Micro table saw for making pinhole cameras.

[el french]

Although I have a table saw, chop saw, CNC router, 3d printer, metal mill, wood and metal lathes, I'd still recommend the OP use a hand saw for the project.

Not only is a hand saw cheaper, but can also be as accurate if not more so than a power saw. It's quite easy to clamp cutting guides to the workpiece. There's a ton of plans for miter boxes on the web.

It's also cleaner with less sawdust floating around, but it's still not a bad idea to wear a breathing protector.

I prefer Japanese style pull saws to push saws.

[Drew Wiley]

Ahhh, finger-jointed Spanish Cedar cigar boxes, that's what I used for bug collections back when I was a little tyke. Never thought about putting a lens hole in one.
As a matter of fact, I couldn't afford any kind of camera back then. Had to make even my own insect nets. Constantly wanted a 35mm camera so I could take
closeups of insects; but when I was finally given a Pentax a number of years later, I never did take pictures of bugs. More interested in mtn climbing at that point.

[Drew Bedo]

The OP wants to make a pinhole cameras . . .no lens.

Back-in-the-day even you could afford to make a pinhole camedra from a cigar box. You just couldn't afford the film.

[Drew Wiley]

If you need to use a "micro" table saw to do it, wouldn't a cigar box be too big? Did Minox ever come in a pinhole version?

[Mrportr8]

Save your money. For the price of one decent table saw that can make accurate, repeatable cuts you can outfit tourself with a nice full set of high quality hand tools. A pinhole camera will not require the accuracy of a table saw, and the nice thing about hand saws is that they are alcohol powered and stop cutting when they detect flesh. Go to: lostartpress.com and you'll find plenty of help. And some snarky blogs well worth reading.

[Drew Wiley]

Some people like pulling lenscap and counting the seconds, while others like a shutter that does that for them. Just sayin'. Some people like to count away hours
with a handsaw, and others like something that does that faster and more accurately, so that they'll have more time for the darkroom. I classify table saws in
neither of those categories.

[Jac@stafford.net]

[...] the nice thing about hand saws is that they are alcohol powered and stop cutting when they detect flesh.

That is funny! It didn't work for me when I amputated my left thumb, but I was anesthetized by Dr. Jack Daniel.

[Drew Wiley]

Being born with six fingers on each hand, you can afford to lose a few. At least that's how it worked out up in the hills among those who shared their DNA a bit too
closely. That also explains why they had so much difficulty understanding the metric system.

[Mrportr8]

Food for thought: Buying the best camera does not automatically make you a better photographer, buying the best table saw does not make you a better woodworker. If you only intend to build a couple of pinhole cameras then either use hand tools or ask around for someone who has a table saw or hobby saw that you can use. Or better yet ask them to make those parts for you. If on the other hand you wish to tool up and start production then that's a different conversation.

[Greg]

Thanks to everyone for all the input.

Some background: For the past 5 years I've been dumpster diving in a dumpster that was next to my wife's business. A high-end custom kitchen/bath/bar/etc. cabinet store next door uses the dumpster. Probably 3 times a year they would have one of their display floor model setups completely replaced. Instead of re-using the cabinets, they would carefully take them apart and throw out the pieces in the dumpster. 90% of the pieces of wood were not worth reusing, but 10% of the pieces of wood were solid maple, cherry, oak, and other fine woods, and a whole lot of sheets of thin very high quality plywoods. In there past 5 years I have collected a lot of wood.

Was thinking of constructing four dozen or more pinhole cameras with the wood and donating them to our local school... reason for getting a micro tablet saw. Project fell through.

I do have a table saw but every time you turned it on, it would trip the GFI circuit breaker. An electrician looked at it and told me it was the motor and only solution was to replace it. Owing to the very used condition of the table saw, can not justify the cost of an OEM replacement motor.

After doing a lot of research, the MicroLux Mini Tilt Arbor table saw from Micro-Mark looks to be one amazing little piece of equipment. Another non-photo project now in the works, that might justify getting a MicroLux Mini... we'll see.

FYI: I have a few precision hand saws and have loved using them over the years.