workcenters benches for mounting powersaw/routers etc

[micks]

hi all read with interest there are workcenters avaliable these are benches that you can mount a power saw underneath, use with router ,belt sander etc, can only find the likes of the ezemate at £160+vat.

are there any more modest priced vertions avaliable and where to purchase,

seem to recall there was something simular when looking in local b&q some kind of bench but not 100% sure

thank you

 

[samlarsen]

I had one of these benchess a few years ago when i did very light site work. I bought it because of the vise and ability to quickly rip sheets of hardboard/plastic. It was a wolfcraft I think. You could carry it up flights of stairs without getting too tired!

In all respects another than being a large flat table it was rubbish :roll:

The fence was very insecure and moved loads. I used a baton clamped to the top instead. Mitre facility was terrible. The safety guards were highly dangerous and wont meet site regs. All of these work centres are pretty much the same IMHO.

On the plus side it ripped loads of sheets of hardboard / ply over a couple of years and looked so useless that no-one knicked it - even in Sunderland :!: No offence - just that everything else got knicked there - even a stihl saw that was still running on the ground next to the operator!

The message is, if you need to cut within 3mm dont buy one. But if your roughing out on site and the H&S isnt too strict :shock: one might be ok.

Ultimately you're far better off with a better circ saw and some guides for cutting. For the router make up a v simple table from some ply and a baton. Screw this to a £10 folding workmate if you want it free-standing? For the sander just use it hand-held?

Let us know what you want to use the bench for and we may be able to suggest more?

PS-I still have the folding frame for the bench, I use it as the base for my site router table.

Cheers

Sam

 

[beejay]

i tend to agree with my esteemed colleague's response. these things tend to offer the ultimate solution....until you buy it and then you quickly realise youve blown alot of money on something thats pretty useless.
With a little forethought you can usually make a more accurate and much cheaper solution yourself.
beejay

 

[micks]

thanks all was looking at the eazi-way workcenter but it is not suitable for my b&Q fmtcc1200 cs or some other brands whicks etc so that out in anycase.

can see how a portable powersaw can be used to say cut 40mm strip of say a door or sheet material 6x4 etc but not sure how you can cut smaller pieces say 25mm x25mm out of 75mm x25 mm board ,how you can hold stock without the base of saw getting in the way ,

hence i was thinking of mounting the saw underneath something, if there are any pdfs or info on cutting with c/saw this would be helpfull, as you can tell this is another item i have not used .

thank you

 

[samlarsen]

Mick,

You are correct, ripping smaller stuff is not easy with a circ saw mainly because you cant support the saw on the work easily. If I was faced with cutting lots of this dimension of material I would prefer to do it on a bandsaw. If the "easyway" is £160 you could get a small hobby bandsaw for similar money (less for second hand?). Realistically, ripping is the only operation which is not practical with handtools. X-cutting can often easily be done with handsaw. If you bought one of these small machines, chances are you'll be able to sell it later if you grow out of it. The easyway will end up in the tip as you'll not find many buyers!

If you already have a circular saw (?) maybe you can adapt it by drilling through the base plate to accept a twin locking fence which will allow you to follow an edge very accurately. To provide sufficient support simply lay a similar sized board next to the one you are cutting so the saw can run along it whilst you cut the other. Do you have a large workbench to lay stuff out on?

I made my own saw table by VERY firmly screwing an old B&Q saw to the base of a thick piece of ply / chipboard. I routed a slot to take a fence which I locked in place with clamps once adjusted, and hey presto, a saw table. This top replaced the orignial (wolfcraft?) top when it was bent after falling down some of the stairs I mentioned earlier. In fact the fence was a good deal better than the orignal and would easily cut to 0.5mm ish.

We should mention crown guards and no volt release switches. You'll need to add something like these to any saw table you make. Hence I would prefer the bandsaw as it is much safer.

Cheers

 

[micks]

thanks sam

i have got circular saw, i have got a b&Q portable workbench but need to change the two top faces as they are warped, will have a look at base plate etc of saw to see if i can make somekind of support, will have plenty of mdf etc soon when my kitchen is replaced.

idealy i might be able to make adapt/ workbench to make both a saw table and router table incorperated into one unit , so any fence or guides serve dual purposes.

as regards switches etc i can well see your point if saw router broke free from table it would be very dangerous.

thank you

 

[cambournepete]

I think the wolfcraft items mentioned are the ones shown on the Machine Mart website.

What's not been mentioned is of course the Triton* which sounds just like what you're after...

Pete

*Why is the Triton stuff so unfashionable?
Admittedly the Festool stuff is probably much better, but it's so much more expensive...

 

[Alf]

What's not been mentioned is of course the Triton* which sounds just like what you're after...

Yeah, I thought that but don't know enough about it to comment. If only DW wasn't swanning about in Oz... :roll:

Cheers, Alf

 

[cambournepete]

OK then, as I've got one I'll expand my last comments a bit.

The main triton 2000 costs around £300, but the compact version without cross cut option is around £100.
If you're careful your can get quite accurate results with it in table saw mode.

If you look here you will see a full list of available equipment including prices. There's also a review by Mike Gregory on the site which is a fair assessment of it. (This site can be a bit slow at times). These are the people who demo it at Yandles shows etc...

Also look at the Triton Australia web-site.

It's good, but not perfect, and I'm not keen on the sliding table but that could just be me...

HTH,

Pete

 

[micks]

thanks all have looked on sharpend and triton but cannot see a compact vertion of workcenter only triton 2000 and a router /jigsaw type table,

could you tell me the model /product ref of compact vertion.

the only other item i have come across is the CHARNWOOD W002 but this is router table only.

thank you

 

[cambournepete]

It's the TCB100, listed at £100 on sharpEnd.

I can't get their website link to work, so have a look at it on Machine Mart.

Cheers,

Pete

 

[micks]

thanks all have just signed up to e bay there seem to be a few modest priced router tables etc have placed modest bid for small charnwood router table w002?? to get me started will concern myself with circular saw attachment at a later date.

thank you