Anyone built a tablesaw using a circular saw?

[transatlantic]

There are a few videos like this on youtube from the likes of Matius Wandel and Paoson WoodWorking, but was wondering if anyone here has made one? and how well it has worked out for you? I'm not sure how much these guys use them, I know Matius as at least one tablesaw he has purchased.

Other than a few niggling issues like having to reach under to change height, angle and blade, they seem really useable.

I think I'll be attempting one if only for fun.

 

[heimlaga]

Those saw tables were very common in the 70-ies judging by all those that turn up secondhand. All I know who have used thaose saw tables back in the days say they were very awkward to use and inaccurate.

I cannot really see the point....... theese days you can get a secondhand table saw in rebuildable condition and rebuild it for only a little more money.

 

[dickm]

Elu used to make what was in effect such an adaptor for both their circular saws and routers. Sold mine a few years ago - it was "OK-ish" (and if Elu can't make a good job of it, would be surprised if others did) but probably better in the long run to do as Heimlaga suggests.

Afterthought - don't Triton still make one??

 

[Penny]

Wolfcraft do/did make a multi-use table that could take a circular saw or a router. It also has a clamp and various other bits to make it a 'useful' tool. Oh, and it is collapsible with a pair of wheels and a pulling handle. Great idea, but as a table saw it is barely adequate. getting the blade to 90 degrees is next to impossible and changing the angle and depth of the blade is a real fiddle. I have recently replaced mine with a Lumberjack table saw which is perfectly good for my needs.

 

[cutting42]

My first table saw was home made. It did the job but it was very slow to setup and make accurate and I had no safety stuff. I was very glad when I bought a proper one. IN short don't bother, get a second hand one.

 

[rafezetter]

As a recent new owner of a hobby sized TS, if you have the money and do lots of small cutting then buy one (but don't skimp £300 should be about your minimum going by what's said in the buying advice section), BUT before I was gifted this saw I made one from a circular - I even bought the best saw for this application which is by Triton, as it was specifically designed to go on the underside of their workstation to make it a tablesaw. It has lots of very good features not present on garden variety circulars that make setup far far simpler even down to micro MM angle and height adjustment (plus 235mm blade with cutting depth of up to 82mm and 2,000watts power). I've made several bang on 90 deg and angled cuts with it mounted underneath as long as you take the time to set it up right first time then lock it down, but table saws need that too.

Downside is you still have to reach under - or as I was going to do make the section it's attached to hinged on the opposite side to the saws adjusters, so you just lift, adjust and pop down again. (right now the central section of my bench it's attached to is free so I can remove it entirely as it's longer than the bench is wide).

The other thing about making is you can get more saw overall - a tablesaw with a good sized surface area is expensive, but a circular can be attached to the underside of a good sized section of sheet goods for lots of infeed outfeed space plus once you get used to using the "tablesaw" instead of a freestanding circular you'll use it more frequently for reducing sheet stock or wider cuts.

As an example to back that up 2 nights ago I had to cut an angle on a sheet of osb that's 20 inches wide - the problem lay in that I needed it to be the EXACT same angle as on the narrower strips I had cut on my small tablesaw which only has a working surface of 7 inches either side of the blade. What I ended up doing was clamping a straightedge to the wider osb and running that edge along the side of the tablesaw (I knew it was parallel), while balancing the 20 x 60 inch section of wood... and it took me 2 bites to get it right.

If I'd have thought about it better I'd have done all the cuts on my homemade TS which has far more surface support area.

(Just in case :wink: the triton will be going up for sale soon as the hobby saw I was given will be integrated into my bench - so transatlantic if you're interested in the best saw for the job ..you know who to ask, btw it still looks brand new. )

 

[jdeacon]

My first table saw was a Bosch circular saw mounted under a 19 mm plywood top. In some ways it was safer than my current setup - when cutting rebates or housings or anything "blind" - because I kept the saw's rotating guard. That meant, however, that a zero clearance throat plate was out of the question. Also, the thickness of the table limited how much blade tilt I could get. And of course, even untilted cuts were of limited depth.

I did arrange that the power cord would pull out if ever for some unaccountable reason the saw came loose and fell from under the table.

It worked much better than my first homemade router table; but that was mainly because of the crappy Trend plate I used on that.

 

[Jelly]

Depending on your setup and proficiency with working to fine tolerances I'd think you could build a conventional table saw by purchasing a spindle, adjustment screws and gears & a motor as COTS (commercial off the shelf) parts, putting the spindle on lignum or oil-soaked maple bearings and building the frame table and the spindle-motor subframe all from wood.

 

[Steve Blackdog]

I thought about building my own table to use my circular saw inverted. I realised that it would be very difficult to use it tilted at an angle, so I decided to buy a spares or repair SIP lightweight table saw. They retail between £180 and around £250.

Having stripped it down, I can see it is great value for money, but the metal casing is made from cheddar cheese. It really isn't good quality. You get a great deal for your money and I reckon you can get them to work very well. But, and it's a bit but, I would splash out and get a more expensive saw if I was looking for a long term machine for the workshop.

If I can't make my spares or repair saw work, I will use the table, fence, mitre etc to mount my circular saw under - not sure how I will do it, but it will be better than nothing.