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Making the cabinet

I liked the construction of the NYW cabinet, with dadoes all around, so that’s basically how I did it. I didn’t use biscuits anywhere in the cabinet, though, and instead of a toe kick at the bottom I used the adjustable legs so I could level the top with the TS. There are fewer bit storage drawers, but they’re each wider and longer than the NYW cabinet, so I think I’ll have plenty of room for my meager bit collection. The plywood is my usual “Chinese Birch”.

Then it was just a matter of setting the top in place, leveling the whole cabinet with the adjustable legs, and cutting a hole in the top of the cabinet…

If I were doing it all over again, I might make the router compartment an inch or two smaller. The NYW plans call for 17″ x 17″, and mine is 16″. I know the router needs room for air circulation, but this just looks like too much…

My plan is to use the saw’s rip fence as the router fence. I will make an accessory fence to go on the Xacta fence, with a DC hookup on that as well. I put the router opening closer to the table saw because I wanted to have plenty of room to move the fence to the right of the bit. This way I can stand in front of the saw and feed the stock in the usual direction (front-to-back). I have about 18″ of room to move the fence to the right, so if I want to I can put a dado in the middle of a 36″ wide panel. I sized the cabinet so I could have room to turn the bevel wheel on the right side of the saw without banging my knuckles. I plan to put a shelf between the saw and this cabinet to store the saw’s fence or my miter gauge when not in use.

Storage

Instead of a “false face” and wasted space like the NYW plans called for, I made a small drawer to put in the top space with room to store wrenches, insert rings, setup blocks, etc:

I have room to store 118 of the ½” bits, and 101 of the ¼” bits.

I still have some work to do, of course….

Next update: Fence…

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