have 2nd table saw - what to do with it

[bob]

My Dad recently gave me his 10" table saw. It is a 1950's vintage Craftsman, actually well built with a good, gear driven fence. It has had a hard life - I disassembled lawn mower engines on it when I was a kid, and I don't think my Dad ever cleaned the gook out of the trunnion area. But, a good cleaning up with take care of that. He even built a rolling cabinet under it that doubles as a dust collector.

Anyway, I have a Jet 10" contractors saw. And I was thinking, what operation could I set up the Craftsman for that would save me time so I am not swapping out blades, etc... on the Jet. Dadoing comes to mind, but I don't think the Craftsman is up to that task. What else would you all recommend for a dedicated unit?

Thanks,

Bob

[toller]

Obvious answer is a large crosscut sled.

Oh, to have the room you must have...

[Troy Hall]

donate it to me LOL

[John]

Set it up as a dedicated DADO machine??

Set it up as a rough sawing station with a coarse toothed blade??

Pull the motor and convert to a heavy duty router table??

John

[AL]

How about removing the blade/motor/trunnion and installing a router? The fence and the large cast iron surface will make a great router table.

[Sweet Sawdust]

[Wilson]

Don't listen to those guys...give ot to me. I have two C'men and both work well. I have that fence and it's OK if you push it up against the rail after setting...usually takes me two tries. No Prob for the few small rips I do on it. I do the big rips on a RAS...much easier and safer!

Anyhow, the crosscut advice is right on. I have an 80 tooth crosscut blade on one and a rip blade on the other. It saves me gobs of time, especially since I never plan cuts in any reasonable order. I can leave a rip set, like for rail/stile/face frame stock and do the crosscuts as needed, going back to rip more if I mess something up or change my design.

Both my old C'men asr as straight as can be and run fine. I could use a little more power for ripping big stuff, but rarely need it. I have link belts on them, with original pulleys. I would not trade both for a "better" saw! I even use the original trashy splitters and guards.

BTW, I do all dados on the RAS...MUCH easier and doesn't make me take the TS blade off. This setup has remained unchanged for several years. It looks like the Freud blades will last forever, if I don't hit nails.

If you do some careful setup and have a straight floor, you can set the two TS to be table extensions for each other.

Someday I may try a HArbor Freight motor of 2HP or so on the ripper.

Wilson

[BruceR]

Perhaps a disc sander. That is my plan for my dads old 8" TS I have.

-Bruce

[toller]

I have a 2hp on my craftsman, and it won't make a 45 cut now; the motor sticks up above the table. Just something to watch for. I didn't want you to find out the same way I did; ruining a large panel!

[Pat Barber]

[mac davis]

If you have room, it's great to have 2 table saws... sounds like you could do at least light dados on it, maybe leave a combo blade in it for the quick cuts that you don't want to change the setup on your Jet..

I had an old one that I kept a wobble-dado blade in and added an 8" disk sander to.. used it for a few years until I got the radial arm and the belt/disk sander..

Mac

[Troy Hall]

I've made 3/4" deep dado's 15/16" (?) or was it 13/16" wide in old pallet hardwood in a single pass with mine without even it slowing down. Ate the wood up like it was sawdust! Anyway it was all of the spacers and all of the blades. Worked like a charm. Have used my dado set several times and it cuts as if its a regular blade and just eats up whatever is put in front of it.

[Never Enough Money]

I have two table saws (at least for 2 more months when my fried takes his back)....

It has been wonderful setting up one to cut tenons vertically and the other to cut the cheeks. It is so fast not having to adjust the same saw so many times. Sometimes I put a dado blade in one and a Forrest Woodworker II in the other. Again -- fewer blade changes.

I will truely miss it when my friend takes it back.

"bob" wrote in message news:... [snip]

[Mike Marlow]

Don't sell it short on it's ability to cut dado's. Unless it has an unusually small motor it should dado pretty well. Other uses for it... hmmmmm... well, with a set of torches (one of my favorite tools), a mig welder and a little creativity, you could probably turn it into a dedicated mortising machine. Well, ok, with maybe a little more than just a little work, but think of how you could brag about the stability of the base of your dedicated mortising machine.

Or... you could just send it to me...

[RKG]

I used to have 2 tablesaws - well the 2nd one wasn't much one of those Ryobi things you could pick up and carry with one hand. My first saw because I was just getting into woodworking a couple years ago and didn't know any better. This thread kind of makes me wish I hadn't given it to my son in law. With some of the ideas here I probably could have made use of it, and no I don't have a big shop just a 25' by 25' basement room but at least I have outside access.

Rick

[bob]

Oh, so many ideas. Thanks, guys. Yes, I am blessed with some space - 750 sq ft. I planned it that way when we built the house. I think the first thing is to clean it up and put the dado set on it and see what it can do. I forgot to mention that the saw has no side wings on it, so I'd have to do something there to have a more stable working area. I have an 8" sanding station that my Dad also built and gave to me, so I don't need the table saw for that. The router table - very interesting. I have been wanting to build one. Maybe I better go drink an adult beverage and think about this some.

thanks again for the ideas....

Bob

[AL]

I bet if you know how to weld, or have a friend that knows how to weld, that you can make a jig that will allow you to clamp a router to the existing trunnion, and then raise and lower it with the crank, AND tilt it with the other crank (like a tilting shaper).

[bob]

Now THAT is a way, cool idea!

Thanks!

[AArDvarK]

Bob, another idea, I just saw this link in the current WWJ:

they make a set up for table saws to make them itno (itno?) INTO a molder, "Magic Molder".

Alex