DIY table saw

I wrote previously about a little project to turn my circular saw into a table saw. Last time I was just fixing the structure around the circular saw itself.
Now I have a whole table up and running.

This includes a fence and a sled. At the moment the fence still requires me to use clamps to hold it in position as I’ve not yet build a clamping mechanism into the fence itself.

The sled I made from a peace of melamine that I came out of the kitchen cupboard I cut in half when I installed a new dishwasher. Along with some hard wood runners that sit in the routed tracks.
It runs back and forth pretty smoothly so I guess I managed to get everything fairly parallel.

The cabinet structure keeps things pretty sturdy, and helps to catch the sawdust and keep it inside rather than go everywhere. I had some old material laying around the garage which I staple-gunned in place to catch the sawdust from coming out forwards, whilst still providing easy access to adjust the saw. I am planning on cutting a small circular hole in the back so I can always stick the hose from my dust collector in if I want to further reduce dust.

My first little project with the new setup was to make a rack for some storage boxes in my study. Really just a few scraps squared off and to cut to length to be cross supports, then a rebate sawed out of the end blocks to fit the supports.

It took really only a few minutes to knock up, and the table saw performed nicely. I suspect the accuracy is not that great for longer cuts. I did my best to tweak the alignments on the sled to get good 90 degree cuts, however the blade/spindle in the saw itself can rock back and forth as much as a mm or 2 over the diameter of the saw blade, so there was always going to be a limit to how precise I could make it.

That said, it leaves a much smoother cut than the bandsaw, and I feel like it opens up so useful cutting options, such as cutting out slots. Certainly useful enough for the time being. maybe one day this will act as the gateway drug to buying a full professional table saw. I guess it depends on how much use I get out of it and how frustrating its shortcomings become.

Depending on how you count, this table saw either cost about 70-80 pounds, or was free. The plywood was what was left after making shelves in the study. The circular saw I’ve had for years and rarely use as a free hand saw.

Did you like this project? Hit like to let me know!