Materials used:

Scrap pieces of Laminate flooring.
Double sided turners tape.

Tools used:

6" dial caliper.

Band saw.

Router table and bits.

Drill press and bits.

1. Stack 3 pieces of Laminate flooring
and an original insert plate with double
sided tape between each of the pieces.

2. Trim excess material away
from original insert on the band
saw. Leave about 1/8th inch
around the edges.

3. Using a pattern makers flush trim
bit in the router table, set the height
so that the bearing runs against the
edge of the original insert. Trim
excess material away from the
laminate pieces, leaving them the
exact same size as the original insert.

4. Use your drill press with a
7/32nds drill bit to drill a hole
through all 3 pieces of laminate
in the location of the original
inserts hold down screw.

5. Using a dial caliper, measure the thickness of
the laminate pieces and the depth of the shelf
in your table saw where the insert sits. The
laminate that I am using is .330" thick and the
shelf is .230" below the table surface. The width
of the shelf is .600". These measurements are
for the Ridgid TS 2400, older gray model. For
any other brand or model of table saw you will
need to take your own measurements.

6. Set the depth and width of
your rabbiting bit in your router
table according to the
measurements of your table saw.
I used my Woodcraft bit without
any bearing to get the width I
needed and set the cutter height
at .1". Rout a rabbit all the way
around the bottom of the inserts.

7. The blade on my saw does not
retract low enough for the new insert
to fit all the way down into the
recess of the table. I installed the
original insert and set the blade
hieght to .1". I set my fence right on
the edge of the insert and ran the
new insert blanks over the blade.

Here you can see the cut
made in the bottom of the
new inserts by the saw
blade to allow seating the
inserts into the table
top.Here is the new insert
fit into the table

8. Using a countersink in your
drill press, countersink the
hole for the head of the insert
mounting screw. Here is the
finished zero clearance insert
mounted in the table top.

9. Raising the blade to cut the insert.

Park your table saw fence on top of the ZCI close to,
but not over, the blade of the saw. This is to prevent the
ZCI from flying loose if it was to break during the cutting
process. The front of the insert is held down by the
mounting screw. These inserts do not have a hold down
clip in the rear so I stuck the end of a small screw driver
on the insert and under the fence at the very back end
to hold the insert down tight. Set the angle of the blade
you want this insert for. Mine is at 90 degrees. Turn on
the saw and raise the blade very slowly, allowing it to
cut through the new insert. Raise the blade to full
height for a general purpose ZCI. For a specific usage,
you may only want to cut the ZCI to a certain blade
height for a project.