TS3650 and Router Table

[imported_dbird]

Hello All,

I just purchased the Router Table and Fence from Mule Cabinetmakers (www.mulecab.com), that attaches to the TS3650 Ridgid Tablesaw, which I also recently purchased. I believe that a few people on this forum have this same setup, and I have a question.

The router table is supposed to replace the right wing of the tablesaw, though there is enough rail to accomodate the router table with the Ridgid wing in place. Do you know if anyone has done this, and if it would cause any problems? The router table is pretty light, even with a router mounted to it. And, the extended rails are bolted to the main table and the wing, so it has good support.

Also, the tablesaw wing is very heavy. If I replace the wing with the router table, will the right side be too light, and the saw unbalanced? I do not believe that the weight of the router table and the router together even come close to the weight of the wing.

I welcome and appreciate any and all comments and advice.

Thanks,

Dennis

[imported_Bob D.]

I have the same combination, 3650 with the MuleCab router table. I did not remove the right wing and choose to mount my router as an extension of the TS3650 table. I fell though that even given the light overall weight of the router table (with router) that is does place stress on the fence rails which were not designed for this purpose and so I am still working out a design to add support to the router table bracing it off the saw legs. In the time being I place a Flip-Top stand or similar support under the outer edge of the table to avoid distortion of the fence rails and I do not leave my router mounted in the table all the time even though I have a router which I use exclusively in the table. I leave the fixed base mounted to the plate and just remove the router motor which in itself weighs as much as the table and base do.

A few people have posted links to their support solutions and I have considered those but am not convinced they are the best setup for me.

Here is a link to one, it is not the Mule-Cab table but that does not matter, the supports solution is a good one.

http://hsfc.com/router.htm

10/25/04

Here's some pics of how I braced my router table. The images are big so I just placed links to them here which will open in a new browser window.

router table and TS bracing I added (http://home.comcast.net/~sparc/woodworking/IMG_1136.JPG)

another view of the bracing (http://home.comcast.net/~sparc/woodworking/IMG_1143.JPG)

[ 10-25-2004, 10:30 PM: Message edited by: Bob D. ]

[imported_e-barr]

Question: Did you replace the TS3650 Rails with the Mule Cab rails or did you keep the original old rails?

How hard was it to install?

[imported_dbird]

Hopefully Bob D. will chime in to answer your question. As for me, I have the rails that came with the TS3650, and have not yet installed the router table. However, I held it next to the wing, where it would go, and it fits nicely. The outside edge of the router table does extend past the edge of the back rail by about an inch, though I don't believe that this will be a problem.

As others have mentioned on this forum regarding the assembly of the TS3650, if you follow the instructions, you are left with an extra bolt, and an extra hole in the front of the table. In anticipation of the extra weight from the router table, I just removed the front rail, then reinstalled and adjusted it with the extra bolt.

When I install the table, I will post here to let you know how it went.

Dennis

[imported_Bob D.]

The MuleCab table is sized to fit between the rails. Get the 27" table which fits the 3650. You will need to remove the spacer rod between the rails if mounting onto the end of the right wing which is what I did. Make sure you save all the shims and hardware for mounting the the rod, I put mine in a small zip-lock bag and marked what it was for, two years from now you will be scratching your head wondering what those skinney washers are for :confused: .

Last week I was cleaning out the hardware cabinet and found a small glass instant coffe jar. I dusted off the lid and found where I had written on it the contents;

"1984 Craftsman 10" Table Saw Parts".

I no longer have the saw, I sold it about a dozen years ago, but I won't be guessing what these extra bolts and washers are for :D there were even a couple square-head bolts the right size to fit in the slots on the 3650 fence, so I gained a couple of those.

Man, I am a packrat in the worst way, sometimes that's a good thing :cool:

[imported_Bob D.]

Was just on the BenchDog website and noticed they now offer a CAST IRON router table extension.

But WOW, it's $339.99 :eek:

[imported_dbird]

Hey Bob,

Just curious - How exactly did you mount your router table? Did you drill holes in the side of the Ridgid cast iron wing? And how did you handle the rails? The Mulecab instructions show drilling holes through the rails, though with the shape of the Ridgid rails, I don't know if this is a good idea. I was thinking of drilling holes in the router table sides, then fitting them with square-head bolts and sliding them into the t-slots in the rails.

Thanks,

Dennis

[imported_Bob D.]

I didn't want to drill the TS rails, so I marked and drilled the sides of the table to mate up with the slots in the TS rails.

I have not as yet drilled and tapped or through drilled the edge of the TS wing, but am thinking that I will in two places equally spaced as much as possible (allowing for ribs in the casting that may interfere) across the width of the 27" edge of the wing where it butts up to the router table. Most likely will use a 1/4-20 socket head machine screw with washers and a nylock nut.

I am lucky in that I have reasonably close to me a place which sells surplus metal and fasteners cheap. When you go in the room with all the small fasteners (less than 1" diameter) everything no matter what material is $1/lb. Nuts, bolts, screws, washers of every description, thread, size, length, what have you... $1/lb.

It's like a dollar store for threaded fasteners! I love it. This room is about 50' x 75' and has rows and rows of 2x2x2' bins stacked about 6' high. So whenever I go there I always pick up a pound or two of some fastener I don't have yet, and thereby build my inventory. It is not well organized other than the place is neat and you will find for instance most of the 3/8" stuff in one or two rows, but 3/8 x 4" SS FH machine screws might be next to the 3/8 NC HH Nuts while the 3/8 x 3-1/2" FH machine screws may be 20 bins away. you can mix and match so you can get a 1/2 lb of this and a 1/4 lb of something else and throw it all in the same bag then plop it on the scale when you get to the counter.

They also sell sheet metal in all materials and aluminum in various shapes as well as extrusions. I have not searched through that building yet to look for items that may yield parts for jigs yet, but hope to make another trip there in the next week or so.

They don't sell over the internet so don't be hoping to make a purchase that way, I don't think you could even call and order over the phone and have something shipped because you have to go a find what you want yourself and bag it, but I will ask about this possibility on my next visit.

Worse comes to worse and you need 5# of 1/4-20 x 1.5" FH Aluminum screws or some other weird fastener let me know :)

[imported_dbird]

Thanks very much for the reply. That's what I was thinking, as I did not want to drill through the rails either. I don't have a fastener store nearby like the one you described, though there is a local hardware store here that has been around forever, and they always seem to dig up whatever weird screw or bolt I might need.

Thanks again,

Dennis

[imported_Bob D.]

For small quantities I usually patronize one of my local hardware stores too. I also prefer them for finishing materials, they have as good a selection of stains, etc as any of the big box stores. There is no Lowes in the area yet (one will be opening the end of the month across from HD) and the closest HD is 18 miles away, with today's fuel prices that's 2 gallons of gas in my PU which would add $4 and more than an hour of my time roundtrip to the cost of getting a couple screws or bolts if I were to make a trip to HD for nothing else.

That scrap metal and surplus hardware place is even farther, so when I go there I try to get enough of the common fasteners at $1/lb so I don't have to pay $0.20 each at the hardware store for small nuts and bolts. No special or exotic fastener is of course required to attach the router table to the TS fence.

[Sawdust Steve]

Dennis, in looking at your other posts, we seem to be going down similar roads, as I see you also bought the jointer and the Mulecab router table extension. I was looking at the same thing for myself. I like the idea of the TS3650 with its 36" rip, and the ability to combine my router table, all in one compact, mobile machine.

Now that you have had the Mule extension table, do you like it? I would plan to leave my right extension table on, and drill support holes in the end of the right extension table. How did all of this work for you?

Steve

[imported_dbird]

Hi Steve,

The Router table works great, and for the price, which is well below many others I looked at, I feel it's well worth it. I've been using it recently to rout beaded edges and dadoes, with great results. The only issue I have right now is with keeping the fence (which I also bought from mulecab) square when I move it, though this is probably common for t-slot fences. The primary bracket for the fence was also not exactly ninety degrees, and raised in the front when it was tightened, though I e-mailed mulecab, and they responded immediately and are sending me a replacement part. Customer service makes or breaks a company for me, and feel good about recommending mulecab and their products.

As far as mounting, I did not want to drill the TS3650 rails, so instead, I drilled holes in the sides of the router table, mounted square-head bolts just like the ones used to assemble the 3650, then slid the table in using the t-slots in the tablesaw rail. It fit perfectly. And, just in case, I built a leg-stand at the end of the table for extra support. Also, when you assemble the tablesaw, there is an extra hole and bolt in one of the tabletops that is not listed in the instructions, that should be used. I didn't, though went back and added it before installing the router table. I did not drill holes in the tablesaw extension, as it appeared to me to not be needed, though could be easily done if you feel it necessary.

As far as the jointer, I adjusted the knives on it again this weekend and seem to be getter slightly better results. I think this is just a machine that takes time and practice.

Take care, and please let me know if you have any other questions.

Dennis

[imported_FlyFishNC]

dennis,
do you have any pictures of your setup? i'd like to see how it's supported underneath adn how it looks in general.

eric

[Sawdust Steve]

Dennis, thanks for all of the good information. I am getting close to a TS decision, and the TS3650 is still at the top of my list.

I would also like to see any pictures of your setup if you have any to share. I am still a little unclear as to the Mulecab router extension installation. I understand pretty much what you did, but I am not clear as to how you tightened the bolts to the router table extension.

Are you able to attach nuts under the table, like you would on the cast iron extensions? Or did you drill square-head bolts into the sides of the router extension, then you slid the bolt heads down the t-channel on the Ridgid rails?

Thanks again,
Steve

[imported_dbird]

Hi Steve,

I drilled holes in the side of the router table, inserted square-head bolts, then slid them in the tablesaw rails, and tightened them.

I'll see if I can get a picture posted in the next few days.

Dennis

[skipsax]

Bob and all you guys who contributed to this old thread,

I've been searching for info on router table extensions and came upon this thread. If I understand correctly, Bob D and some others have the Mulecab 27" router table extension mounted to the right of the RH cast iron extension (it was not removed) This may or may not require additional bracing under the Mulecab router extension. Lastly, it's best to use bolts attached to the T slots in the rails and drill holes in the Mulecab table to attach.

Did I get this all right and is this valid info as of today? 1/30/06

Thanks much!

Skip





I have the same combination, 3650 with the MuleCab router table. I did not remove the right wing and choose to mount my router as an extension of the TS3650 table. I fell though that even given the light overall weight of the router table (with router) that is does place stress on the fence rails which were not designed for this purpose and so I am still working out a design to add support to the router table bracing it off the saw legs. In the time being I place a Flip-Top stand or similar support under the outer edge of the table to avoid distortion of the fence rails and I do not leave my router mounted in the table all the time even though I have a router which I use exclusively in the table. I leave the fixed base mounted to the plate and just remove the router motor which in itself weighs as much as the table and base do.

A few people have posted links to their support solutions and I have considered those but am not convinced they are the best setup for me.

Here is a link to one, it is not the Mule-Cab table but that does not matter, the supports solution is a good one.

http://hsfc.com/router.htm

10/25/04

Here's some pics of how I braced my router table. The images are big so I just placed links to them here which will open in a new browser window.

router table and TS bracing I added (http://home.comcast.net/~sparc/woodworking/IMG_1136.JPG)

another view of the bracing (http://home.comcast.net/~sparc/woodworking/IMG_1143.JPG)

[ 10-25-2004, 10:30 PM: Message edited by: Bob D. ]

[skipsax]

Bob D and all you guys who contributed to this old thread,

I've been searching for info on router table extensions and came upon this thread. If I understand correctly, Bob D and some others have the Mulecab 27" router table extension mounted to the right of the RH cast iron extension (it was not removed) This may or may not require additional bracing under the Mulecab router extension. Lastly, it's best to use bolts attached to the T slots in the rails and drill holes in the Mulecab table to attach.

Did I get this all right and is this valid info as of today? 1/30/06

Thanks much!

Skip





I have the same combination, 3650 with the MuleCab router table. I did not remove the right wing and choose to mount my router as an extension of the TS3650 table. I fell though that even given the light overall weight of the router table (with router) that is does place stress on the fence rails which were not designed for this purpose and so I am still working out a design to add support to the router table bracing it off the saw legs. In the time being I place a Flip-Top stand or similar support under the outer edge of the table to avoid distortion of the fence rails and I do not leave my router mounted in the table all the time even though I have a router which I use exclusively in the table. I leave the fixed base mounted to the plate and just remove the router motor which in itself weighs as much as the table and base do.

A few people have posted links to their support solutions and I have considered those but am not convinced they are the best setup for me.

Here is a link to one, it is not the Mule-Cab table but that does not matter, the supports solution is a good one.

http://hsfc.com/router.htm

10/25/04

Here's some pics of how I braced my router table. The images are big so I just placed links to them here which will open in a new browser window.

router table and TS bracing I added (http://home.comcast.net/~sparc/woodworking/IMG_1136.JPG)

another view of the bracing (http://home.comcast.net/~sparc/woodworking/IMG_1143.JPG)

[ 10-25-2004, 10:30 PM: Message edited by: Bob D. ]

[Bob D.]

Hey Skip, yes you got it right. One ething that I did not do initially was drill and bolt the router table to the side of the wing, but when I added my outfed table I did do this. I have not noticed any difference in the table as far as flex though, I only did as part of installing the outfeed table.

In the 3650 Outfeed Table thread you will find some additional photos if you have not viewed them already.

[skipsax]

Thanks much Bob. Now that I've been around here a few weeks I can see searching old threads has many answers hidden. It's time-consuming but seems that posting a specific question can be answered quickly after the research.

Tell me, where in NJ are you? I'm in SJ, not far from Philly.

[DanO1971]

There was a Sears table saw that had a router attachment built in to the right extension table. Has anyone looked into getting a "replacement part" through Sears. It should bolt right on to the 3650 Id imagine.