I'm stumped on a good way to add an outfeed table to my saw. Yet another "benefit" of the Jet Supersaw. Before I dimisss this idea entirely, I thought I'd ask the "Pro's".
If I wanted to attach some brackets to the table saw cast iron top, I think I'd be drilling some biggun holes into some purdy thick iron. Would I be an idiot to try this? Would it take forever? Would I go through 35 bits? Would I need some liquid coolant on the bore? Should I buy eight $15 Black and Decker cheapo drills and just burn them up?
Or - should I dimiss this approach and look for another way to attach the outfeed table?
it isn't that tuff to drill. You are gonna drill about 1/2 or 7/16 holes? One bit should do the whole thing. We aren't talking grade 8 material here. Now that takes a cobalt drill bit, or better.
I use rare earth magnets epoxy'd to the table that attach them selves and hold pretty well. You can find these in any old hard drive or do a web search for rare earth magnets.
Someone a long while back (it's been 8 months since I've been on the wreck) posted this message and had a web site showing it. Works great!
Off memory (from when i drilled holes in my bandsaw table for an aftermarket fence), just use a standard high speed steel twist bit at about 1000rpm (I used a drill press). A little lube may help disipate the heat produced and protect the drill bit a little more but apply it only after you have drilled in a small way, so it doesn't slip while your trying to drill the first few mm's
No idea. Well behaved cast iron is easy to drill, "chilled" iron can be a nightmare. Give it a go, you'll probably find it drills very easily. Use a sharp twist drill and you don't need lubricants or cutting fluid. The swarf should come off as chips, not twirlies.
why use big holes? just drill and tap some holes. then you dont have to worrie with nuts and washers. makes the addition of a table easy.bolt your brackets directly to the top. i used an old detla saw table to mount several grinders to in this manner. worked like a charm. go slow and let the bit do the work.the cast drills easy and 1 bit and 1 tap should do all the holes for you. george
What do you consider a big hole? FWIW I drilled a 1/2" hole through a piece of railroad track (just under the rail head, where it was maybe 1" thick). I used 3-in-one oil to lubricate it, because that's what was within reach. I set the speed on my drill press according to the chart, and wound up using the lowest speed I had for the job, but it came out fine. I got two perfect little twisty thingies (dang, what are those called?), and the bit is fine. The only problem was when the bit started to break through to the other side, grabbed, and tried to spin the 60-pound piece of track. I smoked the belts on the drill press a couple of times before I managed to find just the right light touch to get through without it grabbing.
Cast iron would be even easier to drill, though you have the dual problems of keeping the drill perpendicular to the table surface and maintaining a good, low speed. Maybe use a dowling jig?
Cast iron is the easiest stuff in the world to drill. More fun that wood, IMHO. Centerpunch to locate the hole, drill one small pilot hole, then go full-size. Don't use cutting fluid--it's self-lubricating. A slightly higher speed than steel for the same bit size is good.
We no longer see much iron in use, just cast iron. And even that's getting rarer. Before the late 19th century and the Bessemer converter though, steel was a rare and expensive alloy used only for hard edges. Most things we'd now use mild steel for were made of wrought iron, of various grades. These days, decorative smiths can hardly buy wrought iron anywhere. There are only three (?) bloomeries left making it world-wide, and these are solely for the "arts and crafts" market.
Railway line is awkward stuff. Old rails tended to be fairly simple alloys, but modern ones are quite complex. They may even be a harder steel head welded to a less brittle rail, or a flame carburisation process where the alloy of the wear surface is changed. Some of these are damn near undrillable.
Around 1910, Newcastle Upon Tyne was noted for two things; the huge shipyards building armoured battleships, and the world's largest railway crossing at one end of Central station. Crossings and points are always awkward, as the "frog noses" (the pointy bit) wear rapidly. The solution to regular replacement and traffic disruption was to replace the frogs in this crossing by a specialised manganese steel, drawing on the shipyard's armour knowledge.
I never said "good" or "bad", just that it's how CI behaves. Twisty swarf certainly isn't bad, it's just that you won;t get it, except for the most sophisticated grades of CI.
The other thing about CI is that it contains loose carbon between the iron crystal grains. This acts as a lubricant, so you don't need to add one yourself.
Doesn't really sound heavy enough !
My 8' beam car-portable treb
began life with a 12 brick counterweight and was pathetic. With a 20 brick counterweight it got much more interesting. You need at least
It isn't, but it's the most weight I could come up with without having to scrap the entire thing. Started life using part of an old weight set for weight. Came to 26 pounds. It was miserable.
The track weighs 62 pounds, so it does better. Track works because it's narrow enough to fit into the frame that I built to accommodate the original weights. Any wider, and I have to replace my nice hardened steel Nordic Trac axle with something else, and pretty much rebuild the entire thing from there.
I shoot a 5 oz baseball, so that's... Well, more math than I want to do after all this beer. Let's see... 16 ounces to a pound, so I have 5/16 of a pound... Looks like almost a 200:1 ratio unless I'm just demonstrating how bad Americans are at math.
No pictures. I haven't gotten around to taking any yet. It's a good bit smaller than yours, and much more heavily built. Maybe I over-built it, but it sure has lasted well. I have it strapped to a hand truck so I can roll it across to the big parking lot across the street. If I ever get to take it anywhere, I can probably fit it into the back of a van without taking it apart, though I will want to un-hook the weight first I should think. :)
Maximum range on those baseballs is about 100' I'm afraid. I've heard accounts of smaller/lighter trebs doing better, so maybe I don't have mine properly tuned yet.
Tomorrow I'll throw half a brick with the thing and see if I can beat your
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