| I am an owner of a ryobi BT-3000 table saw with the | | | | concrete blocks, or bags of sand. Paver stones are |
| factory base. I like the table saw, but I don't like the | | | | nice because they allow you to control how much |
| base. The base consists of a set of stamped steel | | | | weight you want to stack on the base. The draw |
| that are bolted together. The frame makes the table | | | | back is it can be a lot of pavers to load and unload. |
| saw light weight and more portable. However, | | | | Especially if your shop is in the garage and portability is |
| because of its design the saw is more susceptible to | | | | a must. You know, the wife wants to park her car in |
| vibration when cutting stock. | | | | the garage every night. |
| Generally what I want to accomplish is to 'bolt down' | | | | Note: Depending on how the table saw frame is |
| the table saw and frame to the shop floor. The heavy | | | | designed, you might have to strengthen the base. |
| duty commercial cabinet saws are constructed with a | | | | Another option is to cast your own concrete slabs. |
| lot of mass. The top is typically constructed from cast | | | | Depending on how much weight you need three or |
| iron and the base is made from heavy gauge steel. | | | | four slabs should be enough. This translates into fewer |
| This effectively anchors the saw to the floor and any | | | | number of ballast to load and unload when the saw |
| vibration from the motor, arbor assembly or saw blade | | | | needs to be moved. |
| does not allow the table saw to vibrate very much. | | | | A third option is to build your own portable table saw |
| Granted the more expensive contractor and cabinet | | | | base. When I purchased my Ryobi BT-3000 table saw |
| saws' trunions and arbor assemblies are better | | | | it came with the extension rails and table. Unfortunately |
| balanced. | | | | when the extension rails are bolted onto the table saw |
| Vibration is caused by the motor, arbor assembly, and | | | | makes the saw much less portable. The base I am |
| saw blade being out of balance. Even if one of them is | | | | planning to build will have retractable wheels, and will be |
| ever so slightly out of balance will produce some | | | | wide enough to hold the table saw and the extension |
| amount of vibration. In my opinion the biggest | | | | rails permanently mounted to the base. The under the |
| contributor to blade vibration is the saw blade. For my | | | | saw and under the extension rail will be built out with |
| main table saw blade, I have switched from a no | | | | storage cabinets. If I needed I may put additional ballast |
| name brand carbide blade to a Freud 10" 50 tooth | | | | into the base. |
| blade. | | | | Quick tip: Make sure that all of the fasteners on the |
| Ok, back to table saw base vibration. There are a | | | | frame are tight. If any of them are loose the more |
| couple of solutions to minimize the saw vibration. A | | | | vibration you will get. Use lock washers, or lock nuts. I |
| quick solution is to weight down the frame with some | | | | like the nylon lock nuts. If you are not planning on taking |
| sort of ballast. For the Ryobi BT-3000 reinforce the | | | | the frame apart, consider using locktite or some other |
| base with two 3/4" pieces of plywood. Then stack on | | | | thread locking adhesive. |
| top of the plywood ballast, such as paver stones, | | | | |