alchemysa
Veteran Member
Isn't it good when you finally make use of some of the old junk you've had lying around for years.
When we tore our old shack down 12 months ago I wound up with a 6 foot high pile of old building timber that I didn't know how to deal with. Its old, dry and full of nails. I wanted to cut it into firewood but I figured the chain saw wouldnt last 5 minutes, and a hand held rip snorter (circular saw) was just too backbreaking and awkward. Everything I looked at buying to do the job was just too expensive or overkill. Finally I found a second hand bench saw on ebay. It was small and had no motor (and pricey at $90) but it had promise. (I liked the idea of building some kind of belt driven saw as I figured it would be able to take more punishment).
The table is an old weights bench that the local footy club was throwing out. (I welded some wider tube accross the base of the legs). The motor was off an old cracked water pump that been sitting in the shed for 20 years. The safety guards were the sides of an old fireplace screen that had also been in the shed for 15 years. The aluminium channel supporting the side guard was also from the shed. The motor provided 2800rpm (at no load) so I bought a 2" and 3" pulley from the local machinery shop. That gave me about 5000rpm at the blade. A surplus store was selling V-belts at 10 for $1 so I've got a lifetime supply of belts. I've never built anything with a belt before so I was a bit concerned about how to keep the belt tensioned, but this turned out to be no problem at all as it works best with the belt pretty loose.
I'm happy to say on my test timber it works like a dream. Slices through most timber like butter. The blade is only 7 1/4" so I'm limited to a 45mm thick cut but I think I can fit an 8 1/4" blade if they are available.
The safety guard on top turned out to be anything but safe. I sliced my finger twice on sharp mesh before adding the tape along the edges. I also discovered very quickly why these types of benches often don't have guards. If you try to cut a piece of timber thats too thick the wood ends up between the guard and the blade and gets very dicey to remove. I may remove the top guard when I tackle the big pile next week. I'll definately be wearing leather gloves regardless.
In the meantime I might try and add some wheels. Its heavier than it looks. It probably weighs about 90lbs.
Before building this I almost posed the question on TBN of how the heck you guys deal with piles of old building timber.
When we tore our old shack down 12 months ago I wound up with a 6 foot high pile of old building timber that I didn't know how to deal with. Its old, dry and full of nails. I wanted to cut it into firewood but I figured the chain saw wouldnt last 5 minutes, and a hand held rip snorter (circular saw) was just too backbreaking and awkward. Everything I looked at buying to do the job was just too expensive or overkill. Finally I found a second hand bench saw on ebay. It was small and had no motor (and pricey at $90) but it had promise. (I liked the idea of building some kind of belt driven saw as I figured it would be able to take more punishment).
The table is an old weights bench that the local footy club was throwing out. (I welded some wider tube accross the base of the legs). The motor was off an old cracked water pump that been sitting in the shed for 20 years. The safety guards were the sides of an old fireplace screen that had also been in the shed for 15 years. The aluminium channel supporting the side guard was also from the shed. The motor provided 2800rpm (at no load) so I bought a 2" and 3" pulley from the local machinery shop. That gave me about 5000rpm at the blade. A surplus store was selling V-belts at 10 for $1 so I've got a lifetime supply of belts. I've never built anything with a belt before so I was a bit concerned about how to keep the belt tensioned, but this turned out to be no problem at all as it works best with the belt pretty loose.
I'm happy to say on my test timber it works like a dream. Slices through most timber like butter. The blade is only 7 1/4" so I'm limited to a 45mm thick cut but I think I can fit an 8 1/4" blade if they are available.
The safety guard on top turned out to be anything but safe. I sliced my finger twice on sharp mesh before adding the tape along the edges. I also discovered very quickly why these types of benches often don't have guards. If you try to cut a piece of timber thats too thick the wood ends up between the guard and the blade and gets very dicey to remove. I may remove the top guard when I tackle the big pile next week. I'll definately be wearing leather gloves regardless.
In the meantime I might try and add some wheels. Its heavier than it looks. It probably weighs about 90lbs.
Before building this I almost posed the question on TBN of how the heck you guys deal with piles of old building timber.
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