Woodworking Talk banner

Contractor Saw to Router table conversion?

6K views 11 replies 5 participants last post by  gideon 
#1 ·
Due to space, I have to use these. I had a Bosch 4000 whcih recently burned out on me, not worth fixing it. I replaced it with a Ridgid.

Thing is, I have the small Bosch router table and it's fairly useless. I find it too small and cumbersome to really work with.

So, I was thinking, maybe I could remove the motor and other "innards" of the Bosch ts, pull the mounting plate off the router table (maybe) and mount it into the ts carcass. I like the gravity rise stand, the Bosch fence is nice enough and pretty solid.

What do you all think? Any advice, tips or tricks?
 
#2 ·
What Ridgid saw did you purchase? with tight space you could get a router mounting plate, and build a wing for your Ridgid to hold it and your router, TS and router all in one unit, and basically wasted space other wise. You could surely sell the Router table you have on CL, and possibly the burned up saw for parts.
 
#3 ·
Well, I'm trying to sell the Bosch for parts, fence and gravity rise stand but no takers. I'm pretty surprised by this.

The Ridgid also has the folding stand so I don't think building a wing is going to work in this case.

Perhaps I could just use the blade insert, widen it a little, cut out underneath to allow for the router base to be attached?
 
#5 ·
I've seen people do it with the portable Ridgid. what they do is make the router table so that it sits in the gap if you have the table opened up, than when moving the saw they have it designed so you turn some latches and lift the router section out. But I'd suppose you could make some ZCI's for the throat plate opening with different openings for different router bits. would you be pulling the top totally off the saw base? seems like any access under would be rather awkward, and seems like it'd be a challenge in small space to have both set up at the same time.
 
#6 · (Edited)
The R4510:

http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc...splay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053

I have to say that I like the fence very much. Blade seems to move a little to the left of zero which means I have to square it - thats a little annoying. But, I have to say that it is dead on with measurement accuracy straight out of the box. It controls dust much better than the Bosch does but the dust tube is plastic while the Bosch was aluminum - much sturdier.
 
#10 · (Edited)
Due to space, I have to use these. I had a Bosch 4000 whcih recently burned out on me, not worth fixing it. I replaced it with a Ridgid.

Thing is, I have the small Bosch router table and it's fairly useless. I find it too small and cumbersome to really work with.

So, I was thinking, maybe I could remove the motor and other "innards" of the Bosch ts, pull the mounting plate off the router table (maybe) and mount it into the ts carcass. I like the gravity rise stand, the Bosch fence is nice enough and pretty solid.

What do you all think? Any advice, tips or tricks?
Why not use the Bosch TS top as your router table?

Maybe that's what you meant above.
I would just make a throat plate that accommodates the router base without the original. The router may not fit down through the throat opening ...I donno?
That would be a problem since you would want arouter that adjusts from the base for height.
Since it already has the miter slots and a decent fence it would make a great router table...JMO. I have a Bosch 4000 Job Site saw myself and think it's great.
Interesting idea though.
;) bill
 
#11 ·
Due to space, I have to use these. I had a Bosch 4000 whcih recently burned out on me, not worth fixing it. I replaced it with a Ridgid.

Thing is, I have the small Bosch router table and it's fairly useless. I find it too small and cumbersome to really work with.

So, I was thinking, maybe I could remove the motor and other "innards" of the Bosch ts, pull the mounting plate off the router table (maybe) and mount it into the ts carcass. I like the gravity rise stand, the Bosch fence is nice enough and pretty solid.

What do you all think? Any advice, tips or tricks?
Gideon i built a router table out of a dewalt 744 that burned the motor for the third time I liked the fence and used it extensively. It really was a nice table for building cabinet doors. Since then i have moved to using a eurekazone ssrk guided router from above but for a table router the conversiob of the contractors saw worked great I even hooked the switch up to a outlet to turn my router on.
Andy
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top