Fold-down cabinet saw outfeed table

[Phillip Gregory]

I have a Shop Fox W1820 (aka Grizzly G0691) cabinet saw that I would like to add a fold-down outfeed table to. Lack of floor space prevents me from using a traditional cabinet-type outfeed table. I have been using a stand-alone roller stand which always seems to be just the wrong distance away from the rear of the saw and always just the wrong height.

The options are to either buy a typical frame-and-rollers commercially made outfeed table such as the one Grizzly sells, or build my own. I'd rather build my own but if the commercially available one is superior, I'd have no issues with buying it. What would you recommend, and if you built your own, how did you do it and how well do you like the results?

[Jamie Buxton]

I bought one for my Unisaw. I'd rather build furniture, not shop accessories.

[M Toupin]

Being in a 1 car garage space is a problem and like you, I don't have room for a permanent outfeed table. Anything large like sheet goods means I have to move the TS into the driveway. Here's my solution, it's a torsion box. Though the pic only shows 1, actually have 2 legs for it so I can level it as needed on the uneven driveway. The legs have blind nuts in the bottom with 6" carriage bolts for adjustment and being a torsion box it also doubles as a nice flat assembly table when needed. The joys of working with no space :)
Mike

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[Grant Aldridge]

Looks good Mike! Have you ever wished you would've put the router on the left since it's a right tilt saw? I'm debating that on my newly acquired unisaw - I have it on the right with my current left tilt saw.


Here's my solution, it's a torsion box.
Mike

[John Patric]

Woodworkers Journal Feb 2009 has a build article on a fold down cabinet saw outfeed table. The article is in full on Rocker's website with cutlist.

Also built by some here https://sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?125603-woodworkers-journal-folddown-outfeed-table

Cheers,
John

[M Toupin]

Looks good Mike! Have you ever wished you would've put the router on the left since it's a right tilt saw?

I originally put it on the right hand side because when I built it I stored the TS butted up to a wall on the left which severally limited access to that end. Like I said, I'm in a 1 car garage with machines taking up virtually the entire wall space so there's lots of compromises. For small stuff most of the machines can stay were they're at, but anything of any size means moving machines to the "alfresco shop" as SHMBO calls it. Bottom line though, it's not a problem as far as I'm concerned. It's just "normal" after all these years.

[Lloyd McKinlay]

I modeled mine after the project on Jim Becker's website, easy to build and works well. http://sawsndust.com/p-outfeed.htm

[Bruce Page]

There’s some good info on folding tables in this thread: Flip up TS outfeed table (https://sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?256499-Flip-up-TS-outfeed-table)
My shop built table is in post #5.

[Nick Decker]

Link isn't working for me, Bruce.

[Bruce Page]

Link isn't working for me, Bruce.
Sorry, fixed it.

[Phillip Gregory]

I saw your picture, Bruce, and your design looks very interesting. Do you have any notes for how you did your table?

I saw the Rockler article and wondered if that design would be sturdy enough to handle something like an 8 foot slab that I needed to just rip a fuzz from.

@M Toupin,

My shop in in a very convoluted unfinished area of my basement which stretches from one end of the house to the other. That is nice, but it consists of three small rooms and a hallway that are simply "unused" areas of the footprint of the house, the area makes an "L" halfway through, and it contains all of the mechanical equipment in the house except for the upstairs furnace which is in the attic. There are double doors to the outside and a 12'x12' concrete pad outside them, which was really made for the exit door for the basement living room. I use that 12x12 pad quite a bit and often pop the doors open if I have to rip something longer than about 5' on my cabinet saw. I point the outfeed down the hallway and pop open the doors for my infeed.

[Nick Decker]

Just finished this one up yesterday. Simple and cheap, seems to work for me.

[Bruce Page]

I saw your picture, Bruce, and your design looks very interesting. Do you have any notes for how you did your table?

Phil, here’s some pics and screen shots of a couple of my drawings. Sorry, I’m an anal ex-machinist not a draftsman. (that should be obvious..)
I made this in 2002 and it is still solid.

A few construction notes:
Sometimes I have an unfair advantage because I have some machine shop equipment in my shop. If nothing else, maybe the drawings can give you a good starting point.
The legs are made out of 1¼ square steel tubing that I picked up at the borg and machined to the drawing. The foot extensions are aluminum bar stock machined to fit. The slot aligns with the ¼-20UNC tapped hole in the foot extension to keep the extension from falling out.

I think the legs could be made from wood with a little design change.

I bought the melamine sheet that was covered on both sides. I routed shallow dados & pockets about 1/16” deep on the bottom surface and then glued & screwed the walnut frame and oak reinforcement pieces into the dados/pockets.

[Grant Wilkinson]

I made the one from Woodworkers Journal 2009. I like it because it has no legs to the floor. I have to move my table saw to use it, so it's more convenient for the saw and outfeed table to move together. I'm not sure of the copyright rules, etc. I could put the .pdf file here if the mods can tell me if that is within the rules.

[Phillip Gregory]

Does anybody have a preference between rollers vs. a solid surface outfeed table?

[Ole Anderson]

Here is mine, from the Feb '09 Woodworker's Journal cover version. It doesn't need to be full width to be very functional. I simplified the table support. I did a write up when I built it: https://sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?129870-Outfeed-Table-Folding&highlight=outfeed+table

[Nick Decker]

Nicely done, Ole.

[JERRY BRINKMAN]

I built mine out of 3/8 birch plywood torsion box style and covered with 3/4 in melamine. Attached to table saw with a full length piano hinge. Legs are 3/4 in angle iron with levelers on bottom and folding hinges to flip legs under the table. Very flat and about 1/32 in below table saw top. I dado slot cut into top for miter gauge channel insert.

[Phillip Gregory]

I decided to make a slightly modified version of the Woodworker's Journal outfeed table. I used two pieces of 3/4" MDF as called for in the instructions, the other wood used is pieces of oak with knot holes, defects, and otherwise not ideal for use in furniture. I got a sheet of Formica from Lowe's with a little crack in one corner that ended up being trimmed off anyway, but I got the whole sheet for $25.

388543388544

I modified mine to fit my saw, which sits on top of a mobile base, has the dust port on the right side of the cabinet, and my cast iron tables are about an inch narrower than his Steel City saw's is. My outfeed table ended up being an inch narrower and 7" deeper than the plan author's due to these changes. The rear fence rail on my saw is a "C" shape instead of an "L" so I had to make a rabbet in the top front edge of the part of the table that bolts to the rear fence rail, and drill clearance holes for the bolt heads that attach the rail to the saw. My rear fence rail had two clusters of three holes drilled in it, so I had to remove the rail and drilled some additional holes in the rail at the drill press to attach the table. I made the leg pieces 9" longer than called for in the plans to compensate for my deeper outfeed table. I also attached a piece of angle iron to the mobile base instead of the saw cabinet as a catch for the support leg, so I didn't have to drill into the saw cabinet. I did cut dados in the "front" table that bolts to the rear fence rail but did not put any dados into the flip-up part as I do not intend to need to use a miter gauge with the outfeed table flipped up.

Overall, the project went very well and I am pleased with the result. This is certainly a very sturdy design and must weigh about 80 pounds in total.

[Charlie Hinton]

My outfeed table is similar to the Woodworker Journal design too.
I had to cut slots that matched the saws miter slots so I can use my crosscut sled.
Having the support reference the saw instead of the ground/floor suits my needs much better than legs would.

[Floyd Mah]

Here's my solution for my small workspace (single car garage with no car). I have an older Grizzly sliding table attachment on the left that extends 18" past the rear of the saw table. I made an 18" long extension, same width as the top, not including the table extension on the right (Delta unifence 32"), so about 20+" width. It is clamped to the rear fence support and cantilevered off the mobile base with some plastic pipe, so always upright. It's very sturdy, just the right length and convenient for most applications. The entire saw is very heavy and hard to reposition, but occasionally I have to shove it outside to handle longer or wider materials. In that case, I use roller stands, but most work can be done inside my garage. The miter slots don't extend onto the extension but I forgot to account for that in the original planning. Torsion box construction for stiffness. So, a fixed table, short extension that works for almost all usual cuts. If I need a longer support, I add roller stands in the front and back.

[Marshall Harrison]

I think I may make one as I don't really have the room for an assembly table/outfeed table. Then again I may wait until I get to make the move to NC and see how much room I have there.

[Patrick Irish]

The one I wanna build for my SS.

https://wilkerdos.com/2016/09/building-feed-table-table-saw/ (https://wilkerdos.com/2016/09/building-feed-table-table-saw/)
https://wilkerdos.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Screen-Shot-2016-09-16-at-408-e1474069019864-1024x575.jpg