I’m just finishing up a bathroom re-model that turned out to be much more work than I imagined. Keeping up with this six-acre homestead,gardens, and a forty-year-old house are about enough to keep me busy, but Istill love woodworking and spending time in the shop. So other than materialsfor the bathroom, the “labor cost” involved anew 10” bandsaw. I shopped andcompared, I read reviews and ended up buying the Rikon 10-306. There are somequirks that Rikon needs to work out but the overall build quality seems prettygood.
One of the challenges we allface is balancing the “wants” with the amount of space available to use so Ialways like to think long and hard about what I should purchase and where shallit be placed in the shop. I’ll use the phrase “Justify Your Footprint”. Mystationary tools are all on mobile bases and I wondered about the bandsawsharing space on with another tool. After a few “no that won’t work because_” moments I decided thatthe bandsaw should share space with my lunchbox planer. The weights whencombined would still be only 2/3rds the weight rating of 300 lbs for the mobilebase and the best thing was that I could use the metal stand that the planerwas sitting on for both tools. The legs flared out quite a bit and I believedit to be a square foot glutton, especially after seeing some of the flip-topstands used for combination planer and other tools.
Using avery analytical approach, I removed the planer from the metal stand and climbedatop then did some jumping-it did not wiggle in the least. I weigh about 200lbs and so will the tools and top. I used some 2×4 material, measured the eightdegree flare on the legs, and cut a bevel on the edge of the 2×4. I decided ona 17” x 48” platform to hold both planer and bandsaw and have a couple inchesto spare. The table top hangs past the metal stand by a foot in each directionand is well supported by the 2×4 structure beneath. I painted the top with someworkshop gray outdoor paint, and painted the lower shelf that I had insertedinto the metal frame some time ago.
I was careful to mount the slightlylighter bandsaw first and placed a couple of 20 lb dumbells on the lower shelf forsafety. The back column of the saw (the heavier half) sits just past the metalframe. I then mounted the planer and had about 7 inches between the two tools.There’s a tool storage door on the planer that needed room to open but theheight control and lock are on the opposite side away from the saw. Thisactually worked out great for more than the total weight reason. With the legsflaring out on the metal stand, the planer could not be stored closer than afoot from the wall. Now that foot is hanging past the stand and the planer cango all the way to the wall. The metal stand and mobile base were unchanged, sothis was quick. Additionally, the bandsaw which will se more action than theplaner, sticks out into the shop aisle about six inches more than the planerstand did previously. No extra floor space was needed and a little bit of space, roughly 6” x 17” is needed 30” off the floor.
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