#HTE

Suso Caamanho’s Workshop in a Box

Suso Caamanho is a woodworker in Spain who has attracted a sizable following on YouTube. One of the more interesting things he has built for his shop is a compact work station that opens to reveal a table saw, router table, and scroll saw

It’s not one of those builds where everything in it is made from scratch; Caamanho sensibly makes use of existing corded power tools. 

The table saw is built around a Makita circular saw, the scroll saw around a Festool jig saw, and the router table around a Kress milling motor designed for use in a CNC.

What’s interesting about this work station is that Caamanho did more than just attach a bunch of tools to the bottom of a plywood table; he came up with ways to enhance their performance. 

The jig saw blade guide is particularly clever. The blade passes through the table and rides between a pair of bearings on an overhead arm, which increases precision by preventing the blade from twisting or bending as it cuts. As you can see in the video, Caamanho uses it like a band or scroll saw.

The router mount is the most complicated part of the machine. The bit can be raised or lowered by cranking a handle and tilted by pivoting it on a set of home-made trunions. It could have been set up to hold any type of router. Caamanho used a milling motor for a CNC machine, presumably because it is powerful and yet slim enough to tilt without its housing hitting the bottom of the table.

I like the fence, cross-cutting sled, and other jigs he made for use with this machine. There’s nothing revolutionary about their design—I just think they’re very well done.

Plans for the portable workshop and other machines devised by Caamanho can be purchased on his website.

http://www.core77.com/posts/67964/Suso-Caamanhos-Workshop-in-a-Box