I am building a rolling cabinet for my table saw and thought it would be fun to replace the adjustment wheels with motors. At first I thought about the simple route of a motor with a fwd/reverse switch and just using an angle gauge. But after some thought, I wanted to be able to have a keypad or some sort of input where I could enter the desired angle and blade height and the motors engage and move the blade to that point and stop. The blade height and angle are moved by threaded rods with hand cranks.
So my questions are:
What are the ideal mechanical movers for this? DC motors, stepper motors, linear actuators?
What would be the best controller to use?
What sensors could I use to achieve accurate movement to stop the motor at the desired angle?
I appreciate any guidance and ideas you might have.
It’s hard to offer you any specific advice without being very familiar with your particular table saw, so it’s probably up to you to determine what kind of actuators to use and how to integrate them into your system. The choice of a controller would depend on the type of actuators you choose. For feedback, you might consider using encoders or potentiometers to track either rotary or linear motion.
Well it is a 1970’s era Craftsman table saw. The adjustments are made by turning hand wheels attached to lead screws. One on the front to control blade height, and one on the right side to control the blade angle.
The screw that adjust the height rides along the teeth of the arbor mechanism.
The angle is essentially the same with the exception that the lead screw for the angle runs through a threaded insert vs. a tooth rail.
