Help needed - side support or no side support on outfeed table?

[Matt Armstrong]

Hey all - I'm in the processing of re-arranging my shop and I now have the luxury of having a larger outfeed table. My first thought was to make a table with side support for larger crosscut sleds / additional work surface. However, I'm not sure whether this will tend to get in the way. The other alternative is to create a table without side support, which can be done with a much simpler plan. The downside is reduced surface area, obviously.

Thoughts from people who have been through this? I would prefer using the larger surface but if people have feedback that would suggest it's a bad idea, I'd like to hear it before I dedicate a bunch of time to designing/building...

[Bill Arnold]

A main objective when designing my new shop was plenty of tablesaw outfeed and side support. Here's what I have:

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=128842&d=1254140039

I think it was a good idea!

[Matt Armstrong]

Hey Bill,

I saw your outfeed table in another thread when trying to search on this topic. Do you ever find the side support getting in the way?

[Bill Arnold]

Hey Bill,

I saw your outfeed table in another thread when trying to search on this topic. Do you ever find the side support getting in the way?

On the contrary. I only have the Incra in place if I'm going to use it. There's a lot of room for assembly or working on whatever comes up. A full 4x8 sheet will rest to the left of the saw blade prior to making a cut.

[Brad Westcott]

Man, am I jealous. I wish I had a dedicated space with as much room as you do. You can never have enough table top space. If you are in doubt, make it so it can be made mobile or stored away. That is what I have to do with my outfeed table and assembly tables.

That looks like it is a sweet setup.

[Scott Hildenbrand]

Inquiring mind.. What software did you use to do that layout?

[Bill Arnold]

Man, am I jealous. I wish I had a dedicated space with as much room as you do. You can never have enough table top space. If you are in doubt, make it so it can be made mobile or stored away. That is what I have to do with my outfeed table and assembly tables.

That looks like it is a sweet setup.
No need for jealousy. We all have different lives and situations. I'm retired and all of our kids have been on their own for many years. Different people have different objectives for retirement.

One guy might look at my shop and say, "Wow, you coulda bought a heck of a boat for what you've spent there!" Uh, yeah -- but I'm not interested in a hole in the water. I can go to the market and buy a hunk of fish a lot cheaper than going out and catching it.

Another person has told me that he didn't have time for a hobby like woodworking because he plays two rounds of golf every day. Duhhhh...:confused: (FYI...I kept my putter and a tube of balls when I gave away my clubs a couple of years ago. Might seed an area of lawn some day and build a putting green. Yeah, right...)

I enjoy building things. As I took the plunge into more advanced projects using better materials, my confidence grew. As my confidence grew, I wanted to do even more and began to acquire more tools. My shop is a work in progress and I enjoy working on improvements to it as much as building a piece of furniture.

One great thing I have going for me is LOML is fully supportive of what I do. If I hesitate to buy a tool I want, she'll go buy it for me! Most of the items I have built are for our house. Others are for family and friends. Would I like to sell things to help support my "hobby"? Sure, but that may or may not come in time.

;)

[Matt Armstrong]

Inquiring mind.. What software did you use to do that layout?

Grizzly's workshop planner... it's got strengths and weaknesses. I think it's the best starting point for just overall floor layouts. You can save designs, etc. I also have not had bad luck with grizzly tools so far...

[Matt Armstrong]

Man, am I jealous. I wish I had a dedicated space with as much room as you do. You can never have enough table top space. If you are in doubt, make it so it can be made mobile or stored away. That is what I have to do with my outfeed table and assembly tables.

That looks like it is a sweet setup.

I'm not sure whether you were complimenting me or Bill. In either case, thanks! That's kind of you to say. And I tend to agree about table top space. Right now I'm pretty limited in storage. With the design, I don't have several of the tools yet but I wanted to get a feel for
1) dust collection / layouts down the road
2) if possible, any locations of more permanent fixtures (and sizes, like, as in the case of the outfeed table).

My wife is very supportive but I don't have unlimited funds, either. I generally still market everything under the "safety" argument and go from there. I'm only 27 so we'll see....

[Rob Robinson VT]

Hey all - I'm in the processing of re-arranging my shop and I now have the luxury of having a larger outfeed table. My first thought was to make a table with side support for larger crosscut sleds / additional work surface. However, I'm not sure whether this will tend to get in the way. The other alternative is to create a table without side support, which can be done with a much simpler plan. The downside is reduced surface area, obviously
Matt, from your excellent drawings it appears that you've designed the table with side support to also be deeper than the other one. Your shop appears to have plenty of room (nice space you've got there) for the larger table but if you're really concerned about it getting in the way why don't you try to design/build a separate side support table that could be easily detached and moved out of the way when not needed. btw, in your "no side" drawing it appears that the combination of TS & table is nearly square - what if you were to construct a side support table that were the same length as the width of the outfeed table? You could then "store" it at the back of the outfeed table (giving you the increased work surface you desire) and move it into place on the side only when needed. just my $.02.


No need for jealousy. We all have different lives and situations. I'm retired and all of our kids have been on their own for many years. Different people have different objectives for retirement.
Bill, I couldn't agree more! My brother-in-law thinks I'm nuts to want a TS better than my Bosch, dust collection better than my shop vac, a bench better than a sheet of plywood on top of saw horses, etc. He plays golf 3-4 times a week, I play 2-3 times a year. He uses his shop primarily to work on simple home improvement projects, I plan to use mine to build furniture I've been wanting to build for years and years but never had the time, space or equipment to do. Different strokes for different folks.

[Matt Armstrong]

Matt, from your excellent drawings it appears that you've designed the table with side support to also be deeper than the other one. Your shop appears to have plenty of room (nice space you've got there) for the larger table but if you're really concerned about it getting in the way why don't you try to design/build a separate side support table that could be easily detached and moved out of the way when not needed. btw, in your "no side" drawing it appears that the combination of TS & table is nearly square - what if you were to construct a side support table that were the same length as the width of the outfeed table? You could then "store" it at the back of the outfeed table (giving you the increased work surface you desire) and move it into place on the side only when needed. just my $.02.


Bill, I couldn't agree more! My brother-in-law thinks I'm nuts to want a TS better than my Bosch, dust collection better than my shop vac, a bench better than a sheet of plywood on top of saw horses, etc. He plays golf 3-4 times a week, I play 2-3 times a year. He uses his shop primarily to work on simple home improvement projects, I plan to use mine to build furniture I've been wanting to build for years and years but never had the time, space or equipment to do. Different strokes for different folks.

Hey Rob,

Thanks for your feedback. I'm invariably going to end up having to do some cabinet building, but I also work with a decent amount of sheetgoods. After consideration, I just bought a sliding table attachment which will soak up that side of the saw (see the thread I posted in 'deals and discounts').

So, for what it's worth, I'm just going to build a nice, easy rectangular outfeed/assembly table roughly 5'6" x 7'6"... now to break the news to my wife that I spent more money on tools...

[Rob Robinson VT]

Hey Rob,

Thanks for your feedback. I'm invariably going to end up having to do some cabinet building, but I also work with a decent amount of sheetgoods. After consideration, I just bought a sliding table attachment which will soak up that side of the saw (see the thread I posted in 'deals and discounts').

So, for what it's worth, I'm just going to build a nice, easy rectangular outfeed/assembly table roughly 5'6" x 7'6"... now to break the news to my wife that I spent more money on tools...
So far I've been using the same "safety" argument that you referred to. :D After reading Bill Pentz' informative articles on dust collection I've certainly upped my budget for that all-important part of my new shop and will be adding a larger system than I'd originally considered as well as a good 3-stage ceiling-hung filtration system.

[Matt Armstrong]

So far I've been using the same "safety" argument that Matt referred to. :D After reading Bill Pentz' informative articles on dust collection I've certainly upped my budget for that all-important part of my new shop and will be adding a larger system than I'd originally considered as well as a good 3-stage ceiling-hung filtration system.

Yep, I just ended up with a Clearvue, but literally I have dermatitis breaking out all over my body due to an allergy to pine dust. I was never intended to frame houses, that's for sure. Red rashes everywhere!

[Rob Robinson VT]

I just bought a sliding table attachment which will soak up that side of the saw (see the thread I posted in 'deals and discounts').
That's a very cool system and I've just added it to my "wish list". Be sure to post some pics here of yours when you get it installed and let us know how you like it.

[Matt Armstrong]

That's a very cool system and I've just added it to my "wish list". Be sure to post some pics here of yours when you get it installed and let us know how you like it.

:) Will do. Thanks for all your help and input, Rob!

[Brad Westcott]

I'm not sure whether you were complimenting me or Bill. In either case, thanks! That's kind of you to say. And I tend to agree about table top space. Right now I'm pretty limited in storage. With the design, I don't have several of the tools yet but I wanted to get a feel for
1) dust collection / layouts down the road
2) if possible, any locations of more permanent fixtures (and sizes, like, as in the case of the outfeed table).

My wife is very supportive but I don't have unlimited funds, either. I generally still market everything under the "safety" argument and go from there. I'm only 27 so we'll see....

I was complementing you. Maybe I should have quoted you but it was your thread.

I am a bit older than you and my shop was inherited from my father when he passed away. Woodworking was a hobby he and I shared as I was growing up and even after I moved out, got married, and started a career, it was something that always brought us back together.

It has been a real joy to pick up the ball where he left off. Primarily adding support fixtures to the ground work my father laid down years ago.

I made a compromise with my wife when we bought this house and unfortuantely that was the garage space but I am still very fortunate and have far more room than my father ever did.

I too have yet to tackle dust collection but it is very important and should not be taken lightly. I think many of us older folk are not as health conscious as the younger generation but I think it should be just as important as a table saw or a router table.

So, enjoy the process as sometimes the road to your destination may be more interesting than where you thought you were actually going.

[Rob Robinson VT]

I too have yet to tackle dust collection but it is very important and should not be taken lightly. I think many of us older folk are not as health conscious as the younger generation but I think it should be just as important as a table saw or a router table.

So, enjoy the process as sometimes the road to your destination may be more interesting than where you thought you were actually going.
Nice legacy you've inherited, thanks for sharing it with us. You're right, of course, in that many of us from our generation are not as aware of some of the health risks of our hobby as we should be. There are pages and pages of threads here on dust collection that are chock full of helpful advice, tips and tricks and sharing of personal experience; however, I urge anyone who's not yet done so to take the time to read Bill Pentz' Dust Collection Research (http://www.billpentz.com/woodworking/cyclone/index.cfm). He's certainly opened my eyes and being aware of the information there is so much, much more important than any debates about how we tackle the problem, 'cause without knowledge we're operating in the dark.

If I never reaped another single thing from this forum, gaining this knowledge would still make it one of my all-time favorites and I thank each and every one of you here for opening my eyes and quite possibly helping me to stay on this planet a bit longer.

[Rob Robinson VT]

Grizzly's workshop planner... it's got strengths and weaknesses. I think it's the best starting point for just overall floor layouts. You can save designs, etc. I also have not had bad luck with grizzly tools so far...
btw, thanks for your tip on the Grizzly Workshop Planner (http://grizzly.com/workshopplanner.aspx) . . . hadn't noticed it on their website but it's pretty darned cool and much easier to use than my CAD system (AutoCAD's baby brother AutoSketch), plus it doesn't force me to fire up Windows (via Parallels Desktop) on my Mac, which is something that always makes me a bit nervous. :eek: