On 26 Sep 2005 18:45:21 -0700, "Jay Pique"
wrote:

The stock insert that comes with the Jet CS (CTS?) is metal and has a
wide opening capable of handling a dado stack. Today I took it out to
make some zero clearance inserts out of 1/2" finnply. A couple of
comments and questions.

First, the factory insert doesn't exactly fit snugly into the opening.
It's a little too short and narrow, although a couple of little nipples
on one side sort of guide it into place I guess. I ended up just
template routing it as it was, but I plan to experiment more in the
near future. What I'm thinking is that I'll flatten the nipples using
some abrasive paper on a surfacing plate, and I'll take off the seam as
well (all the way around). At that point I'll add a couple layers of
celophane tape around the edge to make it just slightly too large, and
template rout it again. Now I'll have an insert just barely oversized.
This I'll take to the surfacing plate to get it just right, and I'll
keep this for my new "template". (I'll probably make up a few spare
inserts at that time too).

I've noticed too that the inserts don't seem to want to sit flat on the
supports either. To level the one I made today I used ground down
screws countersunk into the insert itself. This seemed to work pretty
well, but I thinking that next time I'll fix the problem itself, which
appears to be supports which aren't coplanar and/or on a parellel plane
to the TS surface. With screws as leveling feet it feels like the back
of the insert can easily dip. Maybe I'm just being anal.

IAE, what I might do is file/permanently shim the inserts such that
they allow for an insert of 31/64" to sit flush with the surface of the
table. That way I need not worry about leveling screws or rabbeting
the edges in the future.

JP

pretty much how I do it. I made two master templates. one does the
perimeter, the other does the clearance for the levelling tabs. my saw
wants an insert slightly less than 1/2".

I shim them to level with masking tape. the tabs aren't at a common
height (sounds like yours aren't either). at first I thought I'd get
fancy and either mill the tabs to a common height or make a ramped
routing template for the tabs, but the masking tape worked well enough
that I haven't seen the need to do anything more.