Tablesaw Cabinet Upgrade

Click Here for the sketch I used to build this -- sorry, no plans available.

I started out by building a simple box for the tablesaw to sit on. I removed the legs from the tablesaw and mounted it on top of the box. Here is a rear view. Note that the back of the tablesaw also has a cover to improve dust collection.

The bottom box is divided into three sections. Notice that the saw is supported directly by two section walls. Also note that there are wheels directly under these section walls. I definitely don't want bowing to occur, especially since the top and bottom of the box is 1/2" plywood.  Here you can also see a shelf in the left section. This is a sliding shelf supported by four pieces of 1/2" x 3/4" oak strips.

Here is a close-up of the dust collection hookup. I simply routed the dust collection port from the underside of the saw out to the back of the saw. This allows much easier connection to my current dust collection system. (2HP Grizzly 1029)

The upper right hand box for the drawers in the initial stages of construction. Very simple joinery here: butt joints and screws.

Upper right hand box with the shelves added. I still need to add the drawer fronts, but that will happen after I get the router table set up.

  Warping ahead, here are the drawer fronts. I still need to put some finish on them. Bottom drawers are dovetailed front and back.

Here I've got the back and sides painted. I would complain about the color, but hey, it was only $5 per gallon at the borg in the Oops section.

Here is the wood I'm using to wrap the router table melamine top, and also to build the drawers and cabinet fronts. This first picture is the wood in the rough state.  I got this wood from my father when he remodeled his church. It is the old flooring from around 1908.

The first step in recycling this lumber is to remove all the nails. I just went through each board carefully, hoping desperately that I got all of them. At one point in time I had a Zircon TriScan, but it couldn't detect a nail in a board to save its life, so I took it back. Once all the nails were removed, I got my belt sander out and started sanding the boards to remove the accumulation of grit and grime that had built up. I've found that this step really saves on the wear and tear on my jointer blades. The picture on the right shows a close-up of the fir after some sanding. You are looking at what was the underside of the floor boards. Notice the straight cut marks indicating that a bandsaw was used to mill the wood.

After all the boards were sanded on both sides, I put them through the planer, taking off just a little bit. I know, you're supposed to run the boards through the jointer first to get them nice and flat, but there is a method to what I was doing. You see, I have Delta 12.5" planer with blades that are quite easy to change. I also happen to have an older set of blades that I didn't care if they managed to get nicked by some grit I didn't remove with the belt sander. On the other hand, I have a Grizzly 6" jointer, and only one set of knives. Furthermore, these are a real pain to get set up properly after removing them for sharpening.

After a few passes through the planer, I then turned to my jointer to clean up any twists and warpage, and to put a reference edge on each piece of wood.  You can see the results on the right.

Before I cut the trim to size and glued them on to the melamine, I decided I should cut the router insert area out from the melamine. That way, if I messed up on the insert, I wouldn't have as much back tracking to do. To the right is a few photos of the insert cutout, and also with the insert in place.