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Thread: Question about miter saw station design

  1. #1

    Question about miter saw station design

    Hello to all! I'm brand new to this forum and to woodworking. I'm trying my hand at designing a miter saw station. This station will be along one wall of my shop and serve as a miter saw station, tool and hardware storage, and as a as needed workbench. The question I have is there any reason to place the miter saw fence on rails so that it would be movable front to back? I would think that the fence wouldn't be moved very much, if at all. I am planning on placing a rail on the fence itself for a sliding stop block. Also, how high is a good working height? I am thinking that 36" is OK, not to high but gives plenty of storage space underneath in the base. As of now the plan is for a series of connected cabinets with a total length of 23' with 5' right of the saw, 15' left of the saw, and a auxiliary fence length of 10'. I welcome any suggestions you may, and thank you in advance for your insights!

  2. #2
    My miter station is 33" tall with the saw sitting on top of that. So, the table of the saw is roughly 37" off the ground.
    It fits great for me being 5'-10".

  3. #3
    When i built my miter station I wanted it to function as a tool storage cabinet (so I built it about 34" off the ground and i'm 5' 10" also) and I also wanted an unobstructed workbench top for an extra assembly table/workbench space. My fence is a very straight jointed/milled piece of lumber that I can fix onto the work surface when needed and remove from the station when I don't need it. Truth is I hardly use it now. If I am doing a lot of repeated cuts I just clamp it down to the station and use a block clamped to it as a stop. This has worked perfectly for me. Mostly I just measure and mark the boards I am cutting and cut to those lines. Accuracy has not been an issue. I thought I would make a more permanent fence with a measuring rule and sliding stop but I don't see the need for that now. I got a little creative with a way to get a fully supported cut on my 12" sliding miter saw.

    https://sawmillcreek.org/showthread....er-Saw-Station

  4. #4
    I just completed my first miter station after many years of thinking about what I wanted. I should have done it long ago. But all that thinking did lead to an excellent design that has made me completely happy. The deck is at 35" which feels right, though 36" would be good too. I included a shelf for scrap storage, and room below that for tub/box storage. There is also space between the deck and the table to allow plastic storage tubs to slide in. I haven't bought the tubs yet so they are not in the photos (you can see the slots for them though). The track across the top of the fence is so useful for a stop, which I've been using a lot. It is so nice to not have to mark wood, especially the dark ones like what you see in the photos. The flip stop also allows me to cut a clean end, then flip down to final cut the other end. HUGE time-saver.

    Small detail...chamfer the bottom of the fence. I almost forgot, and see dust in there all the time, so it would suck to have to deal with it. I see zero reason for an adjustable fence.

    IMG_1454.jpg

    IMG_1455.jpg

    IMG_1457.jpg

    IMG_1458.jpg

  5. #5
    The Miter Saw Station I built doesn't use any fence other than what is on the miter saw itself. I have a T-Track in the top and use a stop for repeating cuts. I've never found the extra fence anything but annoying. I made the cabinets out of prefinished birch plywood and the tops are from Global Industrial which were cheaper than I could make them. Plans are here: https://3dwarehouse.sketchup.com/col.../Miter-Station

    MiterStation.jpgDetail2.jpgDetail1.jpgDC2.jpgDC5.jpgDC1.jpgCarcuses.jpg

    Since these photos were taken I've built a tall storage cabinet above the miter saw to fill the dead space and give me some extra storage capacity.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Feb 2003
    Location
    Pleasant Grove, UT
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    1,503
    Can't think of any reason for the fence to be movable front to back, other than to facilitate easy removal. Before you proceed though, head over to YouTube and check out Gosforth Handyman's video on miter saw station.
    It came to pass...
    "Curiosity is the ultimate power tool." - Roy Underhill
    The road IS the destination.

  7. #7
    I've built two stations like you plan. Both have had a RAS and miter saw side by side on a long table. My current one has 12 feet of cabinets that are simple plywood boxes with all drawers for storage. The saws sit on shims to raise them to the height of my table saw which is 38 inches. So wood can move over both simultaneously. My shop is small and arranging things this way helps sometimes. 38 inches is definitely not too tall for me (I'm 6'2"). I like shimming under the saws because it will allow me to keep the bench the same if I change saws. I think the bench is about 30 inches high. I have a couple hunks of cut down 2x4 supporting my 12 inch CMS. To the left, I have a Paulk style two level work surface with flip stops like he has on the total station. The track is plywood so the stops sit flat on the worksurface. That makes it easier to use that surface for general workbench use. At the ends of the 12 foot benches are a router table on one end that is the same height and other tools on wheels that can be moved out of the way to make long cuts.

    I use this station when I can but I also have another cheap 10 inch CMS that I use when I don't want to go back and forth to the shop or when I am cutting up 16 foot pieces of base molding - things that are really long. I rigged up a portable workstation using a shop dog sawhorse when I use that saw. It's just a 8 foot 2x4 in the sawhorse with a piece of scrap for the saw to be screwed to and supports at each end to help support the work.

    If you only plan the one saw you might want to make it so you can move the saw off the workstation if you need to. Just put it on a piece of 3/4 plywood you can put into another more portable workstation, for instance.

  8. #8
    This was a big part of my inspiration: https://www.shanty-2-chic.com/2014/0...saw-bench.html

    I followed her leg plans precisely, and most of the top. I did a different method for the fence and different materials. I love MDF for tool tops.

  9. #9
    Thanks for your thoughts guys! Here is my plan so far. (I hope I load the image right!)
    Attached Images Attached Images

  10. #10
    Let me try a different fileMiter Stand 1.jpg

  11. #11
    Great looking Miter station! Nice job, Tom!

  12. #12
    This is my SCMS set up. The left hand side has a fence with a tape and a stop. The left side also doubles as a downdraft table. The fence is easily removable. The drawers below have sanding supplies and and other things. I still need to make doors for the two cubbies, mostly to keep dust and the odd mouse out. The fence is a piece of 1" x 2" box aluminum with a Kreg miter stop track on top. I have an angle aluminum piece I can use for an extended stop as necessary. Almost all of my benches and tools are standardized at 36 inches high, so I can use the router table to the right as a support for long pieces as well.

    Set up in miter saw mode:
    chopsaw1.jpg

    Set up for downdraft with baffles up:
    Chopsaw2.jpg

  13. #13
    One other detail I did that may or may not matter to others is putting a rest for boards to the RIGHT of the blade. I do build things with full length 2x4s occasionally, and my station is too close to the cabinets on the left to allow me to cut a clean end on a long board. So I put a roller support on my drill press stand which is to the right. So I can do one-man cuts of 10' long boards.

    stand.jpg

    And for enhanced dust collection I built this tray system with hardboard shrouds that are held on by velcro. For an angle cut, I just open the one that's in the way.

    IMG_1212.jpg

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  14. #14
    Thanks for all the help so far! The next question I have is how practical is this idea of extension tables that would be placed on top of the top drawers of the 36" wide cabinets. I have two ideas for these extension tables, the first would be for any one of the 36" wide cabinets and sit on the top two drawers, and would provide approximately a table size of 17" X 42".The second idea is for the two adjoining 36" wide cabinets in the center of the previous posted design. This extension table would also be placed on top of the four top drawers of these two cabinets and provide a table size of approximately 17" X 84". The drawers in these cabinets would be mounted on heavy duty drawer slides rated for 120 Lbs. per pair. All these drawers are 15" wide X 16 1/2" deep X 3" tall and are not designated for any heavy items to be stored within them (marking and layout tools, and other small items.). With two sets of 120 Lbs drawer slides for the shorter table, and four sets of 120 Lbs drawer slides on the longer table, is this too much weight for these slides as designed? Not Planning on placing any machinery or heavy objects on these extension tables, more likely temporary storage such as saw cut-offs, or project lumber before and after cut to size. Should i also be concerned with the cabinets tipping over with the drawers extended and these tables tops on top? Will they weight of the cabinets and their contents be enough wieght to stabilize the cabinets? I could mount the cabinets to the wall behind them if need be. Thanks Again for your Help!

    TomMiter Stand 1.jpg

  15. #15
    That sounds similar to the solution I used on my miter saw station.




    My "extension tables" are two risers that I built out of stacked and glued mdf trimmed with 1 inch by 4 inch yellow pine and topped with a Formica laminate. they are roughly ten inches deep by 4 inch high and 36 inches long. They are very heavy. I made them this height to sit on the drawers like you've mentioned and have them flush with the miter saw countertop. They are only deep enough to allow me to make the full 12 inch sliding cut that my saw is designed to make. I think they might be too heavy for the drawers if they are much deeper. I like that they are completely portable and I can use them in various places in my shop as risers.

    Here is that link again but you can probably see what I am talking about from the pictures above.

    https://sawmillcreek.org/showthread....er-Saw-Station

    Jon

    Pic with the second table top in place....


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