tugnut1

Just to let you know, my first shop saw was a Craftsman Professional jobsite saw. It worked great for me for about 7 years until I upgraded to my Ridgid hybrid saw. To me, the keys with a jobsite saw is finding one that has enough power to cut through the material that you are going to be cutting and does it have a fence that will allow you to make good cuts (a fence that squares up good and will stay in place). As far as your cutting surface, I made my rolling workbench to the height of my contractor table top that way I could use it as an outfeed table. Build a couple multipurpose feed/storage tables/cabinets and you can handle larger material than what you think you should be able to with a contractor saw. Just be sure you are careful not to push full sheets through to the point where the table will tip over. Contractor saws are light and this can happen if you are too aggressive with it. With that said, I like the bosch 4100 because it has a nice fence, optional outfeed and sidefeed tables that you can add and enough power to cut almost anything. The Ridgid R4513 is another nice option that looks almost identical to the Bosch and it very well could have been built by the same company. The sawstop jobsite saw is supposed to be very good, but the price is super high. The Bosch flesh detecting saw is having some issues right now, from what I have heard...oh yea, its expensive too. The SawStop has a better flesh detecting tech anyway. I haven't used the Dewalt, but it looks rather small. I stay away from almost everything labeled Craftsman these days, so I can't suggest one there.

I've had this saw for about 4 years now and just love it. I totally agree that for the price, you can not beat it. The only saw that I plan to replace it with is a sawstop cabinet saw, but that price is about 5 times as much.

Great idea on the Xcarve dust shoe. I have one of the very first shoes that has bristles that are too stiff for the xcarve just laying around. I think I may try to add this to my new dust collection setup. Since I use a zero clearance insert plate, I can get a lot of dust on top of the saw and this may fix my issue. AWESOME.

I just got a text from the shipping company. The new Jet DC will be here within an hour.

Thanks for the DC feedback Chris. Does Mirka make paper for the festools and if so, how would I distinguish them from the other hole patters...ie. Does it say in the description that they are used for festool?

I got my sander yesterday as well. It feels like a very solid unit. I love the cord and the front bump guard. I'm not a big fan of this unit coming without the optional dust collector filter unit or that you have to buy a special sand paper where the holes line up with just the festool sanders. I'm going to give the unit a try (hopefully this weekend) and see if my feelings on this unit swings one way or another. I think it was genius of Festool to put this unit at an affordable price point. They are opening up their experience to a whole new crowd. Is it time to drink the Kool-Aid?

Looks great.

This guys is amazing with this video skills. He had to spend a ton of time on this. I just subscribed and here is the follow up video to the reclaimed wood part. He installs a ceiling and this one is even better than his first.

Hey guys, I finally pulled the trigger. I purchased a new 2HP Jet Cyclone dust collector from Amazon last week. It is supposed to be delivered this Friday. WOO HOO! I've been saving for about a year to get this unit. I even saved a little more so that I could buy the duct work, clamps, blast gates, grounding wire and other miscellaneous items I will need to hook it up. I will do my best to document the assembly of the unit and installation of my duct work. I have some time off right around Thanks Giving, so until then, it will be slow going.

Freaking awesome work.

That is amazing. Looks better than theirs for sure. I just made one for my miter saw out of Walnut, but it doesn't look anywhere near as nice as yours.

Beautiful

Nice work Foneguy. I got a lathe a few years ago and wasn't sure how much I would use or enjoy it. It is really nice to be able to take a piece of wood and have something useful and beautiful completed in anywhere from 45 minutes to a few hours. My biggest concern was making and keeping my tools sharp. Now that is handled, I find turning a joy, but its not where I spend a lot of my time. I hope to dive back into it again this winter. Keep up the great work and keep sharing your projects.

Feel free to copy this design if it works for you. If you have any questions, I'll be glad to answer them as well.

the only thing you need to keep in mind for this setup is the size micron filtration on the bag. You want to make sure you are filtering at least down to a 1 micron bag. This setup will do great picking up all of the visible sawdust and keep your shop clean, but if you are going for breathable air quality, you will want to keep an eye on the micron rating.

Thanks BMack. I have a ton of projects I want to do this winter. A lot of them are shop improvements. My wife hates those. She says I spend too much time making stuff for my tools instead of making her stuff. LOL.

Hello Larry. I am making some Rockler knife sets right now for my dad and son. I will also be making some custom gift boxes for them to live in. I just made a spline jig to help me with the boxes. I hope to start them this weekend, so we should see some more stuff soon. Thanks for the compliments brother.

I do not own a large DC unit yet, but I will be purchasing a Jet JCDC-2 2HP Cyclone Dust Collector very soon. Its a unit that can handle the entire shop's needs and is still very quiet. I am totally sold on cyclones for dust collection. Currently, I have a shop vac and Dust deputy cyclone set up. It works pretty darn good, but lately, the tools I have been buying require a higher air flow than my 2.25 inch hose and shop vac can produce. ie....drum sander and thickness planer. The Jet DC is not cheap by any means, but I've been saving. Here is a link to the unit. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01683ZVN8/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=14P5C2RDLI4C9&coliid=I4D43WYCQVMRE Laguna has a similar unit that they just released, but I am just not sold on them. It is flashy looking, but I still like the stats on the jet better. Baileigh Industrial also makes a very similar unit, but is a couple hundred dollars higher. Good luck and I can't wait to see what you come up with.

One last set of pictures for this post. I finished the top of the bench by rolling on 4 coats of West System epoxy. I was pretty nervous about using it, but I needed to make the plywood top more solid and protect it from chipping. I'm extremely happy with the results. If I was good at it, I could have had a surface that looked like glass, but for Pete sake, its just a work bench. LOL.

I have a feeling that the shipping costs are going to be huge.[emoji13] Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

Oooo.....good idea. I'm serious. I know where I can get one too.

Sorry guys that its been a while since I updated this thread. I have my bench completed now and I love love love it. Let me catch you up to speed. I tackled the drawer option with this bench and I am glad that I did. I first started off by adding a divider to make it look like a face frame. I used some spacers and clamps to make it flush with the front and the same height on both sides. Pocket hole in the back. I happened to buy some clamps and rails that fit the dog holes and put them to use making the drawers. More pocket holes. I used the drawer glide jig to install the glides. It worked really well on the outside of the drawer, but working from the floor made the inside of the cabinet install a little difficult. Here is a shot with both drawers made before the drawer faces were put on. Full extension drawer with fronts. Final build. I have to take a picture of the unit with the epoxy top coat I added, but here is what it looks like without it.

I had the opportunity to work on my bench a little more this weekend. Everything went pretty smoothly. I first glued together and cut two pieces of 3/4" sandiply plywood to make the top and then did it again for the bottom....of the benchtop. Since I want this to look pretty decent, I added some 2" iron on banding to cover up the plywood edges. This went extremely well and these glue ups no look like a solid wood top. Next I cut the long sides and middle support out of the same plywood. I am making the sides 6" tall. I laid out the cutout so that there are two on the long sides and there will also be two on the one end as well. Cutting out these holes worked best by using a 3-5/8" hole saw for the ends and then cut the straights with a jig saw. Next, I rounded the edges of the holes by using my router table. I pushed the fence all the way in the back and used a bearing bit. I attached the sides and middle supports using just pocket screws. I'm trying to avoid glue in case I need to replace the top in the future. I also cut the ends, but I ran out of time, so I just set them in place to see what they look like. I dropped the top on for a few minutes and it is extremely sturdy.....No flex at all. I also just realized that when I go to add the end vice, I am going to have to remove about 13 inches of the middle support to allow for the screw and two guides. Not a big issue at all.

I've decided to go with two drawers in the front. Of course, the drawer slides that I had on my old bench are too long. I ordered two sets of full extention 100 lbs capacity drawer slides today for $13 apiece. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0000DD4AA/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 I also ordered the rockler drawer slide jig to make installation full proof. Since Rockler isn't nearly as fast with their shipping as Amazon, I don't know if I can wait until the jig gets here to install the drawers. http://www.rockler.com/rockler-universal-drawer-slide-jig So, I've decided to make and attach the top to my bench this weekend and if all goes well, attach the end vice as well.

Great insight Jimbo. You have me leaning to two drawers, which is different from what I was thinking an hour ago. Thanks. Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk