My shop is half of a two-car garage and I use a homemade mobile base
for my table saw and will need to do the same for additional equipment.


My problem is that the floor has one heck of a concave shape to it
going to the drain, so I have to finagle the saw until it sits solidly.
Of course, this isn't always the best position for all cuts.

I have tried a lot of things to help level it with various degrees of
success, but none that I am happy with (yet).

I was wondering if camper stabilier jacks, like these, would work:

http://tinyurl.com/6l6j9

They seem straight-forward, easy to use, and seem like they would
certainly stabilize the saw.

Any thoughts?

Thanks,
ray

Minimum length is 11.5" Do you really need that much of an
adjustment?

"busbus" wrote in message
oups.com...
My shop is half of a two-car garage and I use a homemade mobile base
for my table saw and will need to do the same for additional equipment.


My problem is that the floor has one heck of a concave shape to it
going to the drain, so I have to finagle the saw until it sits solidly.
Of course, this isn't always the best position for all cuts.

I have tried a lot of things to help level it with various degrees of
success, but none that I am happy with (yet).

I was wondering if camper stabilier jacks, like these, would work:

http://tinyurl.com/6l6j9

They seem straight-forward, easy to use, and seem like they would
certainly stabilize the saw.

Any thoughts?

I am not sure that a ratchet type jack would offer a small enough increment
to really level the tool.

Have you thought about the crank type lifting unit that are often found on
boat trailers?? It seems to me that those are truly incremental. although I
don't know how strong they are.

Can you make a custom bearing pad that always goes in the same
place on the floor? A rubber doormat or similar would keep it
from skidding, stand it in the corner when not using.

(top posted for your convenience)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Keep the whole world singing . . . .
DanG (remove the sevens)




"busbus" wrote in message
oups.com...
My shop is half of a two-car garage and I use a homemade mobile
base
for my table saw and will need to do the same for additional
equipment.


My problem is that the floor has one heck of a concave shape to
it
going to the drain, so I have to finagle the saw until it sits
solidly.
Of course, this isn't always the best position for all cuts.

I have tried a lot of things to help level it with various
degrees of
success, but none that I am happy with (yet).

I was wondering if camper stabilier jacks, like these, would
work:

http://tinyurl.com/6l6j9

They seem straight-forward, easy to use, and seem like they
would
certainly stabilize the saw.

Any thoughts?

Thanks,
ray

"busbus" wrote in message
oups.com...

My problem is that the floor has one heck of a concave shape to it
going to the drain, so I have to finagle the saw until it sits solidly.
Of course, this isn't always the best position for all cuts.

I have tried a lot of things to help level it with various degrees of
success, but none that I am happy with (yet).


Try a simpler solution, Your TS dos not have to be level. If you are
having a stability problem use only 3 wheels on your mobile base. 3 wheels
sill set solidly on any surface. My HTC Jet mobile base has 2 wheels just
left of the center of the saw cabinet and 1 wheel under the extension table.

I was also thinking about the crank kind...they are just a little more
expensive and I though this type would have a smaller footprint. Also,
it seems like they are on a 15-degree-or-so angle which I thought would
make them even sturdier.

But I did have the same thoughts as what you are saying about them
being ratchet-type jacks. I talked with a friend who has a camper and
he has the post kind...I can ask him if those type are truly
incremental.

No, I certainly do not need that much adjustment! I was thinking about
mounting them about 12" up the sides of my homemade base. That way I
could retract them and roll the saw around on its wheels. When I
wanted to use the, rachet the jacks so the saw would be level.

I thought about this solution, too, but there is not one perfect spot
in the garage where I can make all my cuts. I am finding, especially
with wide or long work, I need to move it this way and that; changing
the position of the saw bewteen rips and cross-cutting. In addition to
the floor situation, I have that durn post holding up the I-beam that
always seems to be getting in the way, too.

I was trying to find a nice solution so's as I can move the saw and
level it wherever I find the best place I could make my cut. I am now
seriously thinking about what Lee said and put out the extra $30 and
get a couple of the crank post-type jacks.

"busbus" wrote:

My problem is that the floor has one heck of a concave shape to it
going to the drain, so I have to finagle the saw until it sits solidly.
FWIW, this is not unique to garages with drains. I find the same on my
poured basement floor with no drain.


Any thoughts?
Several:

Wedges. Simple, cheap, easy to "set".

T-nut on the bottom of the feet, with adjustable feet from the Borg.

Drill through the front feet, with a T-nut on the bottom, and a bolt
through the hole, so that the height can be adjusted with a wrench
from the top of the foot.

A cam-action lever on a foot to turn an eccentric bearing until it
forces a foot to the floor.

I like the wedges
--
Alex -- Replace "nospam" with "mail" to reply by email. Checked infrequently.

Alexy named my solution to the exact same problem. I have a wedge I
stuff under the low corner. Actually it is a scrap of BB plywood from a
past project. It was close at hand when I needed to keep my saw from
rocking. I figure it was free.

On Thu, 17 Feb 2005 15:29:06 -0500, alexy wrote:

snip

Wedges. Simple, cheap, easy to "set".

snip

I like the wedges
I second this motion. I use scraps cut from tapered legs. The scrap
is long enough to reach from front to back and I use two back to back
(taper sides facing each other) to make a rectangular wedge. Easy to
adjust and take down. Two pairs does it.

TWS

Not sure what your mobile base looks like, but if you can rig up some
threaded rod on two adjacent corners, such that the rods come nearly up
to the height of the saw, threaded thru a t-nut near the wheels on the
base, it is much easier to adjust from a standing position. I notice
the older I get, the more tolerant of wobble I become if I have to get
down on the floor to fix it!

Well, I do use a couple freebie wedges now that are nothing more than
scrap moulding. They do work fine and the price is right. There is
still some wobble to the machine, though, and it sorta scares me at
times (especially when I am cutting larger pieces). This is because,
one time, I was cutting a bunch of larger pieces and while I was
getting one piece into position, I must have been too rough ad one of
the wedges slipped out and all hell almost broke loose.

Now I know it probably culd have been avoided but the fact of the
matter is that it happened, as accidents do. Ever since then, I have
been unbelievably anal about the saw being as sturdy as it can be. I
check those two wedges about 1,000 times before each cut. It is
starting to annoy me but I can't help it, I sorta like the body parts
the way they are and where they were put!

I am not necessarily looking for the cheapest way out. I guess I am
looking for the best way to make the saw as sturdy as it can be without
going TOO crazy. $30-$40, in my opinion, isn't all that much to pay
for piece of mind.

busbus wrote:
snip
I have tried a lot of things to help level it with various degrees of
success, but none that I am happy with (yet).

I was wondering if camper stabilier jacks, like these, would work:

http://tinyurl.com/6l6j9

They seem straight-forward, easy to use, and seem like they would
certainly stabilize the saw.


No - they won't work. I have those kind of legs on my pop-up camper and
they work great for that, but I can't imagine them working well to level
a piece of equipment. The problem is that you need to extend them a
little beyond the length you want, and then as you put weight on them
they will shorten (just a little) and lock in place. With the camping
trailer it works great to use the front jack to tip it just past the
level point, drop the legs, and then go back with the front jack to put
the load on them. With a saw you would have to be lifting that side of
the saw and trying to set the length all at once.

If you go for the scissors style jack, then you can just turn the wrench
on each corner to level it out. Gives you nice easy fine adjustment.
Those stabilizer legs that you showed are only coarsely adjustable, and
not very good at that.

Dan