[Duane Bledsoe]

Hello all! I haven’t been on the site in a while. Haven’t felt good all year. But things are looking up now, so maybe I can begin visiting again.

I wanted to share some pics of the new miter saw cart I built over the last couple of days. I used a Kreg bench frame for the base, even though I could have built one from 2x4’s. My wife liked the idea of keeping the theme going since I have a large torsion table on top of another Kreg bench, and also the Kreg router table, and I like the heaviness and sturdiness of the frames as well. I’ll definitely continue using them for future tool stands (maybe it’s because they’re blue.....hmm). But I did build the top from Purebond plywood.

It is 4’ long and 22” wide, just enough to span the top one way, and long enough to provide support for most board lengths the other way. I’m planning to order a second clamp for the miter saw, and also use my normal wood clamps, and this way I can hold wood down on both sides of the blade when I cut and keep long boards from falling off. The supports on each side will work for storage as well, and they each have a place where I can mount my work light that is shown in the pics also.

 

[Duane Bledsoe]

Duane,

Hope you're feeling up to "getting back in the groove".

Grooves and dadoes, both! 😃

 

[Duane Bledsoe]

nice job and welcome back Duane...

Thank you.

I still remember your help on the torsion table shown behind the new saw stand. Still holding up well and has been very useful, most recently when I laid out a new farm house style kitchen table top for my wife. Thanks again. Have no doubt it will last the rest of my life.

 

[Duane Bledsoe]

In case anyone is wondering, I made one riser about 3” wider than the other for a reason. The left side will cut up to 45 degrees (I can get 47-48 out of it past the last detent). The right side will cut up to 60 degrees, so it swings further that direction. I had to make it a bit narrower. I’m sure everyone here already knew that though. I just like talking about it.

 

[Duane Bledsoe]

Well, the truth is it isn’t double thick. That is a single piece of plywood with a maple edge band going around it for stiffening, alone with the steel framing through the middle. The only other bracing is a single 2x4 ripped to 3” to fit inside the steel stretchers. It crosses the open space directly below the saw and is fastened in place to prevent sag of the plywood.

In time I may find that I wish the top was double thick. If so, I’ll modify it to be so. Time will tell. I generally only work with pine wood and the biggest piece I cut is a 2x8 (just did one tonight for a shelf I made) so hopefully it will be fine.

 

[Duane Bledsoe]

Im glad to see everyone likes this. I considered sliding outriggers since the saw once had some small ones built in, and the old saw stand had some heavier ones, but still too light. Ultimately I decided I don't really need them for wood up to 8 feet long and also based on the kind of work I do. I actually removed the built in extensions from the saw. They couldn't be extended with it fastened to this top, and I actually was able to make my supports a little wider with them gone. If I truly need a support on long heavy pieces, I'll engineer something that's more usable and easily stored when not needed. Already considered modifying a car jack stand to add height to it for this. It's rare that I need it at all though.

I'm also considering adding fence extensions to the supports so I can clamp stop blocks on with ease. Never experimented with this before. Normally I just cut every part one at a time, true to the marks I make, which I shoot for hairline fine accuracy in doing. It's time consuming.

UPDATE - I ordered and received my second saw clamp so now my saw has two matching locking clamps. One on each side. With these I don't need anything else, but just in case, I can still use two bar clamps on the supports themselves, and with all four clamps in operation this makes it possible to cut some long heavy pieces without fear that they'll flip off the stand as they're cut.