Circular saw blade use

[alden@ptd.net]

I am considering the ShopBot but need to know if there is any way this machine can run a circular saw blade for ripping and cross cutting?

[rgbrown@itexas.net]

Alden,

The short answer is "YES". The problem may be how are you going to mount it and how are you planning to change the blade angle from "cross-cut" to "Rip"? Are you going to try and do "angled" cuts?

Once these problems are solved, the next adventure of "off-sets" and other interesting items will appear.

If the blade/tool changes are all "Manual", who will run the machine? What happens when an employee - or the tired owner, plunges the blade and tries to "Cross-Cut" when the blade is in the "Rip" position?

Panel processing machines that do all these things "automatically" cost many multiples of a ShopBot for a good reason.

[alden@ptd.net]

Ron,
I am not worried about the problems you mentioned for I will be the only one using this machine and I will be fully aware of setup dangers. You say yes, but I want to know how it will. Do I just mount in some creative fashion a standard circular saw or is there an adapter designed for this. Also, can the ShopBot tool mount pivot in any way or does the router only point down. In other words can you end mill an edge at 90 degrees to the edge surface?

[kerrazy]

Alden,
I have just recently (yesterday) seen susch a beast as you were asking. It was an ad in this months Custom wooodworking. It looks to be an attachment that wood maybe use your esisting equipment...Router and could be rotated 90 degrees as needed, as well as angled. It may just be for production multi - head CNC machines but it sure caught my eye with a hmmm . I will get the info for you tomorrow when I am back in the shop.
Dale

[kerrazy]

http://www.benz-international.com/englisch/index1.html

try this sight and good luck..it sure looks neat!!

[alden@ptd.net]

Dale,
Interesting stuff but way beyond my means. I will stick with the ShopBot idea if I can find a way to make it work. If I were to attach a small saw blade that could handle 10,000 RPM's to the router spindle, how low to the work piece can the spindle get in the horizontal position. I need to know what diameter the saw blade would have to be to cut 1.5 inches deep.

[Mayo]

I think the time it would take to change over from routing to cutting with a saw blade would be counter productive.

You could probably figure out a way to mount a circular saw on the shopbot, but you would need to increase the size of your shopbot to account for the size of the blade and the saw base. The standard size 4'x8' shopbot probably won't have enough travel to allow you to fully rip and cross cut a 4'x8' using a typical circular saw blade.

The money you would spend getting an oversize shopbot could just as easily purchase a machine designed strictly for that purpose. (A panel saw)

Maybe it would work with the small size circular saws typically used in cordless saws but those wouldn't be considered production equipment.

Why not just get a panel saw, or if you can't spend that much, get a panel saw kit. If you can't get a ready made kit, buy the plans to make your own.

[gerald_d]

Alden, you are playing with fire if you want to mount large diameter items in a variable speed router.

[bjwat@comcast.net]

Looks pretty scary...I don't really see why you would need something like this. It would be much more efficient and cheaper to just use a good table saw and zip stuff out. Inside cuts are just as good if not better, with a router.

The idea of a saw blade running at high speed....with the inevitable possibility of it crashing into the table...and into the underlying steel structure is too risky.

The only other option I see that *may* be possible, is mounting a 4" carbide blade onto an angle grinder.

I still don't see why you would need something like this...The thought of another Shopbotter loosing limbs is not a good one.

-Brady

[benchmark@tesco.net]

Alden

Why bother changing over from a router to a saw, just use the router with the right bit to rip and cross cut your panels.

I have a panel saw which is a far quicker way to cut large panels, but if I’m on my own with 18mm MDF the Shopbot wins every time with clean straight edges and square panel.

Yes it is slower than the panels saw but you can get on with something else while it is cutting.

[logical@gmi.net]

Brady,

I'm shocked! You say "the thought of another Shopbotter loosing limbs is not a good one." Another Shopbotter? Who was the first to lose limbs? I sure hope you meant a "fellow" shopbotter?

ROFLMAO,
Wes

[jeff]

Thats what I thought also Wes, when I read that. LOL, but seriously the thought of a saw blade coming loose at 7500+ RPM at about waist level, makes me more than nervous. your choice Alden!

Good Luck

[Alden Southwick]

Thanks for all the advice. I am presently cutting 2'x 9'sheets of engineered stone by hand using straight edges and circular saw with a diamond blade. I also use the router with a diamond bit to clean up and profile edges. I thought the ShopBot would give a steadier hand and control the dust better. I make high end countertops and cutting boards with this material. I've got pictures of the jobs I've done if you'd like to see them at www.askilan.us I am a one man operation looking to make myself more efficient. I'm thinkng the shopbot might do the job if it will make the same cuts that I do by hand.

[Mayo]

I'm surprised you're not using lots of water while cutting...

I recently toured an operation in Chicago that makes counter tops from granite and from Silestone, which sounds very much like the product you're using. Silestone is made in Spain, from quartz and resins.

The place I toured was using water in all their cutting and routing operations. Their machinery was extremely heavy duty, imported from Italy, and specific to cutting and routing stone and engineered stone.

[bjwat@comcast.net]

LOL!!!!!!!!!

Oops! That's what I meant....A FELLOW ShopBotter....

Cheese Louise!

[Alden Southwick]

Don't be surprised, I work out of my basement. That operation costs mega bucks-in the six figures. Maybe in the future.