machine table

[Captain Nemesis]

Long story made short:

Some time ago, after some years of having B&D Workmates, bought or inherited, I bought a Wolfcraft 800 folding workbench

and found it vastly superior to the "market leader".
Because of carelessness and neglect it now needs some refurbishment.
Can't get the spares I need for it (mainly the top(s)), so I started looking at alternatives.
Found nothing that looked anywhere near as good, but I did find so-called review sites saying the B&D was the bees knees. Good grief.
Was going to ask here, but then thought "why not just make some new tops out of marine ply?" I don't need all the printed measuring sticks and protractors, just flat tops and some holes for the plastic clamp wedge doobries. Although TBH I cant remember when I last used them.
But when I'd looked at the current Wolfcraft range I saw the Mastercut 2500 table, and thought "that looks like it might be handy".

as I've got a corderd circular saw, jigsaw and router I could fix to it.

I've not really looked into alterntives, except that I've seen a few skeletal things for mounting mitre saws.

Any others I should look at at around £3 - 400-ish? (the wolfcraft with the router accessory comes in at £390) I'm not a "woodworker", I don't have a workshop so it needs to be folding.

And that's short? I have a vacancy for an editor...

 

[big-all]

take ply pehaps half thickness glue boards as twins then use the original top sections as a template for drilling
any bench for mounting multytools will never be be successful as you both loose depth from the bench thickness detracting from cut depth it will away be an often Darwinian compromise
you also have a blade and guard in a far more dangerous setting exposed to body parts above the work rather then safely below the work

 

[Deleted member 174758]

Maybe a bit more expensive, but Triton also have a system bench with drop in adaptors and machine modules. It is a lot imore substantial, though

 

[Captain Nemesis]

any bench for mounting multytools will never be be successful as you both loose depth from the bench thickness detracting from cut depth it will away be an often Darwinian compromise
you also have a blade and guard in a far more dangerous setting exposed to body parts above the work rather then safely below the work

The saw mounts onto a metal plate, so not much loss of depth.

And it has a blade guard. OK - it's plastic, but then looking around so are many of those fitted to table saws.

 

[big-all]

The saw mounts onto a metal plate, so not much loss of depth.

And it has a blade guard. OK - it's plastic, but then looking around so are many of those fitted to table saws.

yes they are fine for what they are its justs like any compromise they are average at all the tasks
and most people will set up the tools for task in hand stopping short off gaurds as they work without them

 

[Captain Nemesis]

Maybe a bit more expensive, but Triton also have a system bench with drop in adaptors and machine modules. It is a lot imore substantial, though

You're the second person to recommend them.

And there are indeed a couple of nice ones on eBay right now.

Problem though, I think, is that although they can be dismantled, they don't look as if they just fold up, and I need whatever to do that, as sadly I don't have anyhere to leave one up all the time. If I did I'd have hung on to my Dad's combination table saw/planer-thicknesser/spindle moulder.

 

[Captain Nemesis]

yes they are fine for what they are its justs like any compromise they are average at all the tasks

Should suit me, then...

and most people will set up the tools for task in hand stopping short off gaurds as they work without them

I like to think I wouldn't. I'm certainly very cautious when using my circular saw handheld - a lot of think twice, hold, position, and turn on once.

 

[Captain Nemesis]

take ply pehaps half thickness glue boards as twins

OOI, why do that rather than use ply of the right thickness?

 

[Captain Nemesis]

I bought the Mastercut 2500 in the end - seems pretty good but needs to be hung on the wall when folded if the alternative is a concrete floor as it stands on its edge on not its feet when folded. MDF top so deffo want to keep this one dry.

Also forked out for a second mounting plate otherwise the time and effort in removing the circular saw clamps to reposition for a router and vice versa is a pain.

And I want to customise it with a couple of extra holes to reposition one of the guides so that the circular saw can be used with the blade overhanging the edge - as designed when used in that way the sawblade runs in a groove in the top which means very precise depth adjustment is needed.

I will be renovating the old table with new tops so forgive the nudge:

take ply pehaps half thickness glue boards as twins

Is there a benefit to two pieces glued together vs one thick piece, assuming the full thickness can be obtained?