The idea of mounting a jigsaw as a table saw had never really appealed to me. I thought that it would not be easy to cut with the jigsaw mounted upside down inverted under a table board, and that the back and forth movement of the blade would make it difficult to hold the wood against the board. Sometimes it’s a pleasant surprise to find out how wrong we are and sure you already know it’s one of my favorite woodworking and DIY tools for cutting wood.
To mount the jigsaw inverted under a table board I wanted a system to attach it that would allow me to mount and dismount it easily, since if we only have one of these jigsaws (although I am lucky enough to have two), we will sometimes need to use this saw by hand.
Therefore, instead of using self-locking nuts to hold the jigsaw shoe, it is more appropriate to use a system with washers, thrust washers and wing nuts. The bolt in the image is 6mm in diameter and 4cm long. The large washer is 3cm in diameter, and since it has a very large hole for the spring washer that would go on it, I use a smaller washer between both.
The 3mm mdf sheets glued to the plywood board allow me to fit the jigsaw base always in the same place, as well as helping me to make the initial cut on the table top board. The board I used is plywood, and it is about 15mm thick, 60cm long and 30cm wide. And the wood strips are 3x7cm, 65cm long (I had them in the workshop and used them as I had them). In the video you can see how easy it is to mount this jigsaw inverted under a table board, although I wish I had been more careful when positioning the saw and that I had the base perfectly parallel to the sides of the plywood board. Notice that the slot for the blade is slightly diagonally, so it seems that I was not very precise (I fix this in another post).
Installing the jigsaw in place is very simple, as it is just a matter of sliding the base between the mdf sheets the blade clamp reaches the hole where the cutting blade is inserted. And once the blade is clamped in the jigsaw clamp, we finish sliding the metallic base of the saw to the front stop. And I tighten the wing nuts firmly. To release and disassemble the jigsaw just follow the same steps but backwards: loosen the wing nuts, slide the saw base backwards until the blade reaches the hole, take the blade away and finish sliding backwards the jigsaw shoe until we release it completely from the table board.
See all posts about this -> jigsaw table saw.
When it was time to make the first cut, I was surprised at how well the jigsaw table cuts, as the piece of wood does not bounce on the table top, as much as I thought it would, due to the vertical reciprocating movement of the blade. I simply press the workpiece a little against the plywood board. It is also not necessary to push hard the wood forward against the jigsaw blade while making the cut. And the cut is very clean and much more vertical than when I make them by hand with the jigsaw. Although in this I suppose it has a lot to do with the type of cutting blade I use, the one in the photo of the Starrett brand (if I’m not mistaken with the brand) with which I am very happy.
And because the jigsaw blade fits so tight into the zero clearance slot I cut in the 15mm good quality plywood board, it remains more vertical when cutting the wood. The 3 cm thick pine strips are cut without any problem on this jigsaw table, and it is easy to follow the cutting lines. Although, as expected, it is a little harder for it to make rip cuts along the wood strips. And if you are afraid of the bouncing it may cause when cutting the wood, in the video you can see what happens when I release the workpiece with the cut half done.
