Introducing the Super Sawsmith 2000! Or is it the Sawsmith 4000?
Posted: Sun Feb 20, 2022 6:03 pm
Just finished assembly of my new Super Sawsmith 2000, the first one of it's kind. I had been looking for extension tables for my Sawsmith 2000 Ultra. In Sawsmith lingo those are like Shopsmith floating tables. The saw I acquired a few years back came with to extension tables. It was configured with 48" fence rails, the rails hold the extension tables up and the main table and 2 extension tables are all that will fit on those rails. The saw had come originally with 72" rails but for reasons lost to history the PO cut them into 40" and 32" pieces. The used market is the only source for Sawsmith parts since Shopsmith hasn't made these since the 90s. I wasn't having much luck finding extension tables. There were occasional hits for entire Sawsmiths, and if they weren't very far away I would have wanted one just for extra parts. Then I realized I could use a Sawsmith 2000 main table to extend my table space. The main table is actually made from 2 extension tables that have a couple of projections to link them together.
But why take just the main table off a working saw? Two whole Sawsmiths could be connected together by the fence rails, that would increase the table space greatly, the tables would be strongly supported, and I had enough fence rail to do it with. Within days of this notion occurring to me I received an incredibly generous offer from forum member Binder, he wanted his father's Sawsmith to go to a good home where it would be appreciated. He wasn't far away and I soon adopted his Sawsmith. There were no extension tables with it, and it had a 510 style fence and rails, not the Excalibur fence and rails, but I had plenty of those already.
This saw is now big! The tables are 76" wide and 31" deep. The rails extend an extra 6" on either side so I can move the fence out to the extreme edges of the table. I have the saw backed up against my 510 right now. You can see there is clearance of the headstock of the 510 so I can configure that to be an outfeed table. Without moving the saw I have room to rip an 8' long board. I think with the aid of a couple of roller stands I can easily break up a 4'x8' sheet of plywood on this now.
The saw is sitting on bespoke dolly. My first saw came on a high quality steel rail dolly but getting one big enough for both of these wasn't in the picture. I layered up some 1/2" plywood to make the base, reinforced it with a couple of pieces of heavy aluminum angle that weren't doing anything else, and then mounted a set of these type caster/leveling feet that I believe I first heard about here on the forum: https://www.amazon.com/Skelang-Leveling ... C80&sr=8-3
These caster/levelers are heavy duty, much better than locking casters. However, you can't use the plastic knobs by hand to raise a heavy load. To get on and off the rollers I lever up one end of the dolly and place a piece of 4x4 underneath to hold it while I raise or lower the feet. This machine should rarely have to move so it won't be an issue, for something you want to move around more often you might want to look at alternative solutions.
The toughest part of all this was aligning the two saws so they could be connected by the fence rails. The rails are a very heavy extrusion that attach to the tables with bolts and little metal clips. Even though Binder's saw did not come with these clips I had extras because I had to make some for the first saw when I couldn't find the originals. Then I found the originals and now had another set ready to go. The rails are self aligning though, they have to be positioned so that the top of the rail falls 1/32" below the bottom of the miter slots to keep the fence riding just over the table surface. On top of that I wasn't attaching 88" long rails to the front and back of the saw, I had to align 48" and 40" rails to meet up and still allow the fence to slide across the joint. Despite a patience that has worn very thin over the years I was able to slowly get it all into alignment, table tops square a parallel, rails properly aligned with the tables, and just a slight click as the fence passed over the joint. But doing this clued me in what has to be done still. As you can see in the picture below there is a black strip of metal attached to the aluminum extrusions. That's a piece 1/8"x1" steel, and I have to replace the cut pieces with full length replacements. I'm trying this out using 6061 aluminum. There will be no joint for the fence to roll over after that.
But why take just the main table off a working saw? Two whole Sawsmiths could be connected together by the fence rails, that would increase the table space greatly, the tables would be strongly supported, and I had enough fence rail to do it with. Within days of this notion occurring to me I received an incredibly generous offer from forum member Binder, he wanted his father's Sawsmith to go to a good home where it would be appreciated. He wasn't far away and I soon adopted his Sawsmith. There were no extension tables with it, and it had a 510 style fence and rails, not the Excalibur fence and rails, but I had plenty of those already.
This saw is now big! The tables are 76" wide and 31" deep. The rails extend an extra 6" on either side so I can move the fence out to the extreme edges of the table. I have the saw backed up against my 510 right now. You can see there is clearance of the headstock of the 510 so I can configure that to be an outfeed table. Without moving the saw I have room to rip an 8' long board. I think with the aid of a couple of roller stands I can easily break up a 4'x8' sheet of plywood on this now.
The saw is sitting on bespoke dolly. My first saw came on a high quality steel rail dolly but getting one big enough for both of these wasn't in the picture. I layered up some 1/2" plywood to make the base, reinforced it with a couple of pieces of heavy aluminum angle that weren't doing anything else, and then mounted a set of these type caster/leveling feet that I believe I first heard about here on the forum: https://www.amazon.com/Skelang-Leveling ... C80&sr=8-3
These caster/levelers are heavy duty, much better than locking casters. However, you can't use the plastic knobs by hand to raise a heavy load. To get on and off the rollers I lever up one end of the dolly and place a piece of 4x4 underneath to hold it while I raise or lower the feet. This machine should rarely have to move so it won't be an issue, for something you want to move around more often you might want to look at alternative solutions.
The toughest part of all this was aligning the two saws so they could be connected by the fence rails. The rails are a very heavy extrusion that attach to the tables with bolts and little metal clips. Even though Binder's saw did not come with these clips I had extras because I had to make some for the first saw when I couldn't find the originals. Then I found the originals and now had another set ready to go. The rails are self aligning though, they have to be positioned so that the top of the rail falls 1/32" below the bottom of the miter slots to keep the fence riding just over the table surface. On top of that I wasn't attaching 88" long rails to the front and back of the saw, I had to align 48" and 40" rails to meet up and still allow the fence to slide across the joint. Despite a patience that has worn very thin over the years I was able to slowly get it all into alignment, table tops square a parallel, rails properly aligned with the tables, and just a slight click as the fence passed over the joint. But doing this clued me in what has to be done still. As you can see in the picture below there is a black strip of metal attached to the aluminum extrusions. That's a piece 1/8"x1" steel, and I have to replace the cut pieces with full length replacements. I'm trying this out using 6061 aluminum. There will be no joint for the fence to roll over after that.