I have an old 14inch bandsaw similar to the one in the picture. While the bandsaw still works great it has its limitations due to the size of the table and the lack of a fence. It does have a miter gauge but this is not really useful when wanting to rip.
The table itself is 36x36cm.
As I started doing more woodwork I found myself frustrated that I couldn’t do some of the things I wanted with the bandsaw. So I made a replacement table that fastens on top of the existing cast iron one.
The new table is made out of FormPly – which has become a bit of a go to material for me because I’ve found it to be structurally stable and the smooth surface makes a good work surface.
I made it 58x60cm (mainly because I had a piece available of that size) which gives me over 2 1/2 times the surface area.
The parallel edges mean I can clamp my fence to it to enable ripping. And I routed slots in it to enable use of the miter gauge.
To fit it, I fastened a runner on the underneath surface and fed this into the miter slot of the cast iron table. With the saw running, I then slid it into the position I wanted, over-running slightly and then pulling back so I had a little bit of clearance in front of the blade.
To fasten it, I drilled 2 holes though the FormPly and then through the cast iron table and used countersunk machine screws.
Having made the modification, I find that I am using the bandsaw far more. It is especially useful for ripping thin material and the larger table provides a nice stable worksurface.
When I have to change the blade of the bandsaw, I will have to unbolt the table and slowly back it off, but this shouldn’t be too big an issue.