Factory hole in top of bandsaw table for jigs or fixtures?

[fastfoodkills]

Dear BT3 Tool Gurus,

I've had a Hitachi CB13 bandsaw for a number of years now thanks to the bargain alert on this forum. There's an "undocumented feature" as we say in IT that's always had me a little puzzled: doe anyone know why is there a 1/2 hole bored though the table top? There's also a hole tapped perpendicular to it, presumably for a setscrew to lock down the mysterious jig or fixture. The manual and parts/accessories catalog is useless and made no mention of it.

Regards,

Tom

[dbhost]

Got a pic?

[LCHIEN]

a picture would help, or a lot better description...

is it a half a hole or a 1/2" hole?
where in the top is it located? near an edge? behind the blade, in front of the blade, to the right or left of the blade?

you say it has a set screw? Is the hole flush to the top I presume but there's a flange underneath the top where the set screw is?

[LCHIEN]

http://www.mmtoolparts.com/uploads/d...cb13f_bd_1.pdf
on page four it looks lie there's a hole in the back right hand corner... is that it?

[fastfoodkills]

Adding photos. The hole is a 1/2" diameter hole bored cleanly through the table with smaller tapped hole on table side for I presume a setscrew to lock a post onto the hole.

[fastfoodkills]

I'm not sure why the mages are inverted. I didn't have an external image oat set up and used the forum tool instead.

[Stytooner]

Maybe it's a miter gauge stop. Doubtful though. It really would be in the way of cutting if anything was in there. I wonder if that cast table might be used for some other tool as well. I'm not too familiar with the larger line of Hitachi tools.
I have a router, drills and ID's. Nothing bigger.

[big tim]

Interesting!
I went quickly through the whole 28 page manual on-line here,
http://www.hitachipowertools.ca/uplo...3F_OM_7098.pdf
but could not find any mention of it anywhere.
Cheers!

Tim

[fastfoodkills]

Thanks for checking the manual. It's really puzzling but one accessory that might take advantage of it would be a zero clearance accessory table or support platform with a dowel in the corner which could be secured with a setscrew and a clamp or two on the opposite corners. I guess the dowel could locate the table in position. That's really the only possibility that came to mind.

[Whaler]

I don't have a clue but these views may help.

[LCHIEN]

Dick's post makes me think its a bullet hole, I don't know why.

Any kind of circle jig would require a hole/pivot point at right angles to the blade and blade path with an adjustable distance (on the sliding support would have been good).

Maybe it's an overflow drain.

[big tim]

Why not call Hitachi!

Tim

[fastfoodkills]

Whaler thank you for reposting the images.

Big Tim, I thought about calling Hitachi, but in the past it's been tough to get detailed info such as a service manual. The support desk tends to work from the same manuals we already have access to. That said, I'll probably give it a shot to cover the bases.

I don't know if this matters but the saw is a dual speed unit capable of cutting aluminum, plastics and brass.