Just put on the Incra tablesaw fence on my cabinet saw, and it's great. But looking at it, man it seems I could adapt a CNC build on top of it. Base is really stable, since it's a giant iron box! Been reading a lot, but not sure what kind of bearings could actually work well on these kinds of extrusions. Ideas anyone?
Actually, it looks fairly simple. Using a T-shaped V-slot overlay mounted directly over the fence and main slide it could be easily installed or removed and you would be using the standard wheels and bearings of the V-slot system to run your router and carriages off of. The problem is that due to the fence being flat against the table face, there is no way to put down a spoils board or mount media. The fence would be pushing everything with it whenever it moved to the left. If you were just wanting to use the front and back rails for support, you are just as well off to use the saw as a really solid base for an Ox type system and then unclamp it and set it aside when you need the table saw. Trying to mount and unmount an open framework to the rails would require re-squaring the entire system every time you set it up and you will require a spoils board anyway so you might as well build it all as a single system like an Ox.
Thanks Rick. All the stuff except the front and back rails are pretty easily removable. I was thinking to remove the fence when using a CNC, and somehow attaching an Ox-style Y- and Z-axis gantry that could live off to the side when not in use (or removable and resquared when reattached). And just keeping plywood around to fit as a spoil board. Is this what you meant by "using the saw as a really solid base for an Ox type system and then unclamp it"?
Mainly I was just suggesting building an Ox in the normal manner, already mounted to the spoils board and then just setting the whole unit up on the table saw and clamping down. Attempting to build it as an open framework would involve too much realignment each time you mounted it back to the saw. Also having it only as an open framework, there is significant potential for flexing the components and thus, a potential for damage. I doubt the 5mm screws in the wheels would handle such movement on a regular basis.
