Workbench in table saw extension?

[Dan Case LR]

I had a wild hair thought tonight I thought I'd bounce off the collective.

We've seen bazillions of router tables built into table saw extensions, but has anyone here seen a workbench built into the saw in similar fashion?

I often use the extension table in my table saw (with 52" rails) for a work area. Why couldn't it be a nice, flat, hard maple bench with a tail vise and dog holes? Not the bench to use if you're a hard-core neander, but how about for general work with both hand and power tools? Build in a cabinet, and it becomes a downright efficient space and doesn't consume any extra square footage.

What do you think? Ever seen it done? Thoughts about the upside and downside?

D.

[Dan Rude]

I haven't built it yet but here is one from PW http://www.shopwoodworking.com/product/digital-issue-popular-woodworking-august-2002/popular-woodworking-magazine.
You can down load a copy now.
Dan

[Rick Potter]

I have seen this as an option on a new table saw. I think it was a PM 2000?

Rick Potter

[Larry Edgerton]

I have fired a couple of guys that would not stop using my saws for a workbench. Saws are saws. They are for sawing. Beating on them is not the best way to keep them in tune. Just my point of view.

If you are cramped for space, maybe you could design one that rolls over the top but is supported some other way?

Larry

[Kurt Cady]

I'm with Larry. Table extension? No. Outfeed table? Yes. You want an outfeed table, so using that as a workbench still uses zero extra space. In fact, I'm planning a 5' long Roubo bench that will serve as outfeed now

Edit: Maybe you could just build the extension table to fit perfectly between the rails and not connect to anything? 1/4" gap betwen the rails?

[Jay Rasmussen]

I’m right there with you Dan. I’ve been working on a design that uses a custom heavy duty mobile base. All of my tools need to be moved around in my small garage shop. My bench will also have storage underneath. The wasted space kills me.
I don’t like beating on the saw ether but the space is way too valuable not to use it. The plan there is to leave a small gap between the bench and the saw. The only connection will be the fence rail. There I’m going to have some type of insulator to help stop any vibration to the saw.
The last detail for me is the wheel design; nothing I’ve seen or come up with yet really grabs me. I’m leaning toward a separate two wheeled devise that would hook on only when the saw was being moved. Something similar to the Laguna band saw mobility kit.
My plan is to get started sometime next month. I’ll be posting photos.
Jay

[Todd Burch]

I have a PM66 cabinet saw with a 52" extension to the right. Scrap storage under the extension.

I have a 36" deep x 5' wide out feed table with miter slots routed in the top. It has a big shelf under it for open storage. I leave this open as the PM66's dust chute is out the back of the saw and one never knows if access will be needed.

On the left of the saw is a "side extension" work bench (w/ drawers and a cabinet door). The top starts at the front edge of the tablesaw and continues back until it reaches the far edge of the out feed table (24" deep x 64" wide). This is where I do all my beating and banging. I think it gives me another 24" of "tablesaw" surface.

[Dan Case LR]

I haven't built it yet but here is one from PW http://www.shopwoodworking.com/product/digital-issue-popular-woodworking-august-2002/popular-woodworking-magazine.
You can down load a copy now.
Dan

A nice idea, but not what I'm thinking about. In that article, they use the workbench as an outfeed table. I'm talking about a bench built in to the extension area to the left of the saw.

D.

[Don Jarvie]

It sounds good but I wouldn't want to be hammering away on a bench attached to my table saw.I use my extension table as aprt of my assembly table but don't do any hammering or planing on it.

[Charlie Barnes]

I do have the PM2000 with the workbench option on the extension table. I find it to be a handy auxilluary surface, especially in the latter stages of a project when all of the larger parts have been cut. I'm fortunate that I don't need to use it as my primary bench since I have two others in my shop. I try to keep it clear most times, so it's open for sanding and other light duty work. I agree with the prior comments about not wanting to use it for any heavy assembly or pounding. The vise is not quick release, so that also limits the amount of work that I do there. I've thought about replacing it with a quick release type, but then I think that may lead to the temptation to do more of the pounding, etc. that I try to avoid. I did use it a lot more when I was in my garage and I can see that it might be a decent alternative in a pinch.

Charlie

[ian maybury]

It'd depend on the layout but I have to say i'm in the club that would be concerned about lots of junk building up while working on the bench - that would get in the way when you want to use the saw...

ian

[Ray Newman]

Here is a "back bench" built for a Saw Stop:
http://www.woodworkslive.com/index.php/topic,3997.0.html

[Dan Case LR]

Here is a "back bench" built for a Saw Stop:
http://www.woodworkslive.com/index.php/topic,3997.0.html

Unfortunately, it won't let me see that without logging in--and it won't let me register so I can.

D.

[Terry Hatfield]

I have an large outfeed table made from a solid core door and a base of jointed and laminated tenoned 2x4's with a edge banded hardboard top. I use it for a bench all the time and it would be super easy to make a drawer unit and mount a vise etc... if one had a mind to use it for a real bench. It is not physically attached to the saw so beating on anything on the bench/outfeed does not transfer energy into the saw itself. That would be my concern with a bench in the extension.

220893

[Dan Case LR]

Okay... since this was MY wild-hair idea, it's only fair that I post my conclusion.

Last night, I moved my saw around a little, which included taking it off of the Shop Fox mobile base where it's lived for the past ten years (I haven't moved in in nine and three-quarters anyway, and with my new DC piping hard-plumbed into the saw, I can't really move it anyway). I had to remove the extension table and rails and re-install as part of this change, but I expected that.

What I didn't expect was having to spend several hours today re-squaring the cast iron table and tuning up the saw. Who'd have thought that all that jostling and banging involved in getting the saw off of the mobile base (by myself) would have knocked it out of alignment? Yeah, I know--go ahead and say it: "Told ya so." Yes you did--and y'all were right.

All this has brought me to an important decision and life commitment: I will NEVER AGAIN use my table saw as an assembly area, I will NEVER AGAIN beat on things sitting on my saw, and I will NEVER AGAIN consider adding a vise to my right-of-blade extension table.

My next project WILL be a small but stout bench with dog holes and a good vise (I recently acquired a Jorgensen 41012) where I can beat the snot out of things that need beaten without risking the health and tuning of my table saw.

I repent in sackcloth and sawdust. :)

D.

[John A langley]

We use our table saw extension for a workbench all the time. We don't do a lot of assembly of large stuff on it because it is too tall. We've got the edges of the top overlapping the skirt by about 1-1/2" so we can get a clamp on them. We also have an outlet that we put on the lefthand side as you face the saw.

[Chris Parks]

It sounds good but I wouldn't want to be hammering away on a bench attached to my table saw.I use my extension table as aprt of my assembly table but don't do any hammering or planing on it.

I thought he had made it clear that it would not be attached, only utilising the dead space. Go for it, there are no issues other than having to build it. Me, I put the whole lot on a rolling base but it is way to heavy to move and I have some hover bases waiting to be fitted so it floats on air.