Shopsmith Forums

Well after screwing around all winter inside and going out of my mind bored I started working on the Expanding Worktable featured in the newest issue of Shopnotes. I had to do some serious cleaning up in the garage as well as some reorganization to make room for heavy duty woodworking to begin. I went and bought some steel shelving and got a ton of stuff off the floor and out of the way. Also moved some ladders up high and out of the way. Then did a bunch of general cleaning up and I was ready. I did not get to use my Mark VII yet as the first cuts were really just length and width cuts on stock I already had lying around. My Mark VII isn't setup for table saw operation as of yet. I bought some saw blade guards off Fleabay but unfortunately they were not complete so I can't even mount them up live and learn so to speak. I got most of the parts cut up, I am going to have to go a get some more 2X stock to finish the rest of the cuts. I am going to use some 4 X 4 posts I had for the legs instead of using two 2 X 4's to make the legs. I have pretty much all the rest of the stuff only need to buy some T-Track for the tops and arms and I can start assembling. I am also going to mount casters with brakes so that I can move it around easier.

I do want to get my Mark VII into sawing shape as it is better than the crappy Skil tablesaw I have. The fence for the Skil Saw just sucks and it takes way too long to setup every cut due to the lack of precision of the fence. I did use my DeWalt sliding compound miter saw for the other cuts which is a real joy to use definitely one of my favorite tools and so easy to use.

The DeWalt works so well for that job because that is exactly what it was designed to do - cut construction grade material.

Dusty,
I have used that saw to cut some very nice Oak and Cherry and it did a very nice job with the proper blade of course. Why you dissin' on my construction grade project??? It is a worktable to make things like mom-construction grade projects easier to do.

wannabewoodworker wrote:Dusty,
I have used that saw to cut some very nice Oak and Cherry and it did a very nice job with the proper blade of course. Why you dissin' on my construction grade project??? It is a worktable to make things like mom-construction grade projects easier to do.

I do not think he meant to be dissin the saw, or your project.! It does 'cutoff' tasks well. Gee guess that is why they be called cutoff saws!

Now getting a decent rip cut is another matter.

I took it to mean the 'Dewalt cutoff saw' was designed to cut workpieces to length accurately! Nothing more! No 'dis' intended!!!!;)

wannabewoodworker wrote:Dusty,
I have used that saw to cut some very nice Oak and Cherry and it did a very nice job with the proper blade of course. Why you dissin' on my construction grade project??? It is a worktable to make things like mom-construction grade projects easier to do.

I apologize. What I said came across differently than I had intended. I was just trying to point out that a CMS has limitations. These limitations have no negative impact as long as you stay within the boundaries of the saw's capabilities.

Actually, that is true of most tools. It is when you work outside of their design parameters than bad things happen.

Do rafter work on a Shopsmith and you'll experience what I am talking about.

I'm sorry about that.