"Spare" cast iron table saw top ... (in my hallway)

[julianf]

I have the top to a wadkin AGS 250 table saw.

One of these -

Its a lump of cast iron -

...and its been sitting in out hallway way too long!


As you can see its got the oval cut out for the blade, and two slots for sliding mitres etc.

I also have the fence mechanism, but kind of had plans for that elsewhere.




I wanted to turn the table into a router table. This kind of thing -

But its not ideal, in that the oval hole is too small to use as-is, and longer than standard router insert plates. Which isnt really an issue, as i can make up a custom plate, but it just starts feeling more and more like a bodge.


Plus, Im not 100% sure how, say, a 10mm, plate will work out. As in id need a lip for it to sit on, and ive not yet calculated if id still have that lip, after removing 10mm for the recess.




So, my question -

a) do you reckon a router table is a good idea / would work, or
b) what else should i do with it? Id consider floging it, and, sure, to the right person it would be hundreds, but as a lump of flat cast with an awkward oval hole, i cant see it being more than £50 or so, so its hardly a big money item.

Basically, any ideas that get it out of my hall way, and im all ears!

Thank you.

 

[Lons]

I'd say that's definitely worth using as a cast table would beat other types all day long. It wouldn't be too difficult to machine a recess and create a plate and you can fix a plate under the table to provide a lip and strengthening where required.
Needs a bit of thought and careful planning but perfectly feasible imo, if you don't want it I'll have it and I bet that I wouldn't be the only taker.

 

[julianf]

Here's another photo -

The ribs could be machined away. The area where the black colouration is (between about 7 and 9 3/4 inches on the photo) is only about 7.5mm thick. The rest is more like 13.8mm.

If i were to make a cut out for an insert plate, because of the thin black bit, i would probably have to make it this big, in order to get a lip to sit it on the whole way around -

Or, i accept that its unsupported for 2.5" (which if i use a 10mm plate, im sure is acceptable) and move the insert plate away from the slot.