I built the Gary Williams - "Panel Cutting Table" yesterday.

[Rich Engelhardt]

Hello,

Google "Panel Cutting Table" and it's the first link. It looks like it's going to be pretty handy.
(So far, for cutting and breaking down sheet goods, I've been using a notched "X" of 2x4's with extremely limited success - too unstable)

One thing I'm not really comfortable about with the Williams table - as executed by the author of the above mentioned ebsite - is the use of 28 -3", #8 screws being used to secure the crossmembers.
I've glued and screwed the cross members in place and I'm thinking of backing out the screws and replacing them with glued in dowels.

What I'm wondering is:
Should I use a single large (maybe 3/4") dowel, a pair of 1/4" dowels, a combination of both, or some other method(?) to secure the crossmembers?

[Brian W Evans]

Due to a remodel/upgrade at my house, I have several hollow-core doors in my shop. These make great sacrificial tables because they contain no metal (mine don't anyway) and they're essentially torsion boxes. I lay them across my saw horses and place the plywood or whatever on top.

The drawback is that they are not as big as a sheet of plywood and so don't provide full anti-tearout coverage for the whole sheet. I get around this by cutting my pieces a little oversize and trimming the tear out at the table saw.

The doors make good impromptu tables as well, when I need some extra workspace. They're not that strong, but they're flat. They're also lightweight and easy to move around.

I haven't checked this, but I've heard that they're pretty cheap. Obviously, they're widely available.

I guess you can see that I'm sold on them.

[glenn bradley]

I've had a pair of folding legs for 3 years intending to do somthing like that. Turns out I hardly ever cut sheet goods (who knew starting out?). Sooner or later I will get tired of using the foam panels on the floor. That unit should serve you well.

[Matt Meiser]

Be careful choosing folding legs for them though. The pair I have has started to bend and I don't even use my cutting table that often. Growing up going to Catholic schools I moved a lot of folding tables for bingo (seriously) and I remember a lot of them having bent legs. Most of them like the ones in the picture on the site mentioned above, send all the weight to the center of hoop structure made of thin tubing that bends easily where it is weakened by the welds. I got mine at a local Ace Hardware. If you can find a set that either has a different design that would transfer the weight directly to the floor or is made of heavier materials I'd recommend doing so. I already have some steel tubing I'm going to use to make a set of legs for my table that will be more like the ones on a Festool table than a banquet table.

[Colin Wollerman]

Check out the "EZ Smart Table" by eurekazone.
I built one of these to go with my EZ Smart rail guide system and ended up using it for all manor of projects.
In fact, the system as a whole has been working pretty well. No need to go to the TS after the circ saw cut...EZ

http://www.eurekazone.com/products/detail/smarttable.html

Aloha,
Colin

[Terry Sparks]

I'm with Colin, I too built the Smart Table from Eurekazone by buying the Smart Table Kit ($65.00) and a 48" X 24" folding table ($34.00 at HF). I added a 24" X 48" plywood panel that the bottom tracks are screwed to, and then completed the table with locking wheels on the table legs. Very simple, inexpensive and portable, as I can fold up the legs and put the entire assembly in a storage shed when it's not needed, or in my truck and take it with me. Besides all this, all you need to do to this table is replace a few of the sacrafical 1" X 4"s every so often from your scrap bin.

[Jeff Bratt]

I built a very similar table, with one important difference that would have bypassed your current dilemma. Instead of constructing the table with the 2x4 in the top lying flat, I made the top grid with the 2x4s on edge. This moves the screws in the top from about 3/4" below the surface (too close for my comfort) to 2½ or 3" below the surface - safely out the way.

94488

With your current table, I would consider replacing the screws with dowels - or just keep the saw away from the edges when using your table.

More pics at my woodworking pages (http://home.san.rr.com/jeffnann/WoodWorking/JigsAndFixtures/JigsAndFixtures.html).

[Rich Engelhardt]

Hello Jeff,

This moves the screws in the top from about 3/4" below the surface (too close for my comfort)
Too close for me also.
Mine are ~ an inch down, still to close.
I'm going to dowel it - just to play it safe.

[Eric Garner]

I've built that table and never had a problem hitting a screw. I always set the depth gauge on my skill saw to be just a hair below the material I'm cutting. 1/8" is about as far down as I've ever gone into the table.

Of course I guess it would only take one time forgetting to set my depth gauge to wish the screws were further down.

[Matt Robinette]

I also have made that table and it has served well over the past few years. I would build it again if the smart table wasn't available. I have posted a pic of both and the old and busted legs I had bought at the borg just didn't hold up when it came to plopping 3/4" ply on top of it and I could never get it to roll the ply on top as was a back saving suggestion. I ended up chasing it arround.

[Charlie McGuire]

I too built that table and it has worked well for me for several years. I set my saw blade about tooth depth or so deeper than my cut and have no problems hitting screws.

I've done the roll-up thing with sheet goods, but mostly I just slide them from the back of the truck onto the table.