Comments on: Tools I use: my table saw

By: Tom

Tom — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 00:29:47 +0000

Hey, Steve, it was pretty simple. It’s just a piece of melamine with two pieces of angle aluminum bolted to it. I drilled through the angle iron and inserted bolts so their heads rode in the rail slot (Of course, I had to remove the cast iron extension wing to make this happen), then used those nylon-filled nuts to tighten down. I cut and routed the melamine to accept my Rousseau router plate, and mounted my Freud Ft2000 to it. I put the wooden angle brace on the table and bolted it to the saw base so there would be no sag.

I could take some shots, but just Google “Router Table Ridgid table saw) and there are all sorts of jury-rigged plans out there.

Hope that helps.

By: Stephen

Stephen — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 21:25:01 +0000

Tom,

I have the saw pictured above and am wanting to add a router station to it. Can you please help.
Regards,
Stephen Saussy
504-232-6324

By: Leon

Leon — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 06:02:47 +0000

I had this tablesaw since 2001 as well and it has the best fence ever. I wish it a had a different splitter, mine tends to get loose and I have to retight it all the time.
I added also a cast iron router table, but I put it to the left of the blade. I find it more usefull there

By: Tom

Tom — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 15:29:01 +0000

I’m glad you had success with your saw, Angela. I have heard a lot of good things about that setup.

By: Angela

Angela — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 07:07:49 +0000

I also have the same ridgid table saw, I purchased back in ’01. Its a great saw
I installed a bench dog router table onto the table which wirks great. The Bench Dog is made up a solid cast iron which involves removing one side & placing the new solid tale in place, exactly the same size, also came with a fence & mounting plate as well. I have my ridgid router attached to the plate which has predrilled holes & also purchased a bench dog easy switch for the router on/off. Very nice to use.

By: Tom

Tom — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 20:30:25 +0000

Carl -

The plans were all kinda done on the fly – basically, I have aluminum angle around the three sides that meet with the table and rails, and I ground the heads of some bolts down to fit inside the rail track. I also drilled out the cast iron table to make holes that worked for the aluminum angle that bolted there.

I epoxied two pieces of plywood around the table cutout, and screwed a diagonal brace from the stand to a point near where the router sets in. So far (Knock on wood), no trouble with the table or rails sagging…. It’s held up well!

By: Carl

Carl — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 19:59:51 +0000

I have the sears model table saw which is identical to yours. I’ve had it for several years and I agree on the dust collection, however they did sell a dust chute/bin which has an orifce for a shopvac. Unfortunately they do not sell it anymore.

On to the real question. Do you have plans for your router extension. I see you already set the fence up to be longer on the right (as I have mine set up.) but I struggle with the idea that particle board will be able to withstand the stress of being bolted to the table and fence.

By: Tom

Tom — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 09:58:18 +0000

Ya know, Andrew, the fence for me has been one of the most pleasant surprises on the saw. The T-Track built in has really helped attach fixtures for specialty tasks.

I’ve been able to keep the fence aligned very well through the years. In fact, just last night I was ripping some 1/4″ strips and and they were coming out beautifully… good blade, good technique and a good fence!

By: Andrew

Andrew — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 07:24:13 +0000

2 posts in 2 days. Well I went to purchase a delta after market fence and while looking at it and the $150 purchase price I decided to get a little more use out of the old fence. I had always sort of ignored the fence as useless due to it’s flimsy appearance and all of my t-track hardware did not work with it so I assumed it was non standard t-track that I could not really take advantage of without buying some accessory kit from rigid. When I got home and started playing around with it and looking at the t-track it dawned on me that I could use standard #18 hex head bolts and after about 1 minute of searching I found one and lo-and-behold it works perfectly. All of those times I wanted to use the t-track on that fence have now come rushing back to me and I see unlimited potential in what I can do with some #18 bolts and the existing fence.

By: Andrew

Andrew — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 04:34:36 +0000

Thanks, this is a very good review of what I consider a very good saw. I really have nothing to compare it to since this is my first table saw but overall I am very pleased with the performance so far. Well besides the factory miter sled which is terrible cheap and like you I replaced mine as well with one I made from some plans.

I spent a few hours cleaning up my saw and doing routine maintenance today and found the blade and fence alignment to be super easy once you get the hang of it.

Having looked at other more expensive and feature rich saws the one place I would argue that needs improvement is the rip fence. Most of the bigger saws have a much beefier rip fence. I also do not care for the rip fence’s requirement to clamp onto the back rail which makes it much more difficult to add on an extension table. I have considered replacing the rip fence and front rail with an after market fence to eliminate this problem.

The only other issue I see which has been resolved in the newer model of this saw is that the miter slots are not t-track. There are so many t-track miter accessories available that would sure be nice to use but alas. At least rigid was on the ball with the newer version.