danmerk23

Welcome me to the Woodworkers Forum. I am a n00b woodworker as I have been doing finish carpentry type stuff in my bungalow for about 4 years now. Since I bought my first home, I actually have a space I can land a saw and other tools to make things.

I bought my first table saw to install cabinets and cut trim work. It worked great but today I fell into a well when I learned that my table saw had a proprietary miter track and I would not be able to make any of my own jigs using anything from Rockler. Thanks Sears. Ye I bought a Sears Craftsman Table Saw last January. It is great for cutting maple and pine boards for cabinets. However when I tried to get some parts to make a feather board, I could not because the miter track is smaller and is now useless since the miter gauge is crap. Oh so is the fence, but I can deal with that.

So the purpose of my post, was that I read here on another few threads that some of you own this saw, and some of you made your own jigs and glides. Can any of you offer me some wisdom on how to deal with this? I really don't want to Craigslist this as I am sure that my grandfather had worse tools in his day and made stellar Arts + Crafts furniture. I just want to make some simple joints for some stools and such. I am sure I can use this thing.

Thanks for reading.
dan

Devildog

Look up past posts by a user named Niki (here and other forums)
He has brilliant jigs, and he posts detailed step by step photos for assembling them.

windfall

Here's some Niki Stuff that someone has placed inone area--

http://www.ridgidforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=17581

danmerk23

Wow this guy is an ace. Thanks for the links.

My dilema is that my saw's miter track is not like everyone else's and I would like to learn more before I go out and sell this table for a larger better one. Anyone ever deal with the Craftsman table saws with these smaller tracks? Thanks!

dan

mdlbldrmatt135

it's the slightly narrower........T shaped one isn't it........ My TS has it as well... Just make a T shaped rail to fit it............. If you're looking to use some of the "available" jigs..... you might want to either Pick up an extra Miter guage for the track.... or have a local machine shop mill some up in Steel......

frankp

Danmerk, consider using the rail off the Craftsman miter and just attach it to a homemade miter that you feel is better quality. Or is your issue just the way the rail works in the track? (I haven't used mine --also Craftsman-- much, but haven't noticed any major issues with it so far.)

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Terry Beeson

Wow... just looked at some of Niki's posts on the rigid forum... That guy has some great ideas that I'll be using for sure .

As for the Craftsman table saw... Yeah... been there, done that. I still use mine, but am saving up for something much better. Maybe I can find something at the Grizzly outlet store in Springfield... hmmmm....

olddutchman

Also, check out this site, Your saw might be a copy of one of these[bt3ooo.com]

Bruce B

Dan.
This is what I did with my craftsman saw it also has a narrow slot those little tabs that are in the track just cut them out. Then I used oak for my runners it works great but you will have to remove those little tabs just grind them off. Not sure what model you have it might not have little tabs in the slot.

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