Tweet
As a most of my regular contacts on the forum know I recently imported a 220v model DW788 Type 1 scroll saw into Mexico, my home country, which I bought second hand in Italy last year whilst working there.
In view of exorbitant shipping costs and the threat of having to pay a large import duty if I freighted the saw to Mexico I decided to risk bringing it into the country on my return home in my check-in luggage. The only problem was that due to recent changes in check-in luggage allowances to Mexico it was going to cost me up to 200 USD in excess baggage charges if I couldn't reduce its weight somewhat. With this in mind I decided to 'loose' 22 lbs of weight by leaving the cast table in Italy and make a provisional one back at home until such time as I could bring the original back on a future trip.
Having taken all the critical dimensions from the original table I decided to make my table from 18 mm MDF and support the backside of it with a ring of the same thickness material. Since MDF is fairly weak when edge drilled I fitted the rear of the table with an inset of hardwood to take the standard Dewalt table pivot pin. I tongue and groove glued this insert into the MDF then waxed the inside of the bore drilled for the pin in order that it would turn smoothly.
I made a couple of design changes to my table from the original. Firstly, I changed the table shape to give me more working area surface and to make the rear of the table stronger. Secondly, I included an interchangeable insert around the blade hole to not only provide a very smooth cutting surface around the blade, using 6mm acrylic plate, but to allow me to easily switch inserts between a standard slotted one to a no-clearance one for when cutting small pieces. Also, since I have impaired sensibility in the tips of my right hand index and middle fingers from a table saw accident and often struggle to 'feel' my way when fitting a blade beneath the table, I can either see through this insert or flip it out completely to make changing blades really easy.
I intend to provide a dust extraction system under the table, and probably over the cutting blade as well. I particularly want the system under the table since the Dewalt has no lower dust collection tray and the sawdust just trickles out from the tilt quadrant area onto the floor - definitely a minus design point in my mind.
Having fitted the table my final move was to mount the saw on my homemade base which has an adjustable back to front tilt mechanism which I normally have set at around 6 degrees angle to minimize neck strain when cutting. I also intend to purchase a set of industrial use lockable casters for the base so that I can easily move it around.
Now I just have to wire up a 110v to 220v transformer to power the European voltage motor the saw is fitted with and I'm be ready to start scrolling. Btw - thanks go out to my forum friends who offered advise on how to step up the voltage from 110v to 220v. After asking an engineering pal where I could buy such a unit in Mexico he gifted me an old Westinghouse 3 Kw transformer he'd had buried in his obsolete equipment pile for years. It was originally meant to step down from 480v to 110v but a trip to a knowledgeable local electrician sorted this detail out. It cost me all of 12 USD for his work to reverse the wiring which i was well pleased about. Apart from being free, as an added advantage, the transformer adds a hunk of weight to the base of my stand making it rock steady!
The saw has been tested and works perfectly. I'm really happy with my table and the only sacrifice I've made from the original is that due to the thickness of the MDF I can only tilt it around 20 degrees right or left without the MDF fouling on the bottom arm. I know that I can engineer my way out of this problem if necessary but since I rarely use the tilt for anything more than 10 degrees I'm happy to leave things as they are.
The funny part - most of my projects seem to turn up one annoying problem or another which you can smile at after the event and this saw table was no exception. I originally thought to cover the top surface of the MDF with a piece of Formica and did actually do this. After trimming the table edges the end result looked really neat - until the following afternoon! Mexican sun can show no mercy and during the afternoon my provisional lean to shed with translucent roof sheeting soared to around 40 degrees C (105F) - high enough to soften the contact adhesive I'd used to attach the Formica. When I opened the shed door the following morning I found that the Formica had curled up from all around the periphery of the table surface. It took me about 3 hours to remove the Formica and adhesive using mineral spirits and then apply several layers of Miniwax water based polyacrylic satin finish top coat direct to the MDF as a compromise. This may not look as pretty an end result but it does the job. Lesson learned - sometimes it pays to try to be not so smart - LOL!
In resumen - another long tale over. Now I just need to clean out my shed to make some scrolling space and later in the week change the roofing for opaque insulated sheeting. No rest for the wicked !
In view of exorbitant shipping costs and the threat of having to pay a large import duty if I freighted the saw to Mexico I decided to risk bringing it into the country on my return home in my check-in luggage. The only problem was that due to recent changes in check-in luggage allowances to Mexico it was going to cost me up to 200 USD in excess baggage charges if I couldn't reduce its weight somewhat. With this in mind I decided to 'loose' 22 lbs of weight by leaving the cast table in Italy and make a provisional one back at home until such time as I could bring the original back on a future trip.
Having taken all the critical dimensions from the original table I decided to make my table from 18 mm MDF and support the backside of it with a ring of the same thickness material. Since MDF is fairly weak when edge drilled I fitted the rear of the table with an inset of hardwood to take the standard Dewalt table pivot pin. I tongue and groove glued this insert into the MDF then waxed the inside of the bore drilled for the pin in order that it would turn smoothly.
I made a couple of design changes to my table from the original. Firstly, I changed the table shape to give me more working area surface and to make the rear of the table stronger. Secondly, I included an interchangeable insert around the blade hole to not only provide a very smooth cutting surface around the blade, using 6mm acrylic plate, but to allow me to easily switch inserts between a standard slotted one to a no-clearance one for when cutting small pieces. Also, since I have impaired sensibility in the tips of my right hand index and middle fingers from a table saw accident and often struggle to 'feel' my way when fitting a blade beneath the table, I can either see through this insert or flip it out completely to make changing blades really easy.
I intend to provide a dust extraction system under the table, and probably over the cutting blade as well. I particularly want the system under the table since the Dewalt has no lower dust collection tray and the sawdust just trickles out from the tilt quadrant area onto the floor - definitely a minus design point in my mind.
Having fitted the table my final move was to mount the saw on my homemade base which has an adjustable back to front tilt mechanism which I normally have set at around 6 degrees angle to minimize neck strain when cutting. I also intend to purchase a set of industrial use lockable casters for the base so that I can easily move it around.
Now I just have to wire up a 110v to 220v transformer to power the European voltage motor the saw is fitted with and I'm be ready to start scrolling. Btw - thanks go out to my forum friends who offered advise on how to step up the voltage from 110v to 220v. After asking an engineering pal where I could buy such a unit in Mexico he gifted me an old Westinghouse 3 Kw transformer he'd had buried in his obsolete equipment pile for years. It was originally meant to step down from 480v to 110v but a trip to a knowledgeable local electrician sorted this detail out. It cost me all of 12 USD for his work to reverse the wiring which i was well pleased about. Apart from being free, as an added advantage, the transformer adds a hunk of weight to the base of my stand making it rock steady!
The saw has been tested and works perfectly. I'm really happy with my table and the only sacrifice I've made from the original is that due to the thickness of the MDF I can only tilt it around 20 degrees right or left without the MDF fouling on the bottom arm. I know that I can engineer my way out of this problem if necessary but since I rarely use the tilt for anything more than 10 degrees I'm happy to leave things as they are.
The funny part - most of my projects seem to turn up one annoying problem or another which you can smile at after the event and this saw table was no exception. I originally thought to cover the top surface of the MDF with a piece of Formica and did actually do this. After trimming the table edges the end result looked really neat - until the following afternoon! Mexican sun can show no mercy and during the afternoon my provisional lean to shed with translucent roof sheeting soared to around 40 degrees C (105F) - high enough to soften the contact adhesive I'd used to attach the Formica. When I opened the shed door the following morning I found that the Formica had curled up from all around the periphery of the table surface. It took me about 3 hours to remove the Formica and adhesive using mineral spirits and then apply several layers of Miniwax water based polyacrylic satin finish top coat direct to the MDF as a compromise. This may not look as pretty an end result but it does the job. Lesson learned - sometimes it pays to try to be not so smart - LOL!
In resumen - another long tale over. Now I just need to clean out my shed to make some scrolling space and later in the week change the roofing for opaque insulated sheeting. No rest for the wicked !
Comment