Introduction: Circular Saw to Table Saw Conversion. Dangerous and Clumsy
I really wanted to have a machine to cut stuff. Previously i was cutting with hand saw. The material i mostly cut was acrylic but with hand saw cuts are not perfect. Also its pretty tiring.
So i save some money to buy a machine to cut. I was leaning more towards jigsaw but as i watch some videos on youtube i realized circular saw is better plus i was getting it much cheaper too locally.
I bought the following machine the cheapest and reliable according to a carpenter.
Circular Saw-DW812T
Technical data:
Blade Diameter 185mmRated
Input Power 1450W
No-Load Speed 5500r/min
Rated Frequency 50/60HZ
Rated Voltage 220-240V~
About this machine i would say that it cant get cheaper then this and it cant b better then this in this price. It was about 40$ brand new. Though like other circular saw its hell loud and u cant bear the noise if u are new and if u don't put anything on ears.
My first cut wasn't good although i used a fence still i deviated and the cut was pretty bad. So i decided to make a table saw that make straight cuts much easier and STRAIGHTER :D
Though it was the first time i was making something out of wood so .................
Step 1: Making the Stand
I had scrap wood laying around and it was already in bar shape that i cut and made the 4 legs then i had another bar of wood around 1.5"x1.5" and around 5 feet long from which i made rest of the stand.
Tips
- Cut the wood as straight as possible
- Cut it at a perfect 90 ( Cut should b at as much perfect right angle as iu can so that if u cut a piece of wood and place it on floor it should not lean or fall )
- Always use wood glue between joints
- Double check before joining the 2 wood parts by nails or screws, that they align as u want them to.
For stand wood is used
For the top/where circular saw is attached Particle wood is used. All wood pieces are in bad shape cause all have been pretty old lying around for at least 1-2 years :p And the fact that i was doing it for the first time so the finished thing isn't that good looking.
Step 2: Attaching the Top With Stand
The pics were taken later i.e after the stand was done. However i put it multiple times on the lower side of the top by placing it upside down as shown in the pics to make sure that the stand top was flat and all at same height.
I used screws to hold the parts together. But for stand i didn't use glue because at that time i wasn't having any, now i wish i should have :/
I put the stand upside down and then attached it to the circular saw top like shown. I drilled the holes with a 2.5 mm bit that was the closest bit to my screw. ( Diameter of bit was equal to diameter of screw inner part like if u shave off the screw threads it was like 2.5mm in diameter. see pics for better guess m a lil bad at explaining )
And i had a 20 year old Drill machine that died 2 months back so i attached its chuck on this motor that i bought from junk yard. Specs not know apart from that its 24V and i currently run it of a spare laptop charger that is 19v. I LOVE it so be careful while commenting on it. Its not perfect but it gets the job done # Functional
Step 3: Making the Fence
For fence again i used scrap piece of wood that was laying around for quite sometime. I cut it straight on my own machine to get smooth edges and then added support on one side and a screw and custom wooden nut on other side to tight it when required.
this time i glued it too but on my first try it wasn't at perfect 90 so i drilled another hole to make it as much at right angle as i can ( Here i am talking about the long vertical wood bar and small horizontal wood bat see pics for reference ). Also i cleaned it too with soapy water then dried before gluing to make it stick better. Whenever you are gluing things always make sure the surfaces are clean to get strong joint.
Step 4: Final Looks and Cutting Result
This is how it looks and all the small pieces u see there are of acrylic that i cut using this machines for an upcoming CNC build.
Final words
- Its loud
- Its as cheap as one table saw can get
- Its missing two pretty imp things that u should ad for safety i.e.riving knife and something to cover the blade to avoid accidents
- No matter how bad this thing seems to be its #FUNCTIONAL
Do not forget to watch the video attached for some music and live action ( cutting ). Also subscribe to my you tube channel and follow me everywhere cause a CNC project is coming soon with the promise that it will be cheap and functional and much more detailed then this one so stay tuned.