Bt3100 Wide Table "kit" form Damlow?

[Tumerboy]

Hey guys, I recently ordered the wide table "kit" from Amazon.com. In reality, it was from "Dam Low Prices" through Amazon.com.

Anyway, the box (very beat up and held together by some worn tape) showed up today, but contained nothing but the rails. Now, the rails are like 90% of what I ordered this for, but being a kit and all, I had expected some kind of mounting hardware, which I cannot locate.

Was I a fool for expecting some hardware? Was I a fool from ordering from some placed called "Dam Low"? Is there somewhere to order the proper mounting hardware from?

And most importantly of all, what are the little square, flat nuts in the Ryobi extras kit called, so I can order some more and make my own mounting kit?

Thanks guys.

[worknhard]

Get your flat nuts here: http://www.t-nuts.com/bt3c/ ...you'll save money, time, and have a better product.

Ron

[SteveO]

My understanding is that the kit should have the mounting hardware consisting of the rails and a box of hardware containing connector plates, T-nuts and bolts. Additionally, it should have angle brackets to mount your home-made extension table and a set of instructions.

You can find the manual for the kit here: http://dl.owneriq.net/c/c71332c6-625...d3b4d073bb.pdf

Sounds like "Dam Low" either left out parts or they got lost in transit. Unfortunately, I've heard that "Dam Low" can be kind of difficult to deal with, although I've never personally done business with him.

Good luck.

By the way, if it was not supposed to include the hardware, I made my own rail connecting brackets by taking 1" x 1/4" steel stock from HD and drilling holes for the bolts and rounded off the edges on my grinder. You can then order the T-nuts and the bolts from t-nuts.com as noted above by workinhard. I think it would be really easy to make the table angle brackets by modifying regular angle brackets by drilling appropriately spaced holes.

[Tumerboy]

Hey thanks guys! Ya, I sent a couple emails to Dam Low, we'll see what shakes out. But honestly, I have no problem building my own, just didn't know about t-nuts.com! Thanks a million, you guys rock!

[Pappy]

These are aluminum connectors that Rod Kirby designed.

[LCHIEN]

there's several wasy to come up with your own.
The cheapest is to get some strips of aluminum or steel the width of the T-slots and thread some holes in it for 1/4-20x1/2" bolts

[jnesmith]

As others have mentioned, it should have come with A BUNCH of hardware. That's what makes it a "kit", and not just a set of rails.

[dbhost]

I wouldn't worry about T nuts.com too much, they are well established, and have a pretty good reputation on this forum... (And are supporters of BT3central...)

I haven't had an opportunity to buy anything from damlow. Their name is usually the reverse of what I have seen of their pricing...

[Tumerboy]

Well, they were the only place I could find that had any of the table kits in stock and ready to ship.

I got an email back from Dam Low saying he was going to file a claim with FedEx and reship (yay!)

I will probably still order some stuff from T-Nuts.com to work on an actual table for my kit.

Thanks again guys.

[pelligrini]

Their assortment packs are handy. Useful for jigs, attachments etc. I like the getting the T-Nut assortment and a stud assortment over getting the bolts. His knob prices aren't bad either.

You might take a look at doing an insert connector on your rails. They're very stable the connecting plates don't get in the way. Sometimes I had problems putting my accessory table where I wanted it as the plates were sticking out. You also don't have to take the connectors off to slide another t-nut to where you might need one later.

[os1kne]

there's several wasy to come up with your own.
The cheapest is to get some strips of aluminum or steel the width of the T-slots and thread some holes in it for 1/4-20x1/2" bolts

FWIW, I've tried this with both AL and steel. I was much happier with the steel, the 1/8" thick AL just didn't seem to be as strong as I wanted.

Another good, inexpensive and fast (no drilling) method that I've used is 14ga 1.5" slotted angle, about 8" long per joint. (HD and Lowe's carry this - about $6 for 2ft.) I like the 1/4" AL angle method from Rod best, but the 1/4" AL angle isn't typically carried by most home centers. (The 1/4" steel plates from KomaToast are probably even better, but I haven't seen the need to spend that kind of money.)