Most bandsaws have a very short outfeed distance. For instance, on my Laguna LT16HD, there’s about 10” from the blade to the back of the table. If the workpiece is longer than three feet, it really wants to fall off the back of the table. At the end of the cut, you spend way too much energy and attention holding the workpiece from falling – instead of steering it through the cut, and keeping your fingers out of the blade.
I tried various methods for supporting the workpiece. Those stands don’t work well for me. They often fall over instead of catching the workpiece, and it seems like they’re always at the wrong height. (My bandsaw is mobile, and my shop floor is not flat, so the correct stand height depends on where the saw happens to be.)
I finally built a bandsaw-mounted outfeed table. It is shown in the photos below. It increases the outfeed length to almost three feet, so I can easily handle much longer workpieces than with a stock saw. It flips up and down easily, so I'm encouraged to use it even on marginal situtations. (Safety devices which are difficult to use generally don't get used.)
The outfeed table is hinged so that it stores compactly. Putting the hinge as low as it is serves several purposes. First, it allows access to the bolt which secures the cast-iron table on its trunnions, and it allows that table to tilt without making the workpiece collide with the outfeed table. Second, the L-shape allows the outfeed table to kinda bend around the motor in the stowed position (see the pic of the back view). Adding this outfeed table increases the footprint of the stowed saw by only a couple inches.
The table is built from ¾ ply – whatever I had around. It is bolted on to the saw with holes which I drilled and tapped. The hinges are ones intended for exterior doors; they have a beefy hinge pin, and use substantial screws.
Another issue with bandsaws of this class is that the base is fairly narrow. On my saw, there is only about 6” from the center of gravity to the back edge of the base. To fix this, I added a short outrigger to the base. You can see it best in the front view when the table is up. The outrigger is only about 6” long, but that much extension doubles the resistance to overturning. I can now rest almost all my weight on the tip of the outfeed table before the saw begins to tilt over. I figure that if I’m resawing timbers which weigh as much as I do, I probably need an assistant.
Many saws in this class are darn near identical to mine. I'll bet my approach could be easily adapted to any of them.
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by Steve Stube
It was time for a nice miter gauge so I picked up a Fast Track with a nice long track and stop. I soon found that even with a stand for outfeed, the infeed side was not deep enough and there was not enough side support. 
Some glue will fix "that" some day. The contraption works very well, once set up. But most of the time it is just not worth taking it all down, screwing it together, and then putting it back up after a couple or four cuts. Your idea overcomes this for one of the three sides. The outside should work as well. Now to figure out the infeed side. 
