Hobbies

Some New Equipment

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After many years of waiting and shopping and whatever else, I'm finally diving into getting some good woodworking machinery.

 

Tablesaw 

As anyone with woodworking familiarity knows, the central, core piece of equipment in any shop is the tablesaw.  I threw around several different ideas about what I wanted and what I might need.  There are many options available on the market, from small table-top saws to contractor-style saws, hybrid to cabinet-style saws and on up to crazy (and crazy expensive) sliding cabinet saws.  There are also different sizes of blades available, the most common of which are 10" and 12" (you'll see 14" saws in production machinery).  Ten-inch tablesaws seem to be the most common, especially for smaller and home shops, so I was pretty sure I'd end up with a 10" saw.

 

I also knew a table-top model would never suffice for the type of work I like to do.  The minimum was a contractor-style saw, but I always wanted a cabinet saw.  They have advantages over contractor saws, including better dust collection and more powerful motors.  Cabinet saws also tend to be more accurate overall than contractor saws.  Accuracy is key to many of the projects I will eventually be working on, so I had a choice:  full-blown cabinet saw or a hybrid saw.  A hybrid saw is essentially a cabinet saw with a smaller motor, but has many of the same features as a cabinet saw for a lesser price.  After considering that this is likely to be a lifetime table saw for me, and also considering the horsepower ratings of the motors available (1.5 HP 120V for hybrids versus 3 to 5 HP 240V for a cabinet saw), I decided to get a full-blown cabinet saw.

 

The next decision was brand.  There are several good manufacturers of tablesaws.  Delta, Jet, Powermatic and Grizzly come to mind immediately, but there are others.  Grizzly tends to be in the lower price spectrum, while Delta and especially Powermatic, depending on model, tend to be in low earth orbit price-wise.  After much comparison, I was ready to buy a Grizzly 3HP cabinet saw so that I could have the power and features of a cabinet saw for the equivalent price of a Delta hybrid.  I'd set my budget around $1,500 but was hoping to come in a little under that if possible.  Grizzly fit the bill and had some positive (although not entirely glowing) reviews.  And I was going to get a nice tax refund, so I thought, "I've been waiting for this for a long time.  Why not?"

 

And then I found out The Woodworking Show was coming to town the first weekend in April 2009.  They usually have tool vendors with show specials, and I thought there might be the possibility of a decent deal, so I decided to wait.  It was a good thing I did.  Dad and I got to the show on Saturday, and Circle Saw Builder's Supply was running some specials on Delta cabinet saws.  In particular, they had their stock of 36-L31X-BC50 saws on clearance because Delta was discontinuing that line of saws to make room for some new Unisaws in their product lineup.  In short, the saws they had available were Delta X5 Unisaws with a 3HP 220V single-phase motor, left-tilting arbor (they also had some right-tilts available, but I wanted a left tilt), 50" extension table with legs, and the Biesmeyer fence system.  Here's a picture of one (it isn't my saw - at time of this writing, I haven't finished getting mine completely set up).

 

Also, as part of the show special, they were offering a free mobile base (typically a $125 option).  Going retail price for this rig when I bought it was about $2,300 with the mobile base.  Their show special was $1,699!  Granted, this was just a smidge out of my budget, but the deal was too good to pass up, so I jumped all over it.  Getting it home and out of the truck was a little challenging, though.  They cheated at Circle Saw and used a forklift to put it in the bed of my truck.  Getting it out and onto the ground was my problem - and obviously I don't have a forklift at home.  Luckily my neighbor Dave was willing to help me get it out.  Let me tell you, that was one of the heaviest lifts I've ever made - and we even got as much extra weight off the pallet as possible.  It was just the pallet and the central core of the saw - no extension wings or any of the other accessories (extension table, fence, etc.).  It weighs around 350 or so pounds!  Luckily he and I were able to lift it out of the bed and onto my dolly that can convert into a 4-wheeler.  The following weekend, my friend Buck was in town and he helped me lift it off the cart and into the mobile base.  I'm surprised I didn't see one of my vertebral discs go flying out of my back when we did that!  Smile  Buck also helped me with the initial assembly (thanks man!).  Like I said, I've still got some work to do on it at time of this writing:  I've got to do some tuning and adjustment before I'm ready to mount the extension table.

 

Router Table, Lift and Fence System

Another extremely important part of a shop - or at least a shop that does cabinetry and the like - is a tool to shape wood edges.  Some larger home shops and production shops have shapers to perform this function; however, shapers can be pretty expensive.  Rather than a shaper, I decided on a powerful router.  I got a Christmas present from the folks a few years back:  a Porter Cable 7518 router.  It has the larger collet on it and is rated at 3.25 horsepower (probably doesn't make that much power, though, since it is only 120V, and you can't make a true 3+ horsepower with only 120V of power - you need 240).  The thing was, I needed some sort of table and fence system for it.  My friend Chris has always made his own router tables where the router is just a static mount under the table, using the router's vertical adjustment to move the cutter head up and down.  He's tried to talk me into this type of setup for a while now, but after thinking on it I didn't think it was going to work.  Most (if not all) of the stuff that he does requires a router bit with the flush bearing guide on it (i.e. for trimming or doing simple round-overs and the like).  I'm going to be doing raised panel doors and other things where a bearing guide either isn't availble for the cutter or it just isn't practical.  As a result, I knew I'd need a good (and accurate) fence system.  I also knew I'd need something that offered fine vertical adjustments.

 

There are many router lift systems available on the market.  Rockler has a great combo - a stand, tabletop, Mast-R-Lift and Mast-R-Fence - but they're really proud of it at $1,000.  Once again, The Woodworking Show came to the rescue.  Woodpecker's had a display booth at the show where they were showcasing their PRL-V2 precision router lift system.  Easy and accurate vertical adjustment were two keys to me purchasing this system.  They also had a combo deal, where you could get the lift, table, stand with wheel kit and Super Fence in a package for a show special price of $649 - $231 less than the prices for the same equipment on their website.  The table is sturdy, the fence accurate and easy to adjust and align, the lift is easy to use and adjust, and with the wheel kit, the whole rig is easily mobile.  I couldn't pass it up!

 

Other Present & Future Tools

Obviously, the shop isn't complete with these purchases (and already-owned tools).  I've got a great DeWalt 12" sliding compound miter saw and a PerformaX 16/32 finish belt sander that will be great when I get around to building raised panel doors and other joined hardwoods.  I've also got a DeWalt 12" portable thickness planer.  I've got some other smaller hand power tools that are so basic they're not worth mentioning here.  However, I still need more items - some of them somewhat large machinery.  Here's a quick list in (sort-of) order of importance:

 

 

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