What got me excited again about wood working was a table saw station I saw on Pinterest. After researching and reviewing a bunch of designs I came up with my own. Here is the creation of my station
I started with sketching out a drawing of what I thought would fit best in my garage and the practicality of the usage of the tools incorporated in the cabinet. I decided to use poplar plywood for the construction of the cabinetry due to it's weight and strength. Knowing that the finished product would weight considerably I used heavy duty casters for mobility. The base is a torsion box construction to withstand bowing of the cabinet.
Below is the cabinets boxes assembled, saw and top (without laminate) installed
Here the laminate is installed and router lift recessed into top. I used Oak for the self edge of the top. Looking good and is functional.
Next on my list is the guts to the cabinets. Being in such a small space this had to be done correctly to maximize the space and efficiency of the saw itself. I started with the router table portion of the station. The top two fronts on each side are trays that hold the router bits, the lower fronts hold the router wrenches and accessories. As you can see I used 1/4" solid Oak banding mitered around the fronts and created a solid Oak door for the router compartment. Also I came up with my own custom pull for all the doors and fronts to come. The main bottom drawer has a 1/2 bottom and stores all my routers. That's Hershey in the lower picture, my shop dog!
The front of the station is loaded with drawers. I needed to storage for tools, supplies, blades and small scrap. All the drawers are constructed with a fully captured bottom using 1/2" Baltic birch plywood including the bottom which is 1/4". I also designed the blade storage pullouts .....
NEW FENCE SYSTEM 3/8/19
UPDATE: I finally updated the saw with a good fence. It is a Biesmeyer style fence however from Shop Fox. After reading numerous reviews of what has happened to the Biesmeyer fence system and how poorly it is made these days. The company was sold and these aren't made in the USA anymore so I decided to look elsewhere. I considered just making my own for the cost savings and knowing it would be built right but instead I choose the Shop Fox after market fence. Pretty much all the reviews were in favor of the quality and price. It came with everything to fit a normal cabinet saw however I didn't need the back rail or table support legs, but it was priced right so I order it. I custom fit it to my saw, the length was shortened to fit my application. It gives me 40" of ripping capacity right of the blade. Most of all there is no flex in the fence. The original fence had a ton - problem solved. After installing the fence there was some issues. Here is what I didn't like about the fence and how I solved the problem.
1. The measuring tape (scale) that comes with the saw needs to be applied and its a vinyl tape. I usually calibrate my saw at 10". I notice that anything cut over 10" was way over sized further right of that point. and under 10" was small further left. I checked the tape against a regular measuring tape and the scale grew 1/4" in 40". Basically the tape is worthless, I ordered a steel Starret tape from Amazon for $7.23 and the problem was solved.
2.The fence faces are made of a HDPE material which looks like they're made of UHMW, however they are just some kind of glossy plastic which has a lot of friction if not waxed constantly. A true Biesmeyer uses laminate, so I made new fence face boards, laminating 1/2 Baltic birch plywood on both sides and finished the edges with T molding. Looks way better and works awesome.
3. The fence has a magnified cursor on it, which if your not standing directly 90 degrees over it you'll be off the intended mark slightly, so I ordered a Biesmeyer style cursor from Fix.com for $12.26. Issue solved.
So your probably asking why didn't I just buy the Biesemeyer fence. Answer- Reviews and the Biesemeyer is $499.99 and the Shop Fox was 379.95. I'm still money ahead. Here's a closeup of the finial product.
