I did it (Charnwood W650)

[Vikash]

Excited like a school kid. I ordered the Charnwood W650 tablesaw. Should be a slight improvement over the Axi BTS10 that scares the **** outta me everytime I hit the start button.

First project will be a HT subwoofer

 

[flounder]

You are a lucky chap! I wish I had the space for a decent cabinet saw instead of having to have a fold away site saw!

 

[turnamere]

I also wish I had space for a table saw but my garage isn't quite big enough to accomodate one and still fit the car in.

On the other hand, I do have the luxury of a dedicated home cinema room and that does have plenty of space for a SW like yours, I'm guessing that the performance of this will be on a par with circa £1k off the shelf units. I'll watch this project with interest.

 

[monkeybiter]

I thought it was an upended built in hob from the first back view :roll:

 

[Vikash]

You are a lucky chap! I wish I had the space for a decent cabinet saw instead of having to have a fold away site saw!

I also wish I had space for a table saw but my garage isn't quite big enough to accomodate one and still fit the car in.

On the other hand, I do have the luxury of a dedicated home cinema room and that does have plenty of space for a SW like yours, I'm guessing that the performance of this will be on a par with circa £1k off the shelf units. I'll watch this project with interest.

I won't be able to get my car into the garage either now, but who cares

Yep, the sub will be on par for commercial units in that bracket. I'm basically rehousing a previous design. More diy audio stuff here: http://www.vikash.info/audio

 

[Vikash]

Well it arrived today.

I'm part way through assembling and will upload more pics soon.

Some minor issues which perhaps someone could confirm if it's the same on theirs:
- The extrusion with the measuring scale can't be aligned far enough to zero reference with the blade. And the millimetre markings are about half a millimetre thick so not sure how useful it wil be.
- The rip fence doesn't move freely on the leader pole. In fact it's near impossible to make it move without a series of expletives flying.

Other than that, the sliding carriage moves beautifully and overall the unit is a good compact size, and actually quite light (you have to tip it to get some bits out from the bottom such as the mitre attachment, handles and instructions!). The mobile base is proving to be an excellent idea.

Oh and the bonus is it has T slots milled into the top and mitre attachment is supplied which I don't believe it had in earlier versions.

 

[Vikash]

Finished putting it together this evening. The only issue now is with adjusting the table top mitre slots to the saw blade. I've loosened the four socket head bolts that secure the top but it won't budge. Any ideas?

 

[Digit]

Vikash, I'm not familiar with your saw, but is the blade arbor not bolted to the underside of the top?

Roy.

 

[stuartpaul]

Vikash,

I really hope you have more success than I did with the 650.

Have you checked the top for flatness? Mine was so far out (dished) I had to send it back and the customer service from Charnwood was virtually non existent.

I know at least one other person on here has the 650 and is pleased with it so maybe it was just my lucky day?!

Stuart

 

[Vikash]

Vikash, I'm not familiar with your saw, but is the blade arbor not bolted to the underside of the top?

Roy.

Hi Roy, I spoke to a Charnwood engineer this morning and he said there were two more bolts accessible by removing the blue side plate. Sure enough I've now managed to accurately align the sliding carriage, saw blade, and rip fence to the mitre slots.

Vikash,

I really hope you have more success than I did with the 650.

Have you checked the top for flatness? Mine was so far out (dished) I had to send it back and the customer service from Charnwood was virtually non existent.

I know at least one other person on here has the 650 and is pleased with it so maybe it was just my lucky day?!

Stuart

Hi Stuart, yes the top is perfectly flat. I just double checked after reading your post :? However, I also had a minor issue with a small dink in the corner edge of the table that protruded about 1mm where it had bruised above the surface. I didn't think it was worth sending back for this as it's easily rectified and my experience with Charnwood and getting compensation for it instead has been reasonable enough.

Now that I've managed to align everything and have a good understanding of how it all works and can be adjusted, I'm as happy as can be with it considering I've yet to make a cut.

Just waiting for a cone reducer to arrive so I can plug it into the vac and get started!

The only things left to do are wax the top and guide rail and perhaps add some gaffa tape to the hose connector inside the unit as it's not sealed as good as it could be.

 

[woodshavings]

- The extrusion with the measuring scale can't be aligned far enough to zero reference with the blade. .

Same problem on mine - fitted perspex cursor - works fine
HTH, John

 

[Vikash]

Hi John, thanks for the idea. I like that it makes the reference closer to the tape.

I peeled mine off to try to realign it but in doing so managed to stretch it I think. Well it's about 1mm out over 30cm anyway, so I've just ordered a Richter self adhesive measure tape from ebay to replace.

 

[Vikash]

Machined a cursor out of some alu today. A bit superfluous perhaps but I want a machine that's accurate compared to my previous saw.

Coupled with the fine-adjuster on the fence, I'm able to visually position the cursor in ~0.25mm increments now, which should be good enough for anything I need to do.

 

[woodshavings]

I like that.
I assume you offset the replacement tape to suit the cursor offset.
I can see a further advantage is that the curser will slide and maintain its position as you move the fence in or out. I usually have the fence set so the end is in line with apex of the blade to avoid any possible binding.
John

 

[woodbloke]

Glad you've got hold of the W650...you'll find it's a good piece of kit. I suggest you get hold of the relevant copy of F&C for a full in depth review and my alterations and mods to it - Rob

 

[Vikash]

Rookie question: in what scenarios do you use the fence along it's tall edge vs short edge? I'm just wondering whether I need to make another cursor for when the fence is in the other position.

 

[Chems]

Not such a Rookie question, I've often wondered why some saws come with fences like that. My only idea is that if you are working with a small piece, especially small and narrow it can be very hard to get a push stick down between the tall fence and the blade guard. So it that circumstance I can imagine the extra access the low profile fence would give would improve the safety. But thats the only thing I can think of.

 

[custard]

Not such a Rookie question, I've often wondered why some saws come with fences like that. My only idea is that if you are working with a small piece, especially small and narrow it can be very hard to get a push stick down between the tall fence and the blade guard. So it that circumstance I can imagine the extra access the low profile fence would give would improve the safety. But thats the only thing I can think of.

That's all i use a low fence for, clearance.

 

[TheTiddles]

The low fence can get under the crown guard for narrow cuts

Aidan

 

[Vikash]

Thanks, I think in that case I can live without a cursor for the wider fence position.

No one spotted my boo-boo? The cursor rises above the table top as a stop against the fence , but this means that the work piece can't be fed flat onto the saw table unless the piece is quite short

Looks like a redesign is needed, perhaps using the T-slot on the underside of the extrusion to affix the cursor.

The new steel backed Richter measure tape arrived today and it's both accurate according to my steel rule, and the line marking thickness is half that of the previous tape. Bonus is it looks good too