Sunday, June 5, 2011 Skil 3100-09 X-Bench Jigsaw Insert Plate Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)This is the second accessory I purchased for the X-Bench (also have the tail vise---see my review of that, too).I have a Bosch jig saw, not a Skil, and was curious if the insert would work (the specifications only list Skil saws as compatible).Using the included hardware, I was able to attach my saw by clamping the saw's base plate onto the insert.There are four bolt heads that you can see in the picture of the insert---these go through the insert and are wing-nutted to a set of two clamp-like pieces on the bottom.I was able to crank the wingnuts pretty tight and get the clamp pieces to hold my saw quite securely and make cuts in some 1x red oak material.

I think I will check the wingnuts pretty often to make sure the saw was still secure if I have a lot of sawing to do.

Overall, I found this insert quite useful.The wing-nutted clamps allow me to install and remove my saw pretty quickly, as I don't want it to live in the bench most of the time.The insert sits pretty flush with the table, though not perfectly so, and there is no adjustment (unlike, for example, a throat plate on a table saw).Also, I find that the two halves of my X-Bench aren't dead level with each other (just hold a long straightedge across the length of the table), so this could interfere with making a square cut on a wide board that spanned with halves of the bench.If you are just making a cut on one half, though, then I think it's probably flat enough to make a square cut.

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Product Description:
Includes Jigsaw Plate for XBench Workstation - 3100-09, Mounting Hardware