FrankenBase is fully functional as of today.
No finish as I am not as good of a finisher as I want to be, but soon I should have a few coats of Danish oil on it once I have some test projects done.
Well, the saw came on Dec 26th as predicted. And with the saw, construction went a lot quicker. I had previously finished the torsion box and 'Plenum' for all the dust collection and vacuum attachments before the saw came home. It was worth the wait. Now I value my saw a lot more than if I just bought it at the store right away (waited 5 months for the bt!)
The saw cabinet design started from Sam Conder's example in the Articles section
Two drawers at the bottom of the BT will be filled quickly
I skipped the blade caddy in order to make room for the plenum which controls dust collector air flow to:
* BT3100
* vacuum hose
* vacuum table or sanding station
* router fence
* router box
Control of air flow is by blast gates to each tool, and one for the dust collector to shut off air flow to the cabinet altogether (to help switch air flow to future planer, jointer etc.)
The torsion box has the wiring for a switch to control both the dust collector and the router in the box. I put an outlet in the torsion box as well to plug in my orbital sander in front. I used a wide flat switch so I can just toe kick the dust collector on while in position to use the saw.
The middle of the cabinet stores my vacuum hose and attachments as well as the random orbital sander.
The middle top is the vacuum table or sanding station - complete with a gazillion 1/4 inch holes! I used a pegboard as a template for the holes. It catches most of the fine particles that are the hazardous kind to the lungs.
The right side of the cabinet has another two drawers and the router box. The top drawer had to be half size because the router box hose gets in the way.
The router box houses my Hitachi router that is a snap to use in this configuration. My box isn't really angled at the bottom and I should make that modification soon. The box does a great job of catching the dust though.
The fence is a home-made model made of 3"X3" aluminum square tube. I choose that because the fence itself provides the plumbing to suck more dust from the table. I made the tube as airtight as I could and it also does a great job of sucking air. I expoxied a hose connector to the back of the tube and just duct-taped the front for now. I like this configuration because the hose is connected in the back of the table out of the way.
The fence proper is a UHMW plastic design. I took design cues from Kirby the Great's router fence. The fence is a bit bulky, thats because I got a deal from an internet site for both the square tubing and UHMW
The far right of the cabinet is a small shelf that I can sit the fence on for when I need to make long rips, dados, etc.
The extension rails are fairly standard in the way I mounted them. I did take the measurment tape off the rails so I could buy a 6' tape and calibrate my own. I also decided that I wont be using a dado blade in favor of using my router table to accomplish rabbits, dados, etc. So I bought a Right to left adhesive measurement tape as well and measured on-center to the router bit as the zero mark. I went kinda crazy and bought 2 more adhesive tapes and measured on center for Left to Right and Right to Left for future stop block projects. I cut the tape where the first rail butts up against the second rail and I can use the 'flip top' under the BT easier.
There is a small open cubby hole that I am thinking about reserving for the Porter Cable portable spindle sander. I really dont feel like paying as much as I did for the BT for it though! ($250) I'll wait till there is a competitor to drive the price down (which may be never).
Attached are pics of the cabinet. Thanks for reading my winded unveiling of Frankenbase
Dr V
This was absolutely a blast to build!
No finish as I am not as good of a finisher as I want to be, but soon I should have a few coats of Danish oil on it once I have some test projects done.
Well, the saw came on Dec 26th as predicted. And with the saw, construction went a lot quicker. I had previously finished the torsion box and 'Plenum' for all the dust collection and vacuum attachments before the saw came home. It was worth the wait. Now I value my saw a lot more than if I just bought it at the store right away (waited 5 months for the bt!)
The saw cabinet design started from Sam Conder's example in the Articles section
Two drawers at the bottom of the BT will be filled quickly
I skipped the blade caddy in order to make room for the plenum which controls dust collector air flow to:
* BT3100
* vacuum hose
* vacuum table or sanding station
* router fence
* router box
Control of air flow is by blast gates to each tool, and one for the dust collector to shut off air flow to the cabinet altogether (to help switch air flow to future planer, jointer etc.)
The torsion box has the wiring for a switch to control both the dust collector and the router in the box. I put an outlet in the torsion box as well to plug in my orbital sander in front. I used a wide flat switch so I can just toe kick the dust collector on while in position to use the saw.
The middle of the cabinet stores my vacuum hose and attachments as well as the random orbital sander.
The middle top is the vacuum table or sanding station - complete with a gazillion 1/4 inch holes! I used a pegboard as a template for the holes. It catches most of the fine particles that are the hazardous kind to the lungs.
The right side of the cabinet has another two drawers and the router box. The top drawer had to be half size because the router box hose gets in the way.
The router box houses my Hitachi router that is a snap to use in this configuration. My box isn't really angled at the bottom and I should make that modification soon. The box does a great job of catching the dust though.
The fence is a home-made model made of 3"X3" aluminum square tube. I choose that because the fence itself provides the plumbing to suck more dust from the table. I made the tube as airtight as I could and it also does a great job of sucking air. I expoxied a hose connector to the back of the tube and just duct-taped the front for now. I like this configuration because the hose is connected in the back of the table out of the way.
The fence proper is a UHMW plastic design. I took design cues from Kirby the Great's router fence. The fence is a bit bulky, thats because I got a deal from an internet site for both the square tubing and UHMW
The far right of the cabinet is a small shelf that I can sit the fence on for when I need to make long rips, dados, etc.
The extension rails are fairly standard in the way I mounted them. I did take the measurment tape off the rails so I could buy a 6' tape and calibrate my own. I also decided that I wont be using a dado blade in favor of using my router table to accomplish rabbits, dados, etc. So I bought a Right to left adhesive measurement tape as well and measured on-center to the router bit as the zero mark. I went kinda crazy and bought 2 more adhesive tapes and measured on center for Left to Right and Right to Left for future stop block projects. I cut the tape where the first rail butts up against the second rail and I can use the 'flip top' under the BT easier.
There is a small open cubby hole that I am thinking about reserving for the Porter Cable portable spindle sander. I really dont feel like paying as much as I did for the BT for it though! ($250) I'll wait till there is a competitor to drive the price down (which may be never).
Attached are pics of the cabinet. Thanks for reading my winded unveiling of Frankenbase
Dr V
This was absolutely a blast to build!
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