Fettling an Axminster TS-200 Tablesaw

[wizer]

I'm going to have to cease progress on this for the time being. For a few reasons but mainly, as I mentioned above, I would like to at least try to get my wife's anniversary box started\finished.

Don't give up on me baby, I fully intend to finish what I started

 

[jlawrence]

bsm, i find the sliding table is pretty easy to wip off when you need to work sheet goods.
i agree the guard is cr4p and a suva style seems thbe way to go.
rather than a hopper underneath i'm just going to have a drawer - I think a hopper will just waste too much space.
The other thing you will want to change is the insert. 3mm Al fits just nice for a zci.
I must be the lucky one in that my extension table is pretty flat and level so I'll be sticking with that - though having a router table in the extension wing could be handy.

 

[OPJ]

Pete, I'm sure there was another member on this forum who found the extension table on his saw was 2mm in higher one corner than the rest, or something like that. Anyway; he spoke to Axminster and they were happy to replace that part at no charge. If your saw's still under warranty, you could try the same.

 

[big soft moose]

... and having read this whole thread from start to finish we will also be upgrading the fence - adjusting the old one is a pita

olly - ours is out of warranty but anyway its not skewed, just 2mm too low ( I suspect the suplied spacers dont raise it up enough - we could just make more spacers but as i want to make the ext table fold down when not in use anyway i think we are going to butcher it) - I'd not noticed before because we normally rip quite narrow stuff whereas yesterday i'd forgotten the railsaw so was using the ts200 to breakdown some mdf found in a skip.

 

[dicktimber]

Yawn.......Yawn...Yawn....snoooooooooze............

 

[OPJ]

I did manage to get it fractionally too high and as a consequence there is about a 2mm gap at the beginning of the fence.

I'm not sure is this really matters. The fence does not glide along the table like I'd hoped, but is a massive improvement on the old one. The problem I have is comparing everything to the supersaw. That fence would glide effortlessly over the table. But then that had a pad at the end of the fence (and was nearly three times the price). I'm wondering if I should fit something like a foam pad at the far end of this one to both take up the 2mm error and help with movement.

Tom, I think it would be worthwhile fitting something below the tail end of the fence. Not only to 'level' it to the front (if that matters?) but, I reckon it will also help it to glide along the table.

I have got some Self-Adhesive Cork Dots I could send you... But, I reckon they're more likely to increase friction! :roll:

A couple of bits of 1mm Formica/plastic laminate would probably be better, glued (or taped with double-sided) to the underside. Again, if you haven't got anything like that, I could send you a bit. Tufnol, nylon or similar would also do, if you had the right thickness.

Did you also notice that Axminster do a "Re-sawing and Veneering Plate for Rip Fence Upgrade" at £6.60? It's on the same page as the rip fence upgrade you bought.

 

[wizer]

Cheers Olly, I've got some felt pad dots somewhere. That should do it.

I saw that resaw attachment, which I assume is like a single point thingy. The only use I can think for the TS would be for when using the fence as a stop. But I can just use a piece of wood for that.

I was using it today, so much more pleasant to use now.

 

[big soft moose]

you can get little bits of self adhesive teflon - that would work well for increasiung slidyness i reckon

 

[big soft moose]

Well we started butchering our TS200 at work today , no bigs as yet but basically the same procedure as tom

stripped down to the main unit only, sides off, dust cowl off (tom is right this is very fiddly), faffed about putting the riving knife back on and everything lined up

didnt bother chopping the corner off the motor mounting plate as i dont think we need to

tommorow we are going to butcher the router table i bought from paul J last year and fit the ts200 into the stand, then refit the router table top (complete with T11) as the right hand extension. - the plan vis a vis dust extraction is to hopper like ed, tom , and rob, but rather than fitting it in onto the saw , we are going to enclose the saw in the stand (except the front which will be snugged in the draft excluder or duck tape) and fit the hopper into the stand. - just got to work out what to do re dust extraction for the router.

I'll hopefully have some photos tommorow.

after this we are going to make a hinge up torsion box as a left hand table, and a bigger one at the back as an out feed table

 

[big soft moose]

more butchering and modification took place today - still no pics because i forgot to pick the camera up

however we have now butchered the router table (which started life as a norm style router table - built by paulj) and turned it into a stand to take the TS200 with the router table and T11 as its right hand extension.

I'm really happy with progress - noticeable that 2 people working together are much more than twice as fast as one working alone. (especially when one's me and the other is our "head volunteer" andy)

all that remains to be done is to fit the dust hopper and run the hoses and also build the torsion boxes for left ext and out feed tables (which are going to hinge down) - I am toying with having another hinge up torsion box as an infeed table at the front but that would require relocating the nvr on the saw to the side of the cabinet and i'm not convinced that the cable is long enough.

oh yeah we also have to still sort out the fence - i'm still debating whether to buy one like tom did, or whether to try an improvise something from bits already available.

one more day should see the saw mods completed - then we are on to building a stand for the scms

 

[Richard D]

No it's definitely mounted to the table Jim

I don't think the manual will be much help
http://www.axminster.co.uk/downloads//manual_600822.pdf

What? That manual is the very zenith of clarity and usefulness compared to the manual that came with my 15-year old Kity 419. From the look of things, they are *very* similar pieces of kit, so I'm printing out the Axminster manual before I wreck something by trying to rely on the Kity manual (which is much, much less use than Katie Price).

 

[simocco]

Hi. i have just read through this thread as i have a ts200 also. there appear to be loads of images missing or not displayed, is there any chance that they could be reposted or do I need to do anything to view them? cheers

 

[Tony Spear]

A long shot, but you could try Wizer (Tom) over on the Wood Haven. He's the guy that started this thread off and being a bit of a Computer Whizz, he may still have a record of his posts at least.

Worth a try.

 

[aquarmby]

It would be awesome if this thread could be updated along with the old photos and updates etc. The posts are a great read, just let down by lack of photos. The TS-200 is still on sale and would appear to remain as a popular choice for woodworkers! @Wizer to the rescue?

Adam.