Table Saw Outfeed Table

[George Bokros]

Looking for thoughts and opinions. I am going to build an outfeed table for my contractors saw. My saw top with both rightr and left extensions is 67" wide. I have ~37" to the right (rip fence side) of the blade and ~30" to the left. How big of an outfeed table should I make?

I do not rip full sheets of stock I use my track saw for that, I do however rip some 8' material at times. I do not have a lot of room on the outfeed side of the saw but could accommodate probably a 30" maybe 36" deep outfeed table. I know bigger is always better but I need to be reasonable.

Question, for most purposes is 24" deep enough or should it be in the 30" to 36" depth? What are your experiences?

Thanks

George

[Andrew Fleck]

I think it depends on what you do on the saw. I very rarely rip 8' lumber. My furniture is rarely that big. I think for everyday ripping 24" is plenty. It is for me anyway. There are also plenty of plans and ideas out there for dropping outfeed tables if space is a concern and you really want to have a large outfeed table.

[Shawn Pixley]

I put a folding outfeed table on my SS contractor saw. I blantantly stole the design from Jim Becker (thanks, Jim). I made it as wide as the CI wings on each side of the saw. The fixed portion is about 12" (enough to clear the motor). The hinged portion is about 36" with an effective rear outfeed of about 42" to 48". The saw rolls well. Normally, the shop functions as a garage. If I need to rip long stock, I have a roller stand that I use to address support further out.

Normally though, I cross-cut stock rather than ripping 8'+ lengths. I seldom work with sheet stock.

[Stan Mitchell]

I put a folding outfeed table on my SS contractor saw. I blantantly stole the design from Jim Becker (thanks, Jim). I made it as wide as the CI wings on each side of the saw. The fixed portion is about 12" (enough to clear the motor). The hinged portion is about 36" with an effective rear outfeed of about 42" to 48". The saw rolls well. Normally, the shop functions as a garage. If I need to rip long stock, I have a roller stand that I use to address support further out.

Normally though, I cross-cut stock rather than ripping 8'+ lengths. I seldom work with sheet stock.

Shawn, your statement made me smile.

I used the same design on my cabinet saw (and suspect a lot of others have too).

The folding table is the way to go when space is at a premium.

[Ole Anderson]

Unless you are running a cabinet shop and dealing with sheet goods day in and day out, you really don't need a huge table. Just enough to support most of your cutoffs. Anything longer than about 6 feet, I grab my portable Ridgid outfeed support. Here is my folding outfeed table:

[Bob Faris]

No advice on size, but I've always liked the design of this multi-use outfeed table.

http://kregjig.ning.com/photo/kreg-assemble-table?context=latest

http://kregjig.ning.com/photo/kreg-assemble-table-collapsed?context=latest

[George Bokros]

Ole, how deep is your outfeed table?

Thanks

George

[Troy Turner]

Good info so far. I'll just add (cause it's something I'm tinkering with), maybe make your workbench the same height and but it against the saw. Then you have your outfeed and it doubles as an assembly table/bench/etc. I've seen some with caster on one end so you can move it out of the way if you need to get to the motor.

[Benjamin Miller]

I personally think an outfeed table should be deep enough that none of the stock you cut falls off if left unsupported. For an 8' board, that means a 4' deep outfeed table is necessary.

Sometimes I get into situations with the table saw where I need to leave a cut board on it while I do something else... often times, this is a result of my poor planning. I'm sure glad the boards don't tilt up into the spinning blade when this happens.

[Ole Anderson]

Ole, how deep is your outfeed table?

Thanks

George The table itself is 24" x 24", with the support board it extends 31" out from the front of the TS and the far end of the table is 37" out from the rear of the blade so it will allow a rip of a six foot board without it falling off.

[Richard Wagner]

The table itself is 24" x 24", with the support board it extends 31" out from the front of the TS and the far end of the table is 37" out from the rear of the blade so it will allow a rip of a six foot board without it falling off.
Certainly deep enough unless you do a LOT of work with 8' sheet goods.

[Rick Moyer]

Your out feed support needs to be half the dimension of whatever you are pushing past the blade. I would make it half of whatever 90% of the time you won't exceed, and use something similar to this http://www.rockler.com/rockler-roller-stand for when you need to cut something longer that you out feed won't support. Most boards I cut are 4' or less so I could make do with a 24" out feed. I have a table/bench abutting my saw which is 32" wide, and I use a roller stand if I'm ripping something longer than 5'.