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10" Sliding Compound Mitre Saw (Makita) - I only use my TABLE saw once or twice a YEAR, thanks to my Makita.
Dewalt 18 volt cordess drill with lithium batteries - I hold my work down with SCREWS. Never trusted clamps. I use this drill for everything, including mixing cement and breaking in delrin nuts.
Dremel - Cuts tabs with a little saw blade, sands with various attachments, 50% of the time it has the metal cutoff blade installed - file down or cut off nails and also works on tabs in a pinch. It also fits into the 24 v spindle holder when it inevitably breaks.
Palm sander - Before I got my belt/disc sander combo, this worked just fine for me and is ALWAYS plugged in, usually with 320 grit for finishing or knocking down between coats of finish.
Angus,
I have a Model JTAS-10XL-1, Stock number 708661 saw.
The one you are looking at looks like it would have much improved dust collection and the spindle lock could be nice for changing blades. But otherwise look very similar. I dug through the manuals of both saws, looking at the parts diagrams. The table insert on mine is PN: JTAS10L-13. The table insert on the one you are looking at is JTAS10L-13N. Iāve been looking for photos of the āNā variant but havenāt really seen anything.
On mine, there is no real issues with making my own inserts. I use 1/2" material (12mm), which is slightly thinner than necessary. The saw has 4 pads for leveling screws so I just drilled and tapped the wood for 1/4" set screws and picked up 3/8" long set screws and used them to level the insert to the table top. Iāve got a number of them laying around for dado blades, but only have 1 for the standard blade. Itās been too long since I made it, but I do think that the standard 10" blade is too tall to be completely below the bottom of the insert so making the initial cut can be an issue. I simply aligned the fence with the edge of the original insert, raised the blade about 1/4" above the table and then ripped a grove in the insert so that the blade would not touch when fully lowered. Insert the blank, clamp it down, and raise the blade just like expected. Attached is a photo of the bottom of my insert so you can see the groove and the tips of the set screws.
It is made of some sort of non-ferrous metal, but certainly not aluminum.
Ignore the milled off ribs towards the end of the insert. I had to grind it down to fit the Merlin splitter. It looks like the new insert slot is a different configuration to accept the new riving knife, but otherwise the same construction. I donāt see any reason you couldnāt make similar ones using 1/2" or 12mm material. Especially with an XCarve you should be able to simply cut one out with a clearance slot, finger holes, and bolt holes already in place.
Just in case it helps, here is a photo of the throat of my saw:
I have a VERY similar insert that came with my delta saw 5-7 years ago and I had been making inserts from !/4" plywood with strips on the long edges where it would rest on 4 tabs in the opening of the saw table. this gives the blade clearance when retracted since it does not go down quite far enough to use a full 1/2 " piece.
I ran some threads into the wood and use setscrews similar to but larger than the ones on the stepper drive pulleys to set the leveling with the table top.
I have tinkered a bit ith a vcarve file to cut an insert on the XC but since I have not needed one as yet, that project is on the back burner at this point.
Guys I have a bunch of left over portions of wood on 1/4th ply sheets. What is a quick and handy tool that I could use to cut those pieces out? Skillsaw seems like such overkill. I just want to clean up my workspace and get rid of all the sheets with the stuff already cut out of them. =)
I like to use my bandsaw to cut scraps into woodstove sized pieces. Just fyi, I never put anything āgreenā treated into the stove. those go out to the dump. The bit of glue that is in the small amount of plywood I use is bad enough.
Dremel did a mini circular/track saw a while back, and Rockwell did a version intended to work w/ a track and now Grizzly has a 4.5" model ā I mostly use hand tools aside from my Shapeoko, but have been tempted to buy one for long cuts which either donāt fit on the machine, or which I would prefer to do quickly w/ as narrow a kerf as possible.
Everyone in here needs to leave now! This thread and the Xcarve is a trap! At first all I wanted was an xcarveā¦ now I want a dust collection system, a new shop vac, a sound proof cabinet for my shop vac, an oscillating sander, and God knows how many bits I want to buy!
I am trying to hold off on buying tools as much as I can. My plan was to hold off on a dust collecting system but I had no choice but to jump and buy a dust boot. Now I am looking at a stronger vacuum and creating a dust collector. I live in a townhouse type area so I am always mindfully of my neighbourās. I havenāt had any complaints about sound but I still plan on making a cabinet to store the vacuum in. I am hoping after that I can hold off on other things. Iād like to hopefully be able to pump out some projects before even thinking of spending any more money. I get by with the limited amount of tools that I have. I currently use my 20v dewalt skills aw to cut down all of the plywood and mdf sheets into a curable size on the xcarve that paired with my skills aw guide gives me pretty accurate cuts.
FWIW, my CNC is the only tool I have which is not really intended to be moved around (but I still schlep it to the back deck when I want to make cuts in noxious materials).
One really should be able to do pretty much any work w/ just basic tools ā when I was a kid, I was told that āWith an Odd Jobs (early precursor to a combination square), a saw, a hammer, and a chisel you can build most things ā add a jack plane and a brace and bit (or a drill) and you should be able to build pretty much anythingā
That said, a bandsaw for resawing is really handy, as is something for breaking down stock, a table saw, or a tracksaw (or circular saw w/ guide).
My most-used tools:
engineerās square (precision has to start somewhere)
combination square
a job saw and a plastic miter box
lots of clamps
a portable folding workbench (Workmate clone)
a set of files and matching handles
a set of chisels
a pair of planes (jack and block)
a good quality driver (got an Elemenātary No. 1 screwdriver w/ a Wiha bit holder which Iāve been thrilled with) and collection of good quality bits (mostly Felo bits ā I believe I have all their slotted sizes ā I buy Chapman or Brownells for other sizes)
a hand drill and set of bits ā I will use a brace for larger holes though
a sharpening stone (and my father-in-law gave me his hand-cranked grinder, which Iāve really been enjoying, but need a new stone for)
Since I do most of my woodworking on the back deck (my workbench is at one end of the laundry room), it behooves me to keep things small, manageable and portable.
Hereās a project from before I got my Shapeoko 1:
For the last two years I have been wanting a band saw so I could resaw the 4/4 and 8/4 lumber from the local lumber yard. It always seems that when I need a 1/4 inch piece of cherry, all I have is 8/4.
My problem (besides being a irredeemable cheapskate) is that my shop is FULL and I do not have room for a floor standing unit. But all the bench top band saws in my budget range had a resaw size of only 3 inches. I really need at least 5 inches.
Then I found this WEN 3962 Two-Speed Band Saw. it is a 10 inch machine with a 6 inch resaw height. I ordered it on Amazon for $260 with free (Prime) 2 day shipping.
It arrived yesterday, assembly required bolting the table on. (5 minutes). The blade was already installed and the machine was tuned nicely right out of the box. It does not take up much room on the bench and it really does an excellent job, I was cutting 5 inch tall 1/4 inch slices of Bloodwood off a 4/4 block with no problems.
It even has a 4 inch dust port for easy connection to the HF DC.
That was the last piece of shop equipment that I really needed, now to start on the stuff I just want.
Not sure of the stock blade size, but it will take up to 1/2", youāll need it for resawing. I have a 9", and with a 3/8" max blade size the blade is all over the place when resawing. I think that extra 1" takes you from an overgrown scroll saw to a real band saw.
. Now you are X-Carve owner, you have to buy a bigger House with bigger Basement. 
