New to the forum, a litle tool help if possible.

[Franco]

Hey guys, my name is Franco and I'm a CNC machinist from Lincoln.

I've only been woodworking on and off for a couple of years with a couple of basic projects. I'm just about to move into my first house with a garage so I'm going to set up a little workshop for me to potter about in. )) I'm after some advice for my choice of power tools.

So far I have been working on a [cocktail style arcade table] and a [touchscreen jukebox] for my girlfriend. You can click the links if you would like to see the blogged progress and get an idea of the kind of thing I am working on.

So far I have only been using a jigsaw, router, circ saw and a borrowed bench drill.

For my workshop I'm looking to have a pillar drill, router table and table saw for my main power tools as thats what I'm intending to use on the next few projects I have lined up.

I have already bought a 650w (0.87HP) pillar/bench drill with a MT2 taper that I bought from Lyndhurst Woodworking. This is the drill next to the weedy Powerline (?) drill I have been borrowing from a friend:

I needed a more powerful drill as I will be drilling lots of 30mm holes with a forstner bit as I'm going to be making a fair few joystick controllers for the Xbox360/PS3 etc and the main button holes are 30mm for the Japanese buttons (Seimistu/Sanwa). The small pillar drill I have borrowed just didn't have the power to cut that size holes.

I also have a basic router table I made to mount in my farthers workmate to do some template routing in but I'm looking to buy a replacement. This is the basic table I made:

I would like to free up the router I have and mount a new one permanently in a new table. Could anyone recommend a good router table? Im looking to spend upto about £150-£200 on one.

As far as table saws go I dont have a clue. I'm mainly going to be cutting small pieces of 12mm and 18mm MDF and also acrylic up to about 10mm thick. I want a fairly decent table that will last me a while and would cope with thicker material if I use it in the future. My budget for the table saw is about £400. Could anyone recommend a table for me?

I think im going to get [this] basic workbench from machine mart as I'm not going to need heavy duty workbench for my needs, just more of an assembly/soldering area.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

EDIT: Wow, the forum really doesn't like my links!

Did I do something wrong? I couldnt see anything in the forum rules regarding links.

 

[woodbloke]

Franco - welcome, you've been caught by the Spamtrap, a few more posts and your links will be fine - Rob

 

[Franco]

Thanks woodbloke.

Do you know how many posts are needed to show images/links?

I don't really want to post willy nilly and technically spam the forum. Ill have to see if I can find some threads to post into.

Well I suppose this is another for the count

 

[Jake]

edit: snipped whole post quote now the spamulator has let go of your ankle.

 

[big soft moose]

Hey guys, my name is Franco and I'm a CNC machinist from Lincoln.

I've only been woodworking on and off for a couple of years with a couple of basic projects. I'm just about to move into my first house with a garage so I'm going to set up a little workshop for me to potter about in. )) I'm after some advice for my choice of power tools.

So far I have been working on a [cocktail style arcade table] and a [touchscreen jukebox] for my girlfriend. You can click the links if you would like to see the blogged progress and get an idea of the kind of thing I am working on.

So far I have only been using a jigsaw, router, circ saw and a borrowed bench drill.

For my workshop I'm looking to have a pillar drill, router table and table saw for my main power tools as thats what I'm intending to use on the next few projects I have lined up.

I have already bought a 650w (0.87HP) pillar/bench drill with a MT2 taper that I bought from Lyndhurst Woodworking. This is the drill next to the weedy Powerline (?) drill I have been borrowing from a friend:

I needed a more powerful drill as I will be drilling lots of 30mm holes with a forstner bit as I'm going to be making a fair few joystick controllers for the Xbox360/PS3 etc and the main button holes are 30mm for the Japanese buttons (Seimistu/Sanwa). The small pillar drill I have borrowed just didn't have the power to cut that size holes.

I also have a basic router table I made to mount in my farthers workmate to do some template routing in but I'm looking to buy a replacement. This is the basic table I made:

I would like to free up the router I have and mount a new one permanently in a new table. Could anyone recommend a good router table? Im looking to spend upto about £150-£200 on one.

As far as table saws go I dont have a clue. I'm mainly going to be cutting small pieces of 12mm and 18mm MDF and also acrylic up to about 10mm thick. I want a fairly decent table that will last me a while and would cope with thicker material if I use it in the future. My budget for the table saw is about £400. Could anyone recommend a table for me?

I think im going to get [this] basic workbench from machine mart as I'm not going to need heavy duty workbench for my needs, just more of an assembly/soldering area.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

EDIT: Wow, the forum really doesn't like my links!

Did I do something wrong? I couldnt see anything in the forum rules regarding links.

just sorting the pics for you franco - I think you only need 3 posts to clear the spamulator so one more and you'll be good to go

edit: doh - great minds think alike jake

 

[Franco]

Thank you so much big soft moose!

Hopefully this one will do the trick then :wink:

Edit: Success, thanks again!

 

[Shultzy]

Welcome to the forum Franco. Depending on the size of the material you are cutting a band saw may be better. As for router tables they are fairly easy to make. Most bought ones need to be mounted on a table anyway.

 

[Richard Findley]

Hi Franco,

Welcome to the forum!!

I would make my own router table:

For the cost of an insert and a sheet or 2 of ply you could put the extra toward a REALLY good table saw!!!!

Good luck,

Richard

 

[Steve Maskery]

Welcome, Franco, I once taught CNC machining at Marconi in Lincoln, a lifetime ago!

If you have a couple of hundred quid to spend on a router table, buy the Norm plans and make you own. It's an excellent design, it will last you the rest of your life and is better than anything you can buy off the shelf.

IIRC it uses 1.5 sheets of 18mm plywood and half a sheet of 12mm for the drawers. Use the best Finnish birch ply you can find, it's worth the extra.

It's also easy to modify Norm's basic fence design to one which incorporates fine adjustment.

If I have a criticism of his design it is that the DX is very poor, although, short of some very specific plumbing, I'm not really sure that I could design something significantly better.

Cheers
Steve

 

[Steve Maskery]

Ah yes, inserts! They matter and they are not all the same.

Personally I would not recommend the black one with grey and red inserts as sold by Rousseau, Ax and a few others. They are not flat. Deliberately so, it would seem, but I think it is not a good design. Apart from anything else the rings are so tight you have to lever them hard to get them off and knock them in with a hammer to put them on.

For not much more yo can buy an aluminium one from Tilgear. The inserts are screwed into place.

But, TBH, if were building today, I'd push the boat out and buy the Woodpecker from Woodworkers Workshop. Yes it more expensive, but very, very good.

S

 

[Out int shed]

hello

for the workbench, and if you dont think you will be Making your own, i would recommend the mach mart clarke wood workers bench.

it comes with 2 vices, but you can easily swap them out for a nice record one.

you may want to weigh it down a bit though. try a thick sectioned sleeper layed across the lower shelf, worked for me to start with.

measure twice, cut once then start again!

 

[mailee]

Welcome Franco. Nice to see someone else setting up shop. Just down the road from me too. Good to have you aboard. :wink:

 

[joiner_sim]

Welcome to the forum! I would always suggest that a band saw is a good machine to have right from the beginning.

 

[Franco]

Thanks for the warm welcome and information guys

That Norm router table looks very nice. I presume its [this one]?

Would it be a suitable project for me to build? I can't imagine it to be 'too' taxing.

I imagine I would also need the hardware kit? Can it only be bought from the US or are there stockists over here?

Steve, I see you are not too far from me. Do you know of a good supplier for Finnish Birch?

Any recommendations for a table saw, I would definitely need one for this project. I could maybe extend my budget to about £500 if I do build my own router table. Maybe something like the [Kity 419]?

 

[Steve Maskery]

Franco
Yes, that's the one. If you come over to Nottingham, pop in and you can look at mine, it has one or two enhancements. The plans are available from Brimarc. IIWY I'd adjust the height to make it the same as your tablesaw and put it on wheels. You don't need to buy a hardware kit fro the states, you just need a few knobs and Bristol levers and sliding nuts, all available over here.

In Nottingham, both Nixon Knowles and Fitchett & Wollacot sell birch ply.

IIRC the whole cabinet is put together with rebates and housing (dadoes in Norm-speak) so you need a good router jig for that and away you go. There was a good one in British Woodworking a few issues ago, but then, as I wrote the article (although I didn't design the jig) I would say that, wouldn't I?

As to saws, there are more threads on this forum on tablesaws than you can shake a stick at, so do a quick search and you will get as much info as you can handle. I have the Xcalibur and am very happy with it, despite its rather dated design. Others here sing the praises of the Jet, SIP, Axminster and, yes, the Kity, although I think the Kity is rather smaller (although more in your budget). Buy once if you are really planning to stick with woodwork.

Cheers
Steve

 

[Chems]

Just read the whole of your Jukebox build thread. You really are very talented. Shame about the LED miss count but that looks like one **** of a project!

 

[Franco]

Thanks for the offer Steve, I may just take you up on that.

The table saw is my number one prioity though, I'll have a good dig around on the forum.

Thanks for the compliment Chems, I'm trying! I've learnt so much as I've been going along. I had only really used a router to cut t-moulding slots before those two projects and they really are a versitle, and probably my favouite tool!

The jukebox was meant to be for my GF for xmas but I have no space to work anymore where I am at the moment (my parents) so it's on hold until I move out at the end of the feb.

I can beleive I miscounted the LEDs, what an silly person! ha ha. I've got to go pick up the second LED controller up from the PO on the way home today (customs charges to pay). It's basically cost me another £50 just to controll the extra two LEDs, doh!

 

[Ross K]

Welcome Franco! I'd definitely say make your own router table. Mine's basically an open fronted box made of 18mm birch ply with 100mm locking castors. It's about 1200 long, 600 wide and is a workbench when the router's retracted. You can buy strong little wind-down legs from Axmisnter for under a tenner to make it super stable.

 

[Chems]