On Sun, 14 Dec 2003 22:32:18 -0600, Larry Laminger wrote:

While digging through my stash of reading material the other day, I ran
across a book from the "Fine Woodworking on..." series called "Making
and Modifying Machines". It gives pretty detailed information on
building several shop machines like a panel saw, wooden jointer,
oscillating spindle sander, thickness sander...even a wooden table saw.

The book's really got me thinking...why don't more of us build our own
machines?

It works well for people that are more interested in what a machine will
do than how much it is worth or the appeal of having a "new" machine.
I have a doweling machine that I built using a cheap drill press and
building around it. Handmade scroll saws are among the best I have seen.
I have used a home built table saw that was based on a simple grinding
arbor and did not tilt. It was rock solid at 90 degrees and cut straight
and true. We used it for ripping lumber.
Probably the best home built machine I have used was a table saw that a
coworker had that he used to cut laminated plastic. It was a 10" table
saw built into a table that was 6 1/2' wide x 8' long. He had a fence
that extended the whole 96", worked on a rack and pinion system and
tracked 50" to the right of the blade with an accuracy of a couple of
thousandths parallel and could simply be picked up and set off of the saw.