My Portable Workbench

I finally finished my latest project. Now that my garage is nice and orderly, I still needed to find a good solution for my miter and table saws. Carrying them out into the driveway and putting them on a rickety stand was not a good solution. The stand was wobbly and there was no flat surface to stabilize the wood being cut. I saw a rolling workbench on Pintrest and decided to redesign it to fit my space. I'm pretty pleased with the results and it holds far more than just the two saws. Here's the process...

Needed to fit in the corner to replace my wobbly saw stands. Space is 30" x 72"

No other place to put them in my orderly garage...I DO park both cars in the garage!

I found this 3' x 8' moveable workbench on Pintrest and decided to copy the concept with my own modifications. This saw hinges down for storage as it's larger and heavier than my Craftsman saw. Mine actually sides out to flip over.

Sketched out some basic concepts and sort of made up the rest as I went along.

I gathered all my tools (and replaced my very old Delta table saw with a new Dewalt). Found the drawered toolbox on sale at Lowes and it is the perfect height to put under the saw - you do lose the top opening, but the drawers are great for all the tool accessories. I added two boards on my boat trailer to get the plywood home from Lowes.

I traced the miter saw on a piece of corrugated cardboard to make the adjustments of the opening to fit the saw correctly. You need to turn it all the way to make room to slide under the table when hanging.

Framed out 2 x 4's and adjusted to fit the tools. Everything is screwed together in case I need to readjust... and I did, several times!

Everything fits better than expected in my limited space, with some minor adjustments. I used approximately 16 2 x 4 x 8' (could have saved lumber by using 10' - 3 pieces of 34" uprights out of each instead of 2 out of the 8' - need approx. 15 pcs.), 2 sheets of 1/2" 4' x 8' plywood and 2 sheets of 1/8" Masonite, 7 1 x 6 x 8' ripped to fit height for trim, assembled with 2-1/2" deck screws and used trim nailer for trim pieces.

Added 5" locking wheels from Amazon (approx. $34).

Adjusting to fit as I go - all is screwed together with 2-1/2" deck screws to rearrange as needed.

Coming right along!

Had to move some supports to be able to remove the vac for emptying.

Added 1/8" Masonite on top of plywood with short brads to allow for an easy and inexpensive replacement to the work surface as it gets wear and tear. I saw this idea in the original Pintrest post.

Worked out the positioning of the sliding miter saw (note my shaky saw stand on the right). - and boy, did I make a mess in my garage!

Trimmed out the project with 1 x 6's (ripped to fit height) for a finished look.

Miter saw in the upright position. Yes, it doesn't look like it, but it will swing fully left or right to the end of its miter range.

Attached with heavy thumbscrews and T-nuts.

Finished flat surface.

The saw shelf slides out and flips over. I also added a vice and 50' retractable hose for the air compressor. It will reach completely throughout my garage for filling tires, water toys, etc. and is great for blowing off sanding dust.

Bought the retractable hose reel on Amazon and mounted to rear side supports, removing locking screw to be able to lift off when using off site.

The miter saw stays attached to the sliding shelf when in the alternate position.

Alternate holes for the router table. And yes, the saw will swing fully left or right to the end of its miter range.

I added a second shelf level bracket below the saw, to be able to use the router table with saw storage underneath. All of the units sit about 1/16" higher than the actual work surface for easy movement and support when cutting. I eventually want to add a planer to fit as well.

I added an on/off switch to connect to the shop vac to be a dust controller when connected to the table saw, miter or router, that is easily reached from either saw being used. It sucks up most of the sawdust better than expected.

Had to go back and adjust one of the supports to allow the vac to be removed for emptying or use off site. I did not add a stop board for the back of the table saw, to allow the saw to slide back easily to swap the fence to the opposite side when needed.

The vac hose is easily moved from saw to saw and does a great job of keeping the dust to a minimum, which can be blown off with the air compressor in the driveway, before bringing back inside the garage. Powerstrip has a 15' cord and I later added two hooks in front of the vac (not shown) to wind up the cord.

The finished unit, in place of the two saw stands, fits the space perfectly (like it was made for it, lol). The 15' power cord will reach well into the garage from the driveway.

Miter saw sits in front and forward of the table saw as not to be in conflict with table saw blade area. I can move the table saw fence to the opposite side and line up with the miter saw fence for keeping square when cutting long boards .

I labeled all the tool drawers and added an electric pencil sharpener, as I am always breaking pencil points (and not a fan of the big carpenter pencils). Also added a loose piece of surplus luan plywood to use when hammering or gluing, to protect the work surface.

Made a slot top and bottom of the back side with some scraps to hold the luan plywood when not in use. I am currently adding a 30" flip up extension to the back. to make a wider table surface for ripping larger sheets of plywood.

I had to take a slight trim on the corners and removed the bottom 1 x 5 trim from the back to allow the side door of the garage to open. Also added a block of 2 x 6 on the floor of the garage as a stop block and as a bonus, I have enough space to store my step ladder in the corner.

MY COMPLETED CUSTOM WORKBENCH
I am very pleased with the final product. There was even room for my Craftsman tool box next to the router table. All of the tools (except the black tool drawer, which is a true built-in) are easily removed to take with me on a project elsewhere. Now for the next project..... I want to eventually add a jointer to fit inplace of the router table when needed.