Another TS200 Workstation WIP with pics

[Scottlefley]

Hi All,
Right finally found some time to think about making a table saw router table workstation...not another one i hear you all cry! After spending many hours looking at the other fantastic workstation build i have taken various ideas from these with the primary difference being that i already have a trend PRT router table so am going to attempt to incorporate that into the build. I Ummed and ached about selling it on and buying router plate, fence etc, but once you add up the cost and added complexity it didn't seem to make much sense for my needs. Also i am going to try and o this on an absolute minimum budget, can never really justify spending lots of materials for building stuff for the workshop when there is always a new tool i need/want!

So i had stroke of luck for the base of the workstation, many moons ago we replaced our settee and was left with a large leather footstool, not being one to throw anything away willingly i stripped the leather of the stool and kept the rather robust base it was made of...turns out this is pretty dam near perfect size for my build! Added a little extra strength internally to it, but with castors fitted it will work fine.

So next i wanted to build a base for the ts200 to sit on, again trying to use any materials i have laying around int he barn, i found some 18mm ply, two offcuts, which when measured would be just about enough to build a box so fortune strikes again...so far zero expense!!

This isn't attached or anything yet as i am now thinking about dust extraction, was thinking of taking the mesh off the bottom of the saw and then making a large opening in the box to let all the dust fall down into and attached the vacuum to the box, as seen done by many others...any thoughts or gotchas to watch out for this approach?

Anyways, ordered some castors from fleabay so total expense for build thus far is £15....missuss is very happy with me thus far! 8)

 

[rspsteve]

looking good so far .

Steve

 

[alan895]

I like these kinds of builds so no complaints from me!

Have you still got the blade shroud attached (what the bigger hose connects on to)? You could remove this so the dust just falls down but depending on how powerful your vacuum is you may not get an efficient system going, you may also need to think about plugging every hole of the saw up front and back, seal where the cast iron top meets the cabinet and then seal the bottom as its raised to stop any leaks. That may be the more complicated solution against the alternative which is just leaving it the way its set up, from memory when I had one there wasn't a lot of dust that escaped so you could be fine with that.

 

[Scottlefley]

Well after having a long hard procrastinate i decided to leave the dust extraction as is for the time being, due mainly to having it extract out the back will allow me to 'T' the extraction from the router table (which also extracts from the same side) together and have a single outlet to the vac.

Anyways, i managed to get my supporting boxes built out of a combination of old 18mm ply off cuts and some some IKEA chipboard shelves (from the wives dog grooming saloon) and an old, but solid, desk i got off free cycle! I then popped the tabs saw and the router table onto the boxes and they were pretty dam level with one another, nothing a little washer shimming won't fix!

So next i need to stop the router tables legs moving around, so i am after any suggestions from you clever lot...problem is they are angled so its tricky to tie them into the top...thought about just drilling them and then popping some angle brackets with a both through the leg, won't look the best but after all this is a budget workstation and as long as it is functional i am happy. But after any other thoughts? ....pic below of the legs...

 

[marcros]

coming on well. keep up the good work.

for the router table, what about the rubber ends for walking sticks- the nhs type. you could screw straight through them into the top, and stand the table legs into it.

 

[Scottlefley]

That's a good idea...but that begs the next question...where does one find a load of nhs walking stick rubber ends...could nick one off my grans stick but I'll still need another three!!! :twisted:

 

[carlb40]

Looking good here

That's a good idea...but that begs the next question...where does one find a load of nhs walking stick rubber ends...could nick one off my grans stick but I'll still need another three!!! :twisted:

Wait till she gets a replacement, nick that one, wait till she gets a replacement for the 2nd etc etc :mrgreen:


Why not make a ply or timber strip with a groove/ stopped rebate for the legs to sit in? Fix the strip front to rear

As to the dust extraction issue. When i made my stand for the TS200 / router table i used 2 of these

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/GUTTER-GUTTER ... 20e0de5871

Cut the square section off just passed the start of the square - to have a fixing flange. Then using a combination of downpipe and axi 63mm extraction fittings to have a central extraction system to the rear of the workstation with one outlet to connect to the extractor

 

[Scottlefley]

I 'm thinking that the the grooves cut in a bit of wood will cause my gran less grief so that's the top idea now, thanks for that, I can see that working.

As for the guttering for extraction, isn't the guttering pipe too large for the ts200 extraction port...or did you do some clever trick to make a good seal...?
Any cheap/smart ideas for sorting court piping the extraction great fully received as I want to make this workstation for as few pounds as possible so I can then convince the other half I can have a planer thicknesser!!!! :twisted:

 

[carlb40]

I 'm thinking that the the grooves cut in a bit of wood will cause my gran less grief so that's the top idea now, thanks for that, I can see that working.

As for the guttering for extraction, isn't the guttering pipe too large for the ts200 extraction port...or did you do some clever trick to make a good seal...?
Any cheap/smart ideas for sorting court piping the extraction great fully received as I want to make this workstation for as few pounds as possible so I can then convince the other half I can have a planer thicknesser!!!! :twisted:

Mine is sort of like this but with an enclosed stand all around.
http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?client=f ... 42&ndsp=53
Under the saw i have a dust chute that slopes to the rear where the dust port is. That then tees off outside to the router table section. I have removed the standard inner blade guard/ dust collection to allow the dust to just drop into the sawdust box.

 

[foxhunter]

Re dust extraction.
I also removed the mesh from the underside of the saw. Not sure what it was doing there! And made a shallow drawer to fit between the supports. This collected the surplus dust and can be cleaned out whenever necessary.

 

[carlb40]

Re dust extraction.
I also removed the mesh from the underside of the saw. Not sure what it was doing there! And made a shallow drawer to fit between the supports. This collected the surplus dust and can be cleaned out whenever necessary.

I think the mesh is for when the saw is fitted to the open stand, so you can't get your fingers up underneath. So more H&S basically.

 

[Scottlefley]

Back again....managed to finally get some time away from work, wife and son to finish this little project. Thanks for all your kind comments and useful suggestions so far, they have all been taken on board and digested!

So the last time i was troubled by how i was going to connect the router table to the base as the legs are splayed...well using the metal stand that the TS200 came on, i dismantled it and utilised the metal to build a simple edge to butt the legs against, then drilled through and bolt together...solid as the proverbial rock

Next i added a length of 25mm aluminium angle between the join of the table saw and router table to fill a small gap...as many others have said before i am surprised how easy cast iron is to drill!

Next i popped some drawers in the openings of the base, into which my rutlands router cutter box fitted perfect, so just turned that into a drawer itself! Used some drawer runners from screwfix, full length ones...so that was approx £21 added to my £15 already spent (remember i am trying to do this without spending a penny, not too bad thus far).

For the dust extraction, after much deliberation and looking at all the brilliant mobile workstations already created opted to do....nothing...it was gonna cost and didn't want to spend, so for the time being i have a hose permanently connected to the spout of the router fence and the table saw and just swap them into the vac as needed, after all i will only be using one at a time. In the future I will convert the cupboard under the saw to catch more of the dust, but thats something for the future. At this point i also decided to pop the right hand extension back on the saw, but mount it on the left, means for the time being i have to use my fence on th elect also, but i am hoping to get an aftermarket jobbie so will need a new rail for it anyways. Gives me far more working surface and hoping to change the height of the bench at the back of the garage so that i can use that as an out feed table when the saw is butted up to it.

Notice the handy holes for storing the hoses!!

So for the time being the workstation is finished, might add a coat f paint to tidy it up, but i am in two minds as i like the 'Heath Robinson' look which shows all the off cuts and spare materials i used to make it with

So in total it cost me the cost of castors of fleabay (£15) and drawer runners from screwfix (£21), fortunately everything else was taken from my squirrelled away collection of odds and sods, so missus is happy as i only spent £36!

A Couple of piccies to finish off...as always comments, good or bad, are very welcome. Thanks for all the help all those that have posted and also all those that have posted WIP of the same thing in the past, you are all ace!!

 

[Halo Jones]

It looks really good. Wish I was as organiseed as I have been wanting to put a router table on the end of my saw for a couple of years now :roll:

I am assuming that you have worked things out and having both saw wings on the same side doesn't make it all tippy?

H.

 

[marcros]

I am about to do a mid to my saw for a router table extension. I am concerned about it being a bit tippy but a support leg is easy enough to include. I saw one somewhere where somebody had used an extendable mop handle which was clever because it was easy to adjust.

 

[Scottlefley]

Hi Guys,

nope the workstation isnt tippy at all as the left hand wing (which is unsupported by the base) won't contain a router, it is used purely as an extension for supporting wider pieces of board when cutting. The right hand side, which is the router table is fully supported by the base, so its actually quite well balanced...although i wouldn't fancy trying to lift it as all in it weights a bleeding ton!!!

So all thats left to do is to decide if it needs a lick of paint and to sort out a better table saw fence and rail....the perennial problem of finding a good quality aftermarket fence in the UK continues!!!

 

[Benchwayze]

Walking stick ferrules; if you want them in black!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/?ie=UTF8&keyw ... iev39k2_ee

 

[carlb40]

Hi Guys,

nope the workstation isnt tippy at all as the left hand wing (which is unsupported by the base) won't contain a router, it is used purely as an extension for supporting wider pieces of board when cutting. The right hand side, which is the router table is fully supported by the base, so its actually quite well balanced...although i wouldn't fancy trying to lift it as all in it weights a bleeding ton!!!

So all thats left to do is to decide if it needs a lick of paint and to sort out a better table saw fence and rail....the perennial problem of finding a good quality aftermarket fence in the UK continues!!!

Try this.
http://www.axminster.co.uk/axminster-rip-fence-upgrade

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0yFbiJ3ZRI

 

[Scottlefley]

Thanks for the link, to be honest that was the only one I was had seen that was even close to being within budget...we would all love an Incra special, but hard to justify when the fence costs more than your saw! Still thinking of making one, but I want to make it out of aluminium extrusions, seems simple enough but he hard bit is getting hold of a toggle clamp that will hold the fence tight and square to a rail....any ideas anyone?

As for the walking stick bits, no need towery about them anymore as I drilled the legs and then bolted them to some angle iron and bolted that to the top, so router table is one proper secure...thanks for the suggestions though, appreciated.

 

[morfa]

Nice looking build there. I like how you've combined it all together. Very functional and useful.

 

[Scottlefley]

Nice looking build there. I like how you've combined it all together. Very functional and useful.

Thank you, 'functional' is the word i use, its no where near as great looking as some of table saw workstation the builds i have seen on this forum (they are works of art!) but its serves its purpose and works well.