Alrighty folks.... Here are some more progress photos... Shears? We don't need no stinkin' shears!
As seen in the photos, I started working on the rotary shaft this evening. It is coming along, but I won't be able to work on it for a few days. So far, I have turned one end of the 1/4" rod to accept the 5MM pulley and I have cut in one retaining ring groove.
Instead of using cable chain like I did on the previous saw, this time I will be attempting to use the coiled wired, providing I can reform the ends. The wire size scares me a little, but just like the switch, I will see how it all works out.
Good, because I have been busy. When I said that I was rebuilding the entire saw, I meant it. I am still waiting on miscellaneous parts and while I have been waiting, I have been modifying old parts and making new ones.
I figured I would take a break for a while and take a few new photos for you guys, especially for the non-believers
Take a gander, here is the current state of the project....
EDIT: Providing the pushbutton switch and the retractable cord hold up during testing, just wait until you see how I route the power. I think I have a very good plan.
The rotary shaft is 1/4". The pulley end has been turned down to 5MM to accept the pulley. The other end where the blade attaches is 1/4", but still needs to be drilled and threaded. I will be putting 1-64 threads into the end of the shaft to hold the blade on with a screw.
Since the subject of the rotary shaft was brought up, I suppose the discussion of this machine would not be complete without a more thorough discussion of the rotary shaft. There really is not much to say, that hasn't been said about it, except that the rotary shaft is constructed from TYPE O1 1/4" drill rod. TYPE O1 is a tool steel that can be hardened by oil quenching. When the machining of the rotary shaft is complete, I will harden the steel. With TYPE O1 tool steel, the steel must be heated to the proper temperature, placed in the quenching oil for a specified period of time, and then baked at a specified period of time, at a specified temperature, to obtain the correct Rockwell or Brinell hardness and complete the hardening process. In the absence of an accurate method to measure the temperature of the steel before quenching, here is a trick that I learned a while ago and it works very well. With a magnet near the heating area, heat the steel until it is almost cherry red, then continue to heat the steel until it loses it's magnetic properties. When the steel no longer clings to a magnet, immediately quench the steel in quenching oil, and after quenching, immediately place the part in the oven.
UPDATE: The power has been routed and I have new photos to show the changes.
The retractable cord was tested for several 20 second durations. The cord got a little warm, but not nearly as bad as I expected. In fact, I thought perhaps it might melt in half at 20 seconds. However I believe it will hold up, especially since most cuts are completed in a much shorter time span.
As for the switch, that held up as well.
At this point the project moves forward.
EDIT: As previously mentioned in this thread, I use the battery charger to power the saw. The black and red posts with the wires going to it, are for charger lead attachment.
Two observation though... just wondering why you feel the need to harden the rotary shaft? Or perhaps you are using bushings rather than ball bearings ? If bushings, then the side load from the belt tension will soon wear them out, especially at high RPM. Hardening can (but not always) distort the shape of the metal. Preferably one would grind the shaft after hardening.
The other point is, could you have made the separation between the parallel shafts larger... it seem perhaps it could be nearly doubled. That would have resulted in a "tighter" yaw design.
Yea, it is coming along, slowly but sure, and I am very happy with the project so far, but this project has surely slowed down my other projects. However, I most certainly like this saw better than the old one. The gearing in the old design, made it very noisy.
just wondering why you feel the need to harden the rotary shaft? Or perhaps you are using bushings rather than ball bearings ? If bushings, then the side load from the belt tension will soon wear them out, especially at high RPM. Hardening can (but not always) distort the shape of the metal. Preferably one would grind the shaft after hardening.
HHHMMMMM.... Do I or don't I, that is the question. Hardening the rotary shaft is a very tuff call. I am using sleeve bearings and the only reason that I am contemplating hardening the shaft is because it is a fairly high precision piece and time consuming to make and I would like to protect it for those reasons. I figure I can make the shaft housing much easier than the shaft itself. In fact, when making the grooves for the retaining rings, I ensured that the distance allowed between, as required by the width of the housing was made to very tight tolerances, and it became necessary to slightly machine the width of the housing, because they were just too tight. As it stands now, that is one very smooth rolling rotary shaft, with very little end play. However, as you mention, hardening could distort the shaft, and then I have to make it over again, because I do not have any means to accurately grind the shaft. That is the dilema. In all honesty, I will probably never use the saw enough to wear out the bearings in my lifetime, perhaps maybe ten cuts per year. However, providing this saw is well taken care of, I would assume that the main mechanics of the saw will last a VERY long time (future generations), with the exception of perhaps the rotary shaft and rotary bearings.
To sum it up, I would really hate to destroy the shaft by a hardening process, but I also want the saw to last many years after I am long gone. It is a difficult call and I am on the fence with this one.
The other point is, could you have made the separation between the parallel shafts larger... it seem perhaps it could be nearly doubled. That would have resulted in a "tighter" yaw design.
Actually there is no particular reason that I chose that distance, however, considering my makeshift workshop, the largest piece that I could possibly make fairly accurately would fit within a four inch cube. For very tight tolerance work, I am probably limited to a two and half inch cube. The six inch sander does a very nice job of squaring things up to tight tolerances, but as someone mentioned in another thread, when the sandpaper wears out, the tolerances go out the window. The milling vise does a fairly nice job, but it has runout issues, however I just bought a new milling vise, now I need a new drill press to mount it to. Another issue is the turning of pieces, such as shafts. Without a lathe, I am severely limited to turning small pieces. When using a drill press for turning, cuts must be made very close to the chuck, and then if the bearings are worn (which mine always are), accuracy also goes out the window. For me, a brand new drill press, with a fresh set of bearings is always a wonderful thing. I can wear out drill press bearings quicker than anyone I know LOL They really take a beating.... Milling operations... Turning operations....
To sum up this point, I try to keep things small for accuracy issues.
I have decided what I am going to do regarding precision and setting up the saw for cutting. Instead of adapting some precision measuring device to the saw, I am simply going to make an accurate, easily adjustable, stop block assembly, and use custom made depth gauges. Additionally, in as much as practical for me, I will make a conscious effort to start designing my boards to the nearest 0.100" (+- 0.001-0.002 if possible) (except for the boards that I have already designed). When making a custom depth gauge, I will stamp the length onto the metal, for future reference and easy identification. Considering the maximum size board for my needs is 3" X 4", that would equal 40 gauges, but I will not make them all at once, only when required.
So the saw table will be set up to accommodate 4" cuts, but it will also accommodate 6" X 12" raw PCB material for cutting.
Okay, not that the saw is finished, but the design has been completed.
The table top will be 25-3/16" wide by 19-3/4" deep (not including the thickness of formica). Sounds kind of large for a maximum board size of 3" X 4" and a maximum raw size of 6" X 12", but I left plenty of room for maneuvering.
As mentioned above, the table top will be covered in formica, providing my formica is still in good shape. I have had this piece of black formica laying around for about twenty years, from a previous project. If it is still in good shape, I think this will be a nice contrast for the white covered PCB material and the bright, shiny aluminum
Additionally, the underside of the table will have seven rubber feet to prevent sagging and slippage.
I actually believe that I was way over-thinking this stop block assembly. I think two pieces of back to back machined aluminum angle with a clamp or two will do the trick nicely. Perhaps a pair of stair gauges can be utilized for the clamps, examples of which are shown below.
I believe I am still making this way too complicated.
As I see it now, if the maximum cut of the saw is to be 4.000", then what I really need is for a stop block to be secured at exactly 4.000" from the kerf of the saw. The depth gauges will then be custom made as a result of subtracting the desired width of the cut from 4.000". Something like the following:
depth gauge length = 4.000" - cut width
There are several advantages to doing it this way, which are as follows:
Table width and weight is decreased.
Less materials required for implementation.
Less machining required for implementation.
Faster development.
The only disadvantage that I can see is:[LIST=1|INDENT=2]
[*]A depth gauge must be made for each cut.
[/LIST]EDIT: Whereas the previously stated table dimensions of 25-3/16" wide by 19-3/4" deep would now become 18-15/16 wide by 19-3/4" deep.
A few things have changed since I last updated, such as:
I decided not to harden the rotary shaft
Instead of leaving ample room for maneuvering, I shrunk the design down to almost the bare minimum. It may not be readily apparent, but the shafts have been cut again, to accommodate the change in design.
As you can see from the photos, I am really getting close at this point. I will probably spend the day making my formica table top. I am not looking forward to this project, because the formica has been wound in a circle for easy storage and it has been that way for many, many years, so it now has adapted to the curve.
It has taken a while, but my belt should ship today, which is good news for me, because those pulleys sure look nekid'.
Anyhow, without further delay, here are some new photos for you.
Looking good Bruce.
I had a piece of formica rolled up for some months, I sandwiched it between some plywood sheets overnight, it helped alot,
Just make sure to roll it out with at least 75 pounds to make good contact with the contact cement..
Yea, perhaps I am jumping the gun a bit with the formica. I think I might cut the top section, weight down the four corners, and set it in the sun for the day (I don't have two sheets of plywood handy ) As for the pressure, I have a real nice roller for making contact with the contact cement. I used it on my last formica job many moons ago, and it worked well.
There is a 30 to 45 minute window where you can use a hot hair dryer or a really cool setting on a heat gun to fix any edges that didn't want to stick.
just throwing that out there, in case you did not know.
I have Formica and Contact Cement on the brain, because one of the best gigs i got this year was for 4 fully equipped shipping tables for Rugged Radio.
It is almost 3:00, and I still have not set the formica in the sun. I would imagine there isn't much point in doing it now. At this point, I am thinking of trying to iron the curve out of it.
I finally got around to rolling out the black formica, and to my dismay, it was all covered with various scratches. I suppose decades of sitting around does promote wear and tear. I was surprised however, that out of a 3' X 6' sheet, I could not find a good section of 16" X 18" without scratches.
Oh well...
My next preference would be black melamine, but that seems to be difficult to obtain, unless I want to wait, and I hate waiting. There is slight hope however. People dump furniture, T'V.s, etc..., at the local recycle bins, and perhaps I might find some black melamine amongst the various items. Normally I hate people without morals or scruples, but in this particular instance, it might work in my favor. It's a longshot though.
Odds are that I will be settling for white melamine, but I do not like it, for this project.
Consider Epoxy Resin over some six ounce woven, This makes for nice smooth surface, and strong like Bull.
And you could Gel Coat to any color you wanted to mix, Better yet, use West Systems Graphite Additive, Now y'er styling..
With the old saw, I was battling the acquisition of accurate measurement, and with the new design, I have been attempting to devise a method of easily obtaining accurate measurements.Without having a nice top and since my belt has been delayed, my project is temporarily stalled. So this morning, I started to determine the materials needed for my last plan pertaining to accurate measurements. Realizing that I do not really like my current plan, I decided to take another look at my drawings and then....
BAM
I had an epiphany..... I have been thinking about this problem and possible solutions in all the wrong ways. I only need one valuable measurement and the rest is easy. The MOST important aspect is the measurement from the edge of the table to the kerf of the saw. With this measurement, I should easily be able to quickly obtain very accurate cuts of PCBs.
Of course, there will be many who already know this, and in fact, I already knew this (just too stupid to realize it )
Okay here is the scenario....
The maximum length that I will be cutting is 4", so my goal will be to make the edge of the table, exactly 4" from the saw kerf, however it really does not need to be exact, just as long as I know what the measurement actually is. For the sake of discussion, let's assume that I achieve the 4" goal and that I want to cut a PCB to a length of 3". I simply adjust my dial calipers to 1", hold the body of the calipers against the table edge, position the depth gauge blade of the caliper against the PCB saw fence, push the PCB material along the fence until it touches the depth gauge blade, and then cut the PCB.
4" from edge of table to saw kerf minus 1" depth gauge blade of the caliper equals 3" cut length of PCB material
I found my black melamine and black edge banding this morning!!!
I knew it would look good with a black background, or at least that is my opinion. Anyhow, I have provided some additional photos to enable a good visualization of what the finished saw will look like. However there are still some features that I will be adding, such as drilling and tapping the rear cord column for holding an extra blade, and I still need to find a spot for a spare belt.
Notice the custom wrench and holder at the rear of the motor
EDIT: For the mounting of a spare belt, I am going to mill a couple flats on the rear of the cord column, to accommodate two shoulder screws, being accurately spaced to snugly hold a spare belt
I am quite pleased with it so far, and even though my stupidity of ruining the old saw has slowed down my progress on other projects, I am now beginning to think that it was not such a bad thing. As previously mentioned, I have always wanted to rebuild the saw, and now, I just can't wait to see how the new saw performs. At the bare minimum, it looks better, it will be much quieter, and not even beginning to mention how much easier it will be to cut accurate boards. The new method of measuring will sure make it a much better addition to the workshop. I suppose it is needless to say that the anticipation is starting to get to me at this point, however I did not get anything done with it today, except for purchasing the melamine.
As for the vacuum attachment.... I was thinking about that this morning.... I wasn't very successful on the last saw and I doubt I would have much better success on this one. The ideal situation would be to enclose the table in a chamber which has vacuum, but I highly doubt I will go through the trouble. Most likely, it will just be a dust mask required machine.
EDIT: One other item worth mentioning.... The last set of update photos, make the machine and table appear much bigger than it actually is. Upon completion, the actual table size will be 16-3/4" (+- 0.06) X 15-1/4" (+- 0.06).
Although I like my battery terminals, hooking up a charger is a a little of a pain also. I wish I had a nice power supply solution, before drilling the table top. It would be so convenient to simply plug it into a 120V outlet.
EDIT: I wonder how a PC power supply would work out.
Alright, this is what I have decided to do, concerning the power supply.
For the time being, I will assemble the saw as shown in previous photos, with the positive and negative posts on top of the table. Additionally, I will temporarily continue to use the battery charger to power up the saw.
In the future, as time, money, and availability permits, I will be purchasing a Mean Well NES-350-12 350W Single Output Switching Power Supply, and attach it to the bottom of the saw. The positive and negative posts that will reside on the table top, will be held in place by (2) - 1" X 10-32 machine screws from under the table top, which will easily adapt to ring terminals going to a future power supply.
By going this route, I can use the battery charger to power the saw until I get the power supply. When I get the future power supply and hook it up to the saw, I can use the positive and negative posts on the table top to power external projects.
It took me a while to get motivated, but mostly because I was thinking about the best way to make my table true and square, meanwhile also removing any visible defects from the table top edges. If anyone is interested, I basically used a framing square, a couple of squeeze clamps, and a router with a flush trimming bit. As it stands, I now have a very nice board for the top, however it became necessary to trim the board depth approximately 1/4" shorter than I hoped for, so I will have to do a little manipulating of the layout.
To be perfectly honest, I was almost happy that I did not have to contend with the formica and the contact cement, but woe is me, I have to use contact cement anyhow. I don't know about anyone else, but I have had good results with the iron on edge banding for melamine boards, and I was a little disappointed that this edge banding was not the iron on type, however I was happy to get the black banding. So I am now applying contact cement to the edge banding and table edges. Before to long, I should have a perfect top for my new saw, providng I don't screw it up with all the drilling that must be done to it.
Comments
As seen in the photos, I started working on the rotary shaft this evening. It is coming along, but I won't be able to work on it for a few days. So far, I have turned one end of the 1/4" rod to accept the 5MM pulley and I have cut in one retaining ring groove.
Instead of using cable chain like I did on the previous saw, this time I will be attempting to use the coiled wired, providing I can reform the ends. The wire size scares me a little, but just like the switch, I will see how it all works out.
Good, because I have been busy. When I said that I was rebuilding the entire saw, I meant it. I am still waiting on miscellaneous parts and while I have been waiting, I have been modifying old parts and making new ones.
I figured I would take a break for a while and take a few new photos for you guys, especially for the non-believers
Take a gander, here is the current state of the project....
EDIT: Providing the pushbutton switch and the retractable cord hold up during testing, just wait until you see how I route the power. I think I have a very good plan.
Looks clean, and shiny.
I missed it in all the posts, but what size arbor is on that saw motor?
The rotary shaft is 1/4". The pulley end has been turned down to 5MM to accept the pulley. The other end where the blade attaches is 1/4", but still needs to be drilled and threaded. I will be putting 1-64 threads into the end of the shaft to hold the blade on with a screw.
As for the motor shaft, that is 5MM.
The retractable cord was tested for several 20 second durations. The cord got a little warm, but not nearly as bad as I expected. In fact, I thought perhaps it might melt in half at 20 seconds. However I believe it will hold up, especially since most cuts are completed in a much shorter time span.
As for the switch, that held up as well.
At this point the project moves forward.
EDIT: As previously mentioned in this thread, I use the battery charger to power the saw. The black and red posts with the wires going to it, are for charger lead attachment.
It seems you are nicely on your way.
Two observation though... just wondering why you feel the need to harden the rotary shaft? Or perhaps you are using bushings rather than ball bearings ? If bushings, then the side load from the belt tension will soon wear them out, especially at high RPM. Hardening can (but not always) distort the shape of the metal. Preferably one would grind the shaft after hardening.
The other point is, could you have made the separation between the parallel shafts larger... it seem perhaps it could be nearly doubled. That would have resulted in a "tighter" yaw design.
Cheers,
Peter (pjv)
Yea, it is coming along, slowly but sure, and I am very happy with the project so far, but this project has surely slowed down my other projects. However, I most certainly like this saw better than the old one. The gearing in the old design, made it very noisy.
HHHMMMMM.... Do I or don't I, that is the question. Hardening the rotary shaft is a very tuff call. I am using sleeve bearings and the only reason that I am contemplating hardening the shaft is because it is a fairly high precision piece and time consuming to make and I would like to protect it for those reasons. I figure I can make the shaft housing much easier than the shaft itself. In fact, when making the grooves for the retaining rings, I ensured that the distance allowed between, as required by the width of the housing was made to very tight tolerances, and it became necessary to slightly machine the width of the housing, because they were just too tight. As it stands now, that is one very smooth rolling rotary shaft, with very little end play. However, as you mention, hardening could distort the shaft, and then I have to make it over again, because I do not have any means to accurately grind the shaft. That is the dilema. In all honesty, I will probably never use the saw enough to wear out the bearings in my lifetime, perhaps maybe ten cuts per year. However, providing this saw is well taken care of, I would assume that the main mechanics of the saw will last a VERY long time (future generations), with the exception of perhaps the rotary shaft and rotary bearings.
To sum it up, I would really hate to destroy the shaft by a hardening process, but I also want the saw to last many years after I am long gone. It is a difficult call and I am on the fence with this one.
Actually there is no particular reason that I chose that distance, however, considering my makeshift workshop, the largest piece that I could possibly make fairly accurately would fit within a four inch cube. For very tight tolerance work, I am probably limited to a two and half inch cube. The six inch sander does a very nice job of squaring things up to tight tolerances, but as someone mentioned in another thread, when the sandpaper wears out, the tolerances go out the window. The milling vise does a fairly nice job, but it has runout issues, however I just bought a new milling vise, now I need a new drill press to mount it to. Another issue is the turning of pieces, such as shafts. Without a lathe, I am severely limited to turning small pieces. When using a drill press for turning, cuts must be made very close to the chuck, and then if the bearings are worn (which mine always are), accuracy also goes out the window. For me, a brand new drill press, with a fresh set of bearings is always a wonderful thing. I can wear out drill press bearings quicker than anyone I know
To sum up this point, I try to keep things small for accuracy issues.
I never heard of yaw, what is it?
So the saw table will be set up to accommodate 4" cuts, but it will also accommodate 6" X 12" raw PCB material for cutting.
The table top will be 25-3/16" wide by 19-3/4" deep (not including the thickness of formica). Sounds kind of large for a maximum board size of 3" X 4" and a maximum raw size of 6" X 12", but I left plenty of room for maneuvering.
As mentioned above, the table top will be covered in formica, providing my formica is still in good shape. I have had this piece of black formica laying around for about twenty years, from a previous project. If it is still in good shape, I think this will be a nice contrast for the white covered PCB material and the bright, shiny aluminum
Additionally, the underside of the table will have seven rubber feet to prevent sagging and slippage.
As I see it now, if the maximum cut of the saw is to be 4.000", then what I really need is for a stop block to be secured at exactly 4.000" from the kerf of the saw. The depth gauges will then be custom made as a result of subtracting the desired width of the cut from 4.000". Something like the following:
- Table width and weight is decreased.
- Less materials required for implementation.
- Less machining required for implementation.
- Faster development.
The only disadvantage that I can see is:[LIST=1|INDENT=2][*]A depth gauge must be made for each cut.
[/LIST]EDIT: Whereas the previously stated table dimensions of 25-3/16" wide by 19-3/4" deep would now become 18-15/16 wide by 19-3/4" deep.
A few things have changed since I last updated, such as:
- I decided not to harden the rotary shaft
- Instead of leaving ample room for maneuvering, I shrunk the design down to almost the bare minimum. It may not be readily apparent, but the shafts have been cut again, to accommodate the change in design.
As you can see from the photos, I am really getting close at this point. I will probably spend the day making my formica table top. I am not looking forward to this project, because the formica has been wound in a circle for easy storage and it has been that way for many, many years, so it now has adapted to the curve.It has taken a while, but my belt should ship today, which is good news for me, because those pulleys sure look nekid'.
Anyhow, without further delay, here are some new photos for you.
I had a piece of formica rolled up for some months, I sandwiched it between some plywood sheets overnight, it helped alot,
Just make sure to roll it out with at least 75 pounds to make good contact with the contact cement..
Yea, perhaps I am jumping the gun a bit with the formica. I think I might cut the top section, weight down the four corners, and set it in the sun for the day (I don't have two sheets of plywood handy
just throwing that out there, in case you did not know.
I have Formica and Contact Cement on the brain, because one of the best gigs i got this year was for 4 fully equipped shipping tables for Rugged Radio.
Oh well...
My next preference would be black melamine, but that seems to be difficult to obtain, unless I want to wait, and I hate waiting. There is slight hope however. People dump furniture, T'V.s, etc..., at the local recycle bins, and perhaps I might find some black melamine amongst the various items. Normally I hate people without morals or scruples, but in this particular instance, it might work in my favor. It's a longshot though.
Odds are that I will be settling for white melamine, but I do not like it, for this project.
Consider Epoxy Resin over some six ounce woven, This makes for nice smooth surface, and strong like Bull.
And you could Gel Coat to any color you wanted to mix, Better yet, use West Systems Graphite Additive, Now y'er styling..
Well yea
Don't you know that the table top is my canvas?
I am hoping to see all that shiny aluminum and steel on a black satin background, without too much additional work.
I just made my wrench for holding the rotary shaft while changing blades. Now I just have to find a nice place for it.
With the old saw, I was battling the acquisition of accurate measurement, and with the new design, I have been attempting to devise a method of easily obtaining accurate measurements.Without having a nice top and since my belt has been delayed, my project is temporarily stalled. So this morning, I started to determine the materials needed for my last plan pertaining to accurate measurements. Realizing that I do not really like my current plan, I decided to take another look at my drawings and then....
BAM
I had an epiphany..... I have been thinking about this problem and possible solutions in all the wrong ways. I only need one valuable measurement and the rest is easy. The MOST important aspect is the measurement from the edge of the table to the kerf of the saw. With this measurement, I should easily be able to quickly obtain very accurate cuts of PCBs.
Of course, there will be many who already know this, and in fact, I already knew this (just too stupid to realize it
Okay here is the scenario....
The maximum length that I will be cutting is 4", so my goal will be to make the edge of the table, exactly 4" from the saw kerf, however it really does not need to be exact, just as long as I know what the measurement actually is. For the sake of discussion, let's assume that I achieve the 4" goal and that I want to cut a PCB to a length of 3". I simply adjust my dial calipers to 1", hold the body of the calipers against the table edge, position the depth gauge blade of the caliper against the PCB saw fence, push the PCB material along the fence until it touches the depth gauge blade, and then cut the PCB.
4" from edge of table to saw kerf minus 1" depth gauge blade of the caliper equals 3" cut length of PCB material
BAM
I found my black melamine and black edge banding this morning!!!
I knew it would look good with a black background, or at least that is my opinion. Anyhow, I have provided some additional photos to enable a good visualization of what the finished saw will look like. However there are still some features that I will be adding, such as drilling and tapping the rear cord column for holding an extra blade, and I still need to find a spot for a spare belt.
Notice the custom wrench and holder at the rear of the motor
EDIT: For the mounting of a spare belt, I am going to mill a couple flats on the rear of the cord column, to accommodate two shoulder screws, being accurately spaced to snugly hold a spare belt
Good call on the wrench holder, I hate trying to find wrenches, always get buried under the saw dust.
Are you going to have a Vacuum attachement?
I am quite pleased with it so far, and even though my stupidity of ruining the old saw has slowed down my progress on other projects, I am now beginning to think that it was not such a bad thing. As previously mentioned, I have always wanted to rebuild the saw, and now, I just can't wait to see how the new saw performs. At the bare minimum, it looks better, it will be much quieter, and not even beginning to mention how much easier it will be to cut accurate boards. The new method of measuring will sure make it a much better addition to the workshop. I suppose it is needless to say that the anticipation is starting to get to me at this point, however I did not get anything done with it today, except for purchasing the melamine.
As for the vacuum attachment.... I was thinking about that this morning.... I wasn't very successful on the last saw and I doubt I would have much better success on this one. The ideal situation would be to enclose the table in a chamber which has vacuum, but I highly doubt I will go through the trouble. Most likely, it will just be a dust mask required machine.
EDIT: One other item worth mentioning.... The last set of update photos, make the machine and table appear much bigger than it actually is. Upon completion, the actual table size will be 16-3/4" (+- 0.06) X 15-1/4" (+- 0.06).
EDIT: I wonder how a PC power supply would work out.
For the time being, I will assemble the saw as shown in previous photos, with the positive and negative posts on top of the table. Additionally, I will temporarily continue to use the battery charger to power up the saw.
In the future, as time, money, and availability permits, I will be purchasing a Mean Well NES-350-12 350W Single Output Switching Power Supply, and attach it to the bottom of the saw. The positive and negative posts that will reside on the table top, will be held in place by (2) - 1" X 10-32 machine screws from under the table top, which will easily adapt to ring terminals going to a future power supply.
By going this route, I can use the battery charger to power the saw until I get the power supply. When I get the future power supply and hook it up to the saw, I can use the positive and negative posts on the table top to power external projects.
Sounds like a worthy plan.
To be perfectly honest, I was almost happy that I did not have to contend with the formica and the contact cement, but woe is me, I have to use contact cement anyhow. I don't know about anyone else, but I have had good results with the iron on edge banding for melamine boards, and I was a little disappointed that this edge banding was not the iron on type, however I was happy to get the black banding. So I am now applying contact cement to the edge banding and table edges. Before to long, I should have a perfect top for my new saw, providng I don't screw it up with all the drilling that must be done to it.
Just a few more minor modifications to adapt my spare parts and a power supply, and I should have a brand new PCB saw ready for action
I suppose some of you might be wondering if it fits or not. Well, I took a few more photos of the belt fit with the newly finished table top.
Of course it fits