True Trac Contractor Table Kit

[reible]

Hi,

Yesterday was a good day to work on putting this kit together. I thought some of you might want to join me in the project today.

Let us start with a reference, just in case the True Trac name is not ringing any bells.

http://www.insighttoolworks.com/~shop/t ... -kit/8864/

This is in no way a review so if that is what you are looking for this is not that.

The kit came in a smallish box, I'd say under 5 pounds in weight. One of my not so favorite packing materials protected it in transit. One of the two rubber bands holding the pieces together broke but nothing was damaged.

This is what it looked like fresh out of the box minus the instruction sheet which went with the slight breeze for a tour of the driveway.

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To the far left there are the (4) corner trac's.

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In the center are the washer headed screw (20) and screws for the top (40) pieces.

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On the right are the (4) center trac's.

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The difference between the corner and center are the lengths of the bottom track. The corner pieces are a nominal 12" while the center ones are a nominal 24"

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More to follow

[reible]

In the previous post I referred to nominal dimensions. Perhaps this picture will help you to understand why I added that note.

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As you can see the 12" is the nominal dimension where the real dimension will be (less) what ever they give you.

We are about to start the layout and assembly. I had taken the time the night before to use the provided instruction sheet and do a sketch up drawing to use for the layout. I was pretty sure that everything would work but I wanted to check the corner bottom track to make sure the centered mounting hole would allow the part to rotate 360 degrees without hitting the center trac.

I felt like using my centering ruler to locate center point (one of many ways this can be done).

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I then drilled a 1/16" hole in the trac. I mocked up the layout on the bottom side of a sheet of plywood to check things out. With the hole located on the plywood I drilled a short hole at that location. The drill then provided a pivot point as shown here.

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The center trac was taped in position.

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The rotation test showed the layout was a sound design.

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more to follow

[reible]

Since I had one piece measured and drilled I then stacked them as shown here:

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Next I drilled them like this:

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With all four drilled I set them aside and marked up the center trac's and drilled the 4 holes that were needed. Please note I'm still working on the bottom side of the sheet of plywood.

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And also remember that the 24" is again nominal.

The remaining 3 parts were drilled by stacking to keep the measuring and time down.

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more to follow

[reible]

The system is mounted to a 3/4" x 24" x 48" piece of plywood. You can pick up one of these often called a "handy panel" or save some money and cut it out of a full sheet.

The other wood is 3/4" x 4" x 24" pine. You can use what you have on hand or find some cut offs in the scrap bin if you are lucky. Remember these are going to be sacrificial so think before spend big $ on this wood.

The process is to attach the upper trac to the wood so trim the wood to a nominal 24" and then start the process.

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I found it easier to use a clamp to hold wood upright while I put the screws in. You will have 8 of these to do.

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more later

[backhertz]

It was sale on the Insight Toolworks website, but isn't on the Shopsmith. Must be a good reason. I picked up the contractor table rails, the router adapter, and the clamps as everything was on sale.

Toolnuts.com sell a square & a repeater for the True Trac, but I have no idea that they are. I've emailed Insight & never received a response. I didn't see the square or the repeated on the Insight web site either.

Some people make their own tracks. I like the True Trac because there was zero slip and no chip out when I trimmed 8 sides of bi-fold doors & the bottoms as well. The plastic strips are like a zero clearance insert because there is a piece of plastic on the bracket mounted to the saw.

[reible]

My plans are to use this system mounted on my workmate. This is what it looks like.

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The plywood will have a 2" x 3" x 29" runner mounded on it which will fit the opening on the workmate.

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I located the mounting position and then drilled (still on the bottom of the plywood) a set of mounting holes. You might notice that I "touched" the holes with the counter sink to clean them up.

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I located the runner to its location then drilled two deeply countersunk holes for screws to hold it in location when it is flipped over. I went with a deep countersink so I could use the screws I had out rather then go back in and try to find some longer ones.

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I then flipped the plywood over and added the screws from the top.

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more comming

[reible]

Before attaching anything else to the plywood I decided to round the edges a bit. This is a 1/4" round over bit but I didn't expose that much of it, just enough to round the edges a bit.

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With that done to both sides I began the layout on the top side of the plywood. A little tape to hold thing in position.

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The screws all in place and ready for the sliding of the parts to put it together for the first time.

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There it is.

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Now this is a possible storage position, all within the 2' x 4' of the plywood. Next we will look it it expanded.

Still more to come.

[reible]

Sorry about the photo... This is the system expanded but it is not the best image to show it. Perhaps another day I will redo this so it shows up better.

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Another option might be like this:

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Just in case it wasn't clear how this mounts to the shopmate this shot should clear it up.

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And if I want to I can still use it with saw horses:

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I think that should do it.

Ed

[fjimp]

I can't help but wonder what Dino would think of your copying his Eureka Zone table. It looks much like the unit I bought from him. Did you buy the parts there? Jim

[reible]

I can't help but wonder what Dino would think of your copying his Eureka Zone table. It looks much like the unit I bought from him. Did you buy the parts there? Jim

I you go back to the first post there is a link that gets you to the place I got the parts from.

Ed