deciding to buy drawer runners from Ironmongery direct which meant I had to rebuild my drawers to make them an inch narrower than the drawer opening I had intended to route a dado along the sides and use wooden runners but opted for bottom mounted inexpensive metal runners instead. Serves me right for making it up as I go along.

In retrospect I would also join the drawers with pocket holes at front and back not at the sides where they are visible!

However the main cock up (so far) has been the dust collection, which has meant a major redesign and means I have still not finished this project. Here is my brilliant first idea. #-o I will let you guess what went wrong.

I will continue this later if anyone is interested now it is late and I need my beauty sleep.

 

[david123]

Thanks for sharing this Tim

I hope to be going along the same route (someday, still waiting for a buyer for the house). It will be interesting to follow your journey and hopefully learn from your mistakes. I have pretty much the same tools as you plus a band saw,, all I need is a workshop.

 

[Tim_H]

Dave,

a band saw is on my list, as is a planer thicknesser and sanding machine but I have decided to sort out the "workshop" first.

I have built a partition stud wall in my one and a half garage to create a separate workshop area. A post for another day maybe. It is partly floored over the concrete with solid wood floorboards once again salvaged from a refurbishment of our house. I actually had them all stacked up in a pile and then realised it would work better if I laid them out as a temporary floor. It has made it much more comfortable to work but I now have to get some flooring for the rest of the area and lay some sampling membrane underneath. However first I have to clear the area and tidy. Round and round we go .....

 

[Tim_H]

I think one of the reasons my dust collection did not work was that I had only removed a bit of the bottom of the old blade dust collection, which I cut out with a hacksaw. What a pain that was, drilling then trying a jigsaw with a metal blade and then having to feed a hacksaw blade into the hole and reattaching to the handle before faboriously cutting through, not recommended.

Here you can see the start of the drilling from underneath the saw.

In the end I have completely removed the outside plate, hacksaw again and I am hoping that this will allow a gravity feed into my new hopper.

Here it is with the new hopper below.

My original plan had been to attach a modified dust hood ( the large one from the Rutlands 4inch pack) and connect with a hose through the top and back. This bit I was quite pleased with as I only had to cut it down a bit to fit and using window seal art the edges and he original screws and washers designed to hold the protective mesh it looked air tight and secure.

It then fitted through a hole cut in the top and was connected to flexible tubing which went out of another hole in the back. Then connected to my trusty Woodstar dust collector.

This shows the pipe coming out of the front when I was dry fitting.

I now wonder if this still might have worked with the plate cut off inside the saw and more gravity effect. I will never know as I decided to create a bigger area for the dust to collect collect underneath.

More on that later.

 

[Tim_H]

I had sealed up all the gaps in the saw with clear duct tape and perspex for the large hole in the back. I had started cutting pieces of perspex to fit around the gaps at the top but without a scroll saw (another tool on my wanted list) it was too fiddly so I cheated and duct taped.

You might be able to see it here with the tape along the upper underside and the perspex plate taped in place. I also used tape along the arcs for the handles but stuck two bits of tape together and cut a slit so the handles could be moved if needed.

Here is a clearer picture of the whole hole arrangement cut with a jigsaw.

So I had finished the base unit, fitted all the drawers, built my support unit for the angle iron for my fence upgrade, bolted the table saw to the top and was all ready to fit the front angle iron and side table and new fence when I realised the pipe had come loose underneath and my saw was full of dust! It would explain why the motor had been struggling.

Here is the photo where I realised the pipe had come loose underneath.

I did not take a picture with my saw full of dust, I wish I had now as it was like an MDF blizzard in there!

Having completely lost confidence in this design ( maybe my harshest decision) I decided on a more conventional approach. So having dismantled all the top fittings I cut a large hole for a new hopper.

Angles are not my thing so this was a bit of a make it up as you go along (I need to learn to plan better). It is made out of some plywood I had spare. The sides are cut with a hand saw and then the bottom panels measured and hand cut. I had great fun holding the sides in place and trying to work out the base size, in the end I taped them to the top with masking tape and measured the lengths that way. I had to do this twice as I was overconfident and did not follow the measure twice cut once rule.

Here it is painted with white gloss hopefully to help with dust flow and visibility from outside. To see all the dust disappear hopefully.

Here glued and sealed in place. Now I just have to decide how to attach the hose, my choices are a blast gate or a small Rutlands dust hood screwed or glued to the outside. For the moment I will see how it works with just a hose before I commit. I still have to seal the bottom of the saw with some wooden inserts.

Here from inside the unit, not my best work!

 

[Tim_H]

As part of my upgrade I have built a new riving knife which is not as tall to allow me to lower the blade into the machine and do trenching style cuts. I used the existing knife as a template and cut the new knife out of 2 mm steel (the same thickness as the existing knife) with a metal cutting jigsaw blade. This was hard work! I smoothed the edges with my grinder and a file and then spray painted with matt black metal paint. Whilst I enjoyed this this I suspect it would have been a lot easier with a metal blade on a band saw and I recognize that I am not a natural metal worker.

I also cut a new zero clearance plate from aluminium and cut through with the existing cross saw blade from below and then with a hacksaw and file I extended it for the riving knife. Aluminium is much easier to work with than steel. The aluminium is still strong enough and rigid enough not to need any support on the far edge, although I can always glue an under edge on the far side if I need to later.

Here they are in place the "blade guard has has been removed for photographic purposes" :lol:

 

[marcros]

Tim,

what are you thinking of doing re. blade guarding?

mark

 

[Tim_H]

Really good question, fast spinning sharp metal things have the same fear factor for me as high places. I plan to do three things:

1. Temporarily putting back the old guard, I may have to put the old riving knife on if it sits too low for safety i.e. I have to lift the blade too high to get clearance for the wood underneath, which was a problem with the existing guard anyway.

2. Building a small perspex cover attached to the table with magnets similar to Steve Maskery's design for some cuts

3. And my main plan is building a perspex hood that lowers from above with dust extraction similar to the Axminster one shown here

http://www.axminster.co.uk/axminster-sa ... prod32672/

Possibly using drainage pipe or maybe metal metal vacuum tube if I go for smaller diameter air extraction. This would be attached to the far edge of my extension table or mounted on a stand I have a metal mirror stand at work that might work. As you may gather I have not quite finalised the design details but I need to finish the the extension table before I can crack on with this.

There are some good threads on here which I have been raiding for ideas.

To put your mind at rest it really was removed for photographic and construction purposes, I like all my fingers where they are. :lol:

 

[marcros]

it wasnt meant as a critisism, it was a genuine question. I did a similar mod to my kity when I had it, but the guarding was permanently removed, which was very bad practice, but all too common i suspect. I am gathering ideas for when I get another table saw. It isnt helped by needing to be mobile- so anything has to be ultimately fixed somewhere to the table.

 

[Tim_H]

Mark,

thank you, it would have been a valid criticism if I had not been intending to put a guard back on.

I admire your bravery frankly the blade scares me unguarded even unplugged.

Realistically I think you need a few guard options for a variety of different tasks.

I agree about mobility my base is on lockable castors and the advantage of fastening a post to the extension table is your guard moves with you.

That will likely be another wip.

 

[Tim_H]

Sorry if this is not very coherent but that pretty much reflects the way I have been dipping into this project.

Here is where I started:

Here are the main unit parts routed:

So main body built, MDF sealed with interior varnish, lockable castors from Axminster bolted on:

Pencil marks sanded off with Arbranet hand sanded unit attached to my Henry Hoover before sealing with varnish.
I would recommend Abranet it is well worth the small extra cost it lasts for ages and the porous structure rely helps with dust extraction.

Drawers and top support to be built:

I decided on one large shallow drawer for under the saw, giving me space for the dust collection and storage for my plunge saw and accessories and lots of dust when your dust collection fails

You will notice the original dust collection hole in the larger cut out at the side next to my other MDF sheets.

I had also decided not to incorporate a router table in the side extension as I intend to build a separate unit incorporating my Rutlands Dakota top, so I could add some more drawers to that support unit.

Three drawers on the other side for table saw accessories etc. and two in the table support.

The table support is just pocket hole screwed and glued together with bottom mount drawer fittings for the drawers. This time with inset drawer fronts, which were tricky.

Then after my dust extraction diversion, see above I still had the new fence and side table to set up.

I had decided on the Axminster band saw upgrade fence, which has been used on a Kity 419 mod by Knappers (I think). This would give me more fence extension as I only had the short fence run with the bare bones saw and hopefully a firmer fence as I find my fence is just slightly off and I have not worked out how to fix it. It meant removing the
bolted on front aluminium extrusion, which was straightforward and replacing with some 5 mm thick angle iron. Which I fitted at the back first as it meant I could still use the original fence and helped me place the saw so the angle iron rested on the top support.

You can see it on the units above both before and after cutting to size.

The angle iron was just drilled and bolted through the existing holes.

I will finish off with the fence later as that is pretty much where I am up to for now.

However my small people need my attention.

 

[david123]

I for one am pretty impressed Tim, you are doing a grand job and I am looking forward to seeing the finished unit.

 

[JakeS]

cut the new knife out of 2 mm steel (the same thickness as the existing knife)

Are you sure? I seem to recall measuring my riving knife and it was 2.4mm. IIRC the critical thing is that it needs to be thicker than the disc body of the saw blade (so that binding timber definitely hits the riving knife before it hits the body of the blade) but thinner than the teeth (so that the workpiece never hits the riving knife rather than passing by it). I thought offhand that the blade that came with my TS-200 was 2mm steel for the body with 3mm teeth.


(And yeah, I think I've made something like three unguarded cuts on mine, all of them making zero-clearance inserts, and all of them very, very warily! I do need to get around to a couple of Mr. Maskery's nice guard designs myself.)

 

[Tim_H]

I will go and get my digital calipers. Be back in a mo.

 

[Tim_H]

1.98 mm on the original 2.00 mm on the new, if I experience kick back on 0.2 mm I will get my coat. I had measured it before buying the steel plate but as my measuring leaves a lot to be desired disinfectant makes me feel better.

I also intend to make a short over fence for the new fence out of MDF as the bandsaw one runs the length of the table and I like the timber to have somewhere to escape to after the cut. It also means I can replace it if I make any interesting close cuts.

 

[Tim_H]

I for one am pretty impressed Tim, you are doing a grand job and I am looking forward to seeing the finished unit.

Dave thank you for the kind words however I have borrowed ideas rather than generated anything very original and where I have not learned from others mistakes I have made the same mistake again or added my own. I am reasonably happy with it but the difference between me and someone who knows what they are doing is I take three times as long to build it and have to redesign as I go. Wheras they design it right the first time and build it quickly and well!

I do enjoy the challenge and I have an idea where I am going but I could do without the need to rejig the dust collection etc. which has been a pita and I am still not completely confident that it will do what I need it to do :shock:

Anyway almost on the home strait.

 

[Tim_H]

You will be glad to hear after a manic day of posting that this is the final bit for a while.

Here is the Axminster bandsaw upgrade fence, it is a seriously hefty bit of kit, unlike the fairly basic TS 200 lightweight short fence, which has a fairly frustrating screw down handle which I find does not always lock the fence completely true. Wheras the upgrade has a hefty cam action lock down handle and as it it is seriously hefty it's weight makes it less likely to wobble.

Here it is with the guide fence rail and the two mounting brackets with their locking knobs. It is a nice bit of design the mounting brackets have a lip to make it easy to sit the rail and the locking knobs mean if you have messed up your measurements slightly when fitting you can adjust it easily.

I had to remove the old fence rail, easily done as it is bolted on and I had already cut angle iron to fit, drilled it and ground out grooves to allow access to the two mitre slots, which was the same process as for the back angle, which is only there to to help hold my my planned extension table.

Here they are both attached with the new fence set up to be fitted upside down on top.

Here is a closer view of the cam lock and two runners that mean it runs very smoothly on the rail despite the weight of the fence.

Fitting it was pleasantly simple. You lock the fence to its rail and sit it on the table, the mounting brackets for the rail are attached with a locking knob, which thread onto a square nut inside the thick aluminium rail.You can position the brackets anywhere along the rail and lock in place. Which was useful as I had not realised that they would interfere with the top drawer if I put them at the extreme end of the rail.

It is designed to be attached to a cast iron table as a retrofit for a poor bandsaw fence so you simply mark up the aperture for the brackets, drill into the cast iron or in my case angle iron with a 5mm bit and then tap a 6mm thread for an M6 bolt (two are provided with a hex head you have to provide your own hex key ).

I have threaded an M6 nut onto one at the far end as it is only threaded through 5 mm angle iron and I may move the other bolt as I managed to site it right over the bolt that holds the angle iron to the table saw and I can't get a nut over it!

The guide fence rail is slightly shorter than I would ideally like at 74 cm but still gives me about 60 cm cutting which is way more than I had before. You lose some because of the size of the fence mount. I will need to adjust the fence itself to square it up to the blade, easily done with two screws on the front and I will need to decide on a final position for the rail as it can still be adjusted with those locking brackets and then put the provided tape measure in so I can get an idea of distance from the blade of the fence. Although as I intend to make a short fence to sit over it from MDF I might set the measure to that rather than the fence itself. Having said that the fact that the rail can be moved by loosening the locking knobs means that I could increase my cut by moving the rail further along or move the fence to the other side of the blade ( not sure why I would want to do that) by moving the rail further in. Food for thought.

All I have to do then is sort out that top drawer, which no longer fits since I screwed on the top unit, cut some MDF for the side table and fit it and then finish the dust extraction and sort out the guarding!

 

[Tim_H]

So a few days later and all I had to do was sort out that top drawer, which no longer fits since I screwed on the top unit, cut some MDF for the side table and fit it and then finish the dust extraction and sort out the guarding.

So here is the side table which is just a varnished piece of MDF, sitting on a frame of glued and varnished MDF.

The new fence is working brilliantly, I cut all the frame straight and even on the first attempt, unlike the original fence!

The jury is out on the internal dust extraction, there is still a lot of dust inside the saw body although I have not attached a permanent extraction point as yet, simply taping a temporary fitting.

I also need to replace the blade guard dust extraction, which is not working very well in terms of dust extraction.

I reattached the original taller riving knife so I could reattach the blade guard but it is spewing dust towards me as I cut.

I would like to replace it with a Suva style guard, like the Axminster one, attached to the side of my extension table.

I was thinking about using some drainage pipe I have spare but I think it will be too bulky, so I may use a metal vacuum pipe and connect it to a 100mm pipe at the base.

I am not sure what the biggest size of hose I could get away with would be. Any suggestions?

Anyway I am going to use my almost complete unit to make some smallish boxes from some of the sellection of wood I purchased off another forum member recently, before I commit to a new guard.

 

[Highwayman]

Quality WIP there Tim having just bought a Ts200 and the same fence as you I shall be shamelessly
copying your design :twisted: .

Many thanks for doing the design work

Paul

 

[Tim_H]

Paul thank you, having just re read it, I am embarrassed at how wordy the wip was, also I will freely admit to having borrowed from lots of previous wips.

If I was doing it again, I might consider mounting a router in the side table to save space. I didn't because I have the Rutlands table which I plan to make a proper base unit for, however my workshop/ garage is like an inverse TARDIS I always think it is bigger on the inside than it actually is! Also I would think twice about replacing the existing dust extraction system, I am still not convinced mine is much better than the one supplied!

Still very happy with the TS 200 saw though!

I still have not sorted the blade guard or dust collection for the blade guard and I am still tempted to add a fold out out feed table.

Worth a look at Peter G 's recent wip on here.

If you have the longer rail then rather than getting a new fence you could try adapting your existing one as below ( this is someone else's work, I hope they will not mind me reposting it).

They have added a plastic bolt to improve the quality of the grip to the rail.

I did not do this because I only had the short rail.

Good luck with your build.