Convert a circular saw to table saw - 2

I have a skil circular saw. There are things that only a table saw can do and so I had tried to convert it into a table saw by mounting it underneath a plank of wood. My initial experiment was detailed in an intial post here   but I never really used that as it was too much of a problem to set up and not stable. I needed to go in for a more solid structure.
I used my old computer table that I was using as a work table. I had already drilled the holes in the circular saw. I marked the holes and drilled them. I routed a counter sink holes on the top.
I carefully marked out the place for the blade and routed a through hole through the table top. The next step was to fix the circular saw with nuts and bolts from the underneath.
My table is not straight. So when I need to make a cut I use a straight edge parallel to the blade. I have also routed a groove parallel to the blade that i am going to use for a cross cut jig.
The maximum theoretical cutting height is about 4 cm, less when I use a makeshift cross cut jig. If i want to extract more from the blade, I will have to thin down the top or make a special base plate that fits precisely
in the table.

The table is shown below in the place where I plan to do scroll sawing. I move it to a larger area for using the table saw.

I also plan to attach my router to this table to have one multi-function table. Not because I like the multi- function, but because of space constraints.

The work table with the circular saw attached. This can do some of the work of the table saw. The table is in the area for scroll saw work.

When the blade is lowered I use the table to fix the proxxon scroll saw as I have a space crunch.

Proxxon saw with vacuum attachment fixed over the retracted blade .

Circular saw fixed with bolts from the underneath. One hole was drilled too near the corner and needed washers.

The feed in area is too small, only about one foot. My next table top will have a larger feed in area

Circular saw fixed in with nuts and bolts

Counter sunk holes and the parallel groove (parallel to the blade)

Blade is perpendicular. Max cutting height  only 4 cm

Flexishaft

Flexishaft attachment for drill

This was a gift I received from my brother. It is a flexishaft attachment for a normal drill. Fixing it was a little counter intuitive as I feared that  the entire shaft would rotate. However it fits well into the normal drill and only the bit at the tip rotates.  I fixed it up on to my old drill. However I later plan to fix it on to an old grinding stone motor.

I find this very useful for sanding small curved pieces. The counter sink bit is a real bonus. There are lots of other stone bits. In short a fantastic tool to have. I plan to do some intarsia now that sanding has become quite easy.

Bosch GBH 2-18 RE Rotary Hammer Review

Why did I buy the drill
I had an old drill that I had bought for about Rs 900 or so. It was supposed to be an impact or 'hammer drill'. It served me well for its lifetime. Apart from the knobs slowly breaking, a problem I faced was that the drill would not progress through the wall. I tried all sorts of bits, even dipping the bit in water. However I soon realized that the problem was with my drill. It did serve me well for wood, but was not good enough for  good quality cement or concrete.

Types of drills.
From information I have gleaned over the net, there are three types of drills.
1. Normal/Rotary drills  : With just a motor.
2. Impact drills (sometimes called hammer drills or impact drills)
3. Rotary hammers

The price increases in that order. A normal drill can be got locally  for less than Rs 1000. Many are available as 'tool kits' which include the drill, and a lot of hand tools. Impact drills start near Rs 2000, and rotary hammers about 4500 or so and more.

Normal drills just rotate. Impact drills rotate, but the rotating thingy (not sure of the exact technical term) causes a small forward movement of the whole chuck at a very high rpm. In a rotary hammer the forward movment is by a piston. Often a rotary hammr requires a special bit such as an SDS plus bit. This bit can move forwards and backwards within the chuck. A rotary hammer is more powerful for drilling to concrete.

As I already had a drill that could drill through wood, I decided to go in for a rotary hammer. I decided that I had had enough of struggling to get through walls. In fact I used to shy away from drilling on the wall due to the difficulty. Skil has a rotary hammer drill 1715 which is available for about Rs 4300. This has three modes, drill, hammer + drill, and only hammer mode. I decided however to go in for the bosch GBH 2-18 RE as I thought this would be a good lifetime investment. I have skil tools but an not very happy with their precision. The bosch  drill does not have an "only hammer mode". The only hammer mode can be used to chip away tiles etc, something that I may only rarely do.

Purchase : From Mach Power tools Chennai. I was pleased with their prompt service. There was however a delay in the part of my local first flight courier office. I hope this is just a one off thing as my local courier has delivered well before

First impressions : 

Bosch GBH 2-18 RE Rotary Hammer box

A good box. The box reasonably robust and seems to suggest an intent to last as long as the drill it houses. IT is also spacious enough to keep the drill, drill bits, spare chucks as well as other items. Nicely compartmentalized. Now it may seem irrelevant to talk about a drill box, however these things really make a difference while working.

Bosch GBH 2-18 RE Rotary hammer

A nice long cable. I have not exactly measured it, but it is much longer than my earlier drill.

Drill stop : A good one. However care has to be taken while using the drill stop in the hammer drill  mode, as the drill bit moves forward by at least half an inch. This has to be taken into account.

SDS plus masonry bit

Use in concrete : A  breeze. Melts through all walls, pillars, cross beams. Yes just  as the song love portion number 9 says  :  I did not know if it was day or night. I started drilling every spot on sight... I tried out the wall, the concrete pillar, as well as a concrete cross beam over the window. It was very very easy, with no strain at all.

Chuck with SDS plus adapter

Use in wood :  A special SDS plus adapter  is needed for this. I purchased this separately. There was nothing great in its used in wood that sets it apart from other drills.

Final impressions. I think a rotary hammer is very useful tool to have. It simplifies making a hole in a wall. It can be used as a normal drill too. I wish it came with at least one SDS plus bit, but that will have to be bought separately.

Wooden animals and figures

Wooden animals made from 12 mm finger jointed rubber wood

These wooden animals were made from 12 mm finger jointed wood. They were just the right thickness so that they can stand upright. I used some figures that I saw in a scroll saw book scroll saw basics, with a few  modifications. I used a proxxon DS 230 E scroll saw. Cutting through the wood was a little slow, but otherwise this was a very simple project. A little bit of sanding was required for finishing. Such kind of figures can be extended to make a farm set, along with trees and houses or a zoo etc. I drilled a hole right through for the eyes. Also shown below is a set of people.

Wooden people made from 12 mm finger jointed rubber.

The complete set of animals and figurines

An Indian DIY forum

For those who have not stumbled upon the site as yet, please check out DIYable.net which is an Indian  DIY forum, which has people from varied hobby and DIY interests.

Wooden toy planes

This was made with finger jointed rubber. I used 12 mm finger jointed rubber. I cut it out initially into a piece about 4 inches by 12 inches to facilitate cutting with the scroll saw.
I got a general idea of the plane from a picture online and drew the body freehand. The wing was fixed in a groove below the body of the plane. It is possible to fix the wings in the center of the body but that will be a little more difficult.

Wooden toy plane

The wings needed thinner wood. 12mm is the thinnest wood available in finger jointed rubber. To thin this out I cut a thin strip of this wood into two thinner pieces  with my 'table saw'. Although I tried to get two equal pieces I ended up with a thicker and thinner piece. The thicker piece went for the wing. This may be about 4 mm thick. The thinner piece went for the propeller. It may be about 2 mm thick.
I initially made wheels that could move, but they turned out to be too brittle. As these planes are made for kids who may be quite rough with them I thought just a cut out would do.
The propeller : Screwed on to the tip of the plane. The hole in the propeller has to be a little larger than the screw so that it rotates. Screw it in just short of tight so that the movement is smooth with minimal wobble. I put a little bit of glue on the tip of the screw before screwing it in.
All joints for the wing and the wheels were with fevicol and reinforced with headless nails. I found out that I could cut the headless nails with a cutting pliers to get them of the right size.

Wooden sea plane

This was a kind of seaplane. I used stainless steel screws instead of headless nails. However I did not like the look of steel on what was otherwise a wooden finish. It is not a replica of any plane but just a free hand drawing.

After cutting out with the scroll saw there is a bit of sanding to be done to smooth the edges.



I made three such planes, with slightly differing profiles. I like the look of finger jointed wood as it is, that is unfinished. It does not seem to stain very easiliy.
To protect it (if the planes last) some protective clear coating will have to be painted on. Overall this is an easy scroll saw project to undertake for a beginner.

Three wooden planes made from finger jointed rubber with a scroll saw

PROXXON DS 230/E review

Buying the Proxxon DS 230 E was a decision we took after a lot of thought. This is one of the few available scroll saws in the market. It is available at UMS technologies. They basically are dealers for aeromodelling equipment. They are suppliers of Proxxon products too.

Proxxon DS 230 E is a small but efficient scroll saw

My experience with UMS. 
I paid the scroll saw from the website only to hear that it was not possible to buy proxxon products via the web. UMS refunded the money and actually quoted lower than their web price. Service was reliable and they answered all my queries over phone, but were a little  slow in answering emails and processing. So if you deal with UMS be sure to call first, ensure that products are available in stock and that you can actually buy them, and plan a little ahead. 

Unboxing the Proxxon
The instructions on the proxxon are very sketchy on assembly. However if you are going for a scroll saw chances are you will be easily able to figure out what screw goes where. It did take me some time to assemble it.

The blade change. 
This is difficult. The screw to clamp the blade is way inside the box and has to be accessed with a long allen key. This cannot be done blindly. One has to peer into the side, carefully place the allen key and then twist. This is inconvenient. Secondly if the blade breaks, it is not so easy to get the broken bit out of the lower grip as it is not so accessible.

The lower blade grip is deep inside the machine and needs a long key

While making blind cuts, it is necessary to drill a hole into the wooden piece and place the blade through it. As changing the lower end of the blade is next to impossible once it is through the wood, I usually keep the lower end clamped, bend the blade and put the upper end through the hole. This is fine for small pieces of wood. However for larger bits of wood, the blade guide with the roller gets into the way. There is no way to move it away. It can only be lifted vertically. So If I were to be making  a large piece, I would have to improvise or detach the blade from the bottom every time. 

Blade guide that has to be lifted up to move out of the way 

Blades
Proxxon provides 5 blades with this. They seem good quality, but I did not really use them. I had a bunch of local blades that I had picked up and used these. The DS 230E has an adjustment to utilize even small blades. Though possible this requires removing three scews each time. What I finally did was to move it to the position of the smallest blade. I break my local blades to reach this size.

Blade holder can be lowered or raised by removing these three bolts

Performance :
Great. Very silent, very smooth. There is a tension screw on top, and  a small bellows. One fault I found was that the bellows tend to jump out and get stuck outside the casing if the tension is too much. This could have been avoided. The motor does not seem very powerful, and cutting trough one inch hardwood is slow. However cutting through veneer and 10 mm ply is a breeze. The variable speed is a nice feature. The machine has to be screwed on to a large base if you do not want it to jump around due to vibrations. The whole machine is very light.

Features : A fence. Really really useful. It is straight and helps you cut straight. There is also a miter  attachment for cutting angled pieces. This is also quite useful. I need to make a few mini jigs to optimize its use. There is a slot to store the blades and one to store the key. I do not use either of these.

Final Impression : Though not the easiest machine to use, with practice blade changes become easy. So it is not really a problem. The machine is smooth, reliable until now and cuts clean. It is worth the cost if you are going to use it. It is wonderful for making decorative pieces and children's toys. There is a cheaper alternative from Aaren Relipower that is less than half the cost, but this has to be pre ordered and there is a waiting time of more than a month. I have not tried it out but it looks similar to the proxxon with fewer features. Overall I feel this machine is a good buy if you are looking for a small, reliable scroll saw in India.

Small house, picket fence and gate made from veneer strips 

Featherboard from veneer strips

One of the safety features that I wanted to incorporate for my table saw (converted from a circular saw) was featherboards. These are boards that have a bit of flexibility that permit the movement of wood in one direction but prevent it in the opposite direction. Commercially available featherboards are made of plastic or wood as far as I know.
One method of making a featherboard is by cutting slots into a solid piece of wood using a circular saw or a jigsaw.
With a lot of veneer strips I tried to make it out of veneer.
Cut the veneer  into one inch thick strips. This long one inch strip is then cut into many pieces of equal length. Make two lengths. One set of long strips and one set of short strips. The difference between the long and short strips will determine the flexibility of the strips. The more the difference the more the flexibility.

Two sets of veneer strips of differing lenghts

Stick the veneer alternating with one long strip and one short strip such that it makes a slant of about 45 degrees. The tip will be appear to be step like pattern. Stick them with glue (fevicol) and clamp until dried.

Add caption

Once the glue has dried, cut the tips with a table saw to make  a smooth edge. 

The final trimmed feather board

I have not fixed the feather board as yet as I am yet to make my saw table. But in principle this works. I will have to rout out a groove on the board for easy clamping.
On retrospect I would have made the featherboard in the picture a little longer so that the base could have a longer groove. IT would also be easier to clamp. I will have to firmly fix this on some other piece of wood to extend its length. The next feather board would be after I have planned the saw table.

Wooden Plaque 2

The final plaque hung on the wall

This was the second wooden plaque that I recently made. It is a verse from the Bible, John 17:19, also a gift. This was easier to make as I was working on a deadline and I had already learned valuable lessons while making the wooden plaque 1

Equipment used :

Proxxon Scroll Saw DS 230 E
Skil Jigsaw

Base : Vengai wood 1.5 inch think, thinned down on a planer in the lumber mill to about 1 inch thick to decrease weight. The curves were drawn free hand and then cut out with a jigsaw at a 45 degree bevel. The base was then sanded using an orbital sander to get a smooth finsih.

Insecticide : Applied with a brush and wait for it to dry compeletely.

Stain : Sheenlac walnut stain. I decided to go for a brown finish. Applied with a brush and then wiped off within a minute. I applied about three or four coats of stain to get a darkish brown color. The grain stains nice and dark.

Varnish :  Used 'touchwood' clear varnish. I applied three coats of varnish with sanding inbetween with 400 grit paper.


The letters : Used thin plywood (about 3-4 mm) with a laminated piece stuck over it. I made the initial design using MS powerpoint, and then printed it out. I traced the letters out with carbon paper.

The MS powerpoint plan of the plaque.
Printing it out life size simplified the  drawing process

Cutting the letters : This was done using a scroll saw. It was very easy to do this, although it did take a bit of time.

Cleaning : The blue carbon remnants were removed using thinner

Fixing the letters : With fevicol initially. Then all thick letters were hammered through with headless nails.

Hanging it up. Two small hooks across which I attached some Galvanized Iron (GI) wire. This centers automatically.

Impressions.  : This whole project took about a week to make. The longest time taken was actually waiting fore each coat of varnish to dry. The first coat of varnish never dried in 24 hrs. I wiped it off with turpentine, and diluted the varnish a bit. This dried in 24 hrs. Subsequent coats dried faster. I am not sure why. Perhaps the already dried varnish hastened the process. Perhaps the opening and closing of the varnish tin caused it to be more easily dried. However I stuck to three coats. Dust did settle. I noticed the last time that if I went for many coats of varnish and sanding,  I got a smooth mirror finish but  the final dust was very prominent. Now there are slight depressions in the varnish over the grain. Thus the dust is not very visible as it is camouflaged.
 I did try using the PILOT airless spray gun, but the project was too small to bother cleaning the gun every time.

The final plaque 

Eye protection : 3M Splash goggles

 One of the things that I really needed was eye protection, and this was really a good buy. Available at Mach power tools for Rs 101, it really is worth it. One cannot buy this as a single purchase as this does not reach the minimum amount, but it is a good add on during any other purchase. One looks like a gargoyle, but it is very clear, flexible and offers side protection.

3M splash goggles

My kids enjoy it too. These are cheaper and of better quality (3M)  than the locally available plastic goggles.

Splash goggles can be worn over glasses and offer good side protection