Chop saw station.

[Jack Frederick]

I am building some 8/12, 16' trusses for my last wooden building on the place to help "fire harden" the structure. My shop is basically a 30x30 with a 4x14 corner bump out for the big overhead door. Pretty much everything in the place is mobile and that is good and bad. Since putting the place up in '15 I have been so busy in turning out assorted projects for my wife and my daughters that I have not gotten the place really set up and the mobility inevitably leads to clutter. I do clutter very well and it is beginning to drive me nuts. A 16' truss points out these issues really well. The 34' wall has an overhead door on either end on adjacent walls and I want to build a permanent place to dimension lumber. I could go end to end, but think that would be excessive for my use. These 16's are the longest boards I've had to deal with. Most of my work is tables, stairs, doors, furniture, etc.
What do you like dimension (L/W/D) wise on this kind of work station. I think for dust collection, which I know is a problem with these saws I will position a shop vac/DD set up below it. I will get a new chop saw for this? I do not want a slider as I don't want this station to be to deep. Shelves and drawers will be below. Fence? Pictures would be great and I am much obliged for any guidance.

[Bernie May]

I would position the saw on the bench so you have a minimum 8' on one side (left preferably) for cut in center of board and 14' on right side for uneven cuts. Based on experience from cutting 16' boards on chop saw. On a bench this long you could setup several chop saws for cutting different miters on a single board.

[Robert Cherry]

8’ on either side is plenty to cut 16’ Stock. You just need slightly more than the length of you stock and a little downward hand pressure to hold the board. I have my lumber rack on the same wall right next to my miter saw so I can slide a board off right onto the saw table- minimum lifting required.

I like a relatively low fence, mine is about 3/4” high hard maple. For stops I think a Tigerstop is the ultimate but expensive and overkill for a non-production environment. Right now I just clamp a stop block to my fence with a 6” F clamp, but if I were building a new one I would incorporate some aluminum track so I could add a few flip stops.

My station has cabinets built underneath for storing hand power tools like drills, sanded etc.

[Charlie Barnes]

I threw in the towel on trying to accommodate my miter saw on a bench and deal with the related dust a long time ago. My solution was to mount my saw on a portable miter stand. This saves bench space and allows me to just roll it outside and not worry about hard to collect dust in the shop. I have the one in the photo which has extensions that slide out for support of long boards. But there are many other options too.

Charlie

[Jon Snider]

I’ve had good luck with the new Makita LS1219. Dust collection with the Festool DC in the adjacent cabinet has been great. Almost no dust left over after cutting up MDF for some shelves recently.

Attached are a couple of pics of station, not yet completed. I plan to add a T track for some stop blocks. Don’t plan to add a longer fence as the stock metal one is enough for me and anything else just clutters up counter top.

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[Tom Bender]

I would think 8' to the left and 4' to the right would be plenty. If you are cutting much off long lumber you are buying it wrong.

[Brian Tymchak]

I would think 8' to the left and 4' to the right would be plenty. If you are cutting much off long lumber you are buying it wrong.

I would agree with this, as it appears that handling the extremely long pieces is a very infrequent event. I handle 11' rough lumber easily on my bench with 6.5' on the left and 3.5' on the right. I added a short extension to my fence on the left side for a stop to allow me to recently cut some pieces at 8'3".

If you have chronic back problems, build the bench higher than normal to minimize stooping over during the cut. Experiment with the height of the saw base to find your most comfortable height. Mine is 46.5".

I prefer a slider to get the extra cutting width. Bosch has a saw that acts like a slider without the long rails, allowing the saw to sit tighter to the wall. Think it's called the Glide.

[ChrisA Edwards]

I am wall space limited, so I took an approach to make a removable miter saw fence.

I set it up to use it on my mobile work bench. The fence weighs about 15lbs and slips into place in about 30 seconds. It gives me a solid fence for 72" and the extension allows for a 9 foot cut with using a stop on the extension. I used the Kreg Precision fence components for the rail and stops.

I can clamp the fence to the saw base, to keep it in position, and have a pair of dominos to index the fence to the saw base so the fence always lines up with the saw fence. I can clamp the saw fence and saw base to the work bench if necessary.

I don't find myself cutting to length from the right side of the table, so I didn't want a fence on that side. For support on the left side, beyond the 9 feet, or additional support on the right side, I just use a roller support.

When the fence is not is use, I just hang it on the wall.

This was this past couple of days project, cost was one sheet of plywood and the Kreg Fence system.

The surface area of the fence support is 6" wide, I'm going to make a couple of slip in supports that will give me about 12" of width support when needed.

Im still working on a solution for dust collection.

[Jim Becker]

I really, really like that setup, Chris!