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79K views 47 replies 26 participants last post by  JLJones 
#1 ·
first look

I am building a table saw island to add out feed and and cross cut capability, to this craftsman table saw. A customer from my stereo install days, asked me to build him a table around his table saw. When I complete this I am going to build and fabricate car stereo and interior panels, enclosure, and a custom console for his cherry 67 Camaro. This bench/table should be great for woodworking. The pictures show my progress at the end of the third day. I included plenty of storage with deep cabinets. The plan calls for 28 inch drawer slides on 6 drawers and pull out trays. I'm building this island out of mdf. The saw can be slid forward to service the motor and will not be attached to the island. The back side will soon have adjustable shelves and a small air compressor. The best feature is the adjustable feet which will aid in leveling the table top with the saw (no need to notch the top for mounting bolts on the table saw, it will not be attached). The next step is to remove the table extentions and fabricate the torsion box style top which will be 49"x97" (a whole sheet of mdf). I really am going for a smooth seamless top just the saw and extended miter slots.




What do you think?
 
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#2 ·
Very nice!! Looks like it will be a nice addition when completed. Is the cabinet on the right movable? If you ever have to get to the saw internals how will that be accomplished?
 
#9 ·
Real nice. Would love to make one for my saw. But need it to move around. Not enough room, unless I could leave to wifes car outside. ( Don't think thats going to happen anytime soon) D### it..
 
#12 ·
More progress

I am really happy with the way things have come together on my latest project, The table saw island.
Today I got the torsion box structure in place.
After taking these pictures I cut the top of the torsion box, but it needs to be trimmed some more to fit right.
I made an attempt to cut it out and put it in place but ran out of time for tonight, left there at 8:45 and it's a 45min drive home.
In one of the pictures you will see what I came up with for the dust collection to the saw.
If I can talk my friend into a small cyclone dust collector, this dust port should work well.
I now need to finish the top, cut the miter slot in the top, than start on all the doors and drawers.
The 28" slides and euro hinges are in so I now have all the hardware we need.





 
#18 ·
progress continues

I left off cutting the top in my last post.
I got the top to fit the saw and extended the miter slots with a router.
I than attached the top and routed the edges (with a pattern bit) to fit and glued and nailed it in place.
The next important step was to level the 8 feet on the cabinet and adjust the bolts on the base of the saw until the table saw and island are level and the saw is just a hair higher than the surface of the island.
I used bench levelers from woodpeckers for the feet and also some 3/8-16 t nuts with a screw flange.
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These levelers work great, I was even able to find a low profile 22mm wrench in the shop that I used to make the adjustments.
The next couple of days were spent building the doors and drawers that you see.
I came up with some dividers that can be removable by unscrewing the bottom panel of the draw, this makes the drawer divisions adjustable.
I even built a small rack to hold two extra saw blades to the right of the saw.
Other new features are, the small compressor which connects to a fitting for the end of the bench.
Electrical outlets are built in on both ends of the Island, the saw and compressor are plugged in to a third internal plug.
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I still need to finish two drawers before concentrating on the back side of the island.
This side is going to get 4 or 5 small parts trays, 8 doors, adjustable shelves and my first sliding flip up out feed support (more on this feature later) for long rip cuts.

I'm enjoying this build, its been fun.
 
#24 ·
Project update

I built 6 parts trays for the table saw island. These 17"x17" trays are made of 1/2" MDF for the Box 1/4" MDF for the dividers. I spent most of two days cutting those dividers. There are 60 pieces that interlock. In order to jig saw the slots in these dividers I stuck two pieces together with two sided tape. Thanks to a really good Bosch jig saw blade, and my jig saw never quit.
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So now the plan for the back side of the island is going to have the parts trays in one bay, two bays with cordless tool storage and the compressor on the left side. Each bay has two large cabinet doors. The larger of the two storage units houses 8 Dewalt cordless tools 3 chargers and 4 extra batteries. Here are some pictures of the Dewalt cordless tool unit, it's sitting on the bench directly over the space it will soon be installed in.
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I didn't worry much until I loaded everything into it, its really heavy.
I was planning to hang this unit from two pair of 18" 100 lb drawer slides (one set at the top and one towards the bottom, all on the sides). Has anyone used cheaper full extension sides with a large load this way? Should we spend three times more on heavy duty ones?
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The other cordless tool unit is going to be smaller over the section of the island with dust collection running out. This smaller cabinet along with only about half as many tools, should way a lot less. Enough for today, more to come as I complete it, and thanks for all the positive comments. I've learned a lot while building this island and hope to soon build my own improved version.
 
#27 ·
Power tool racks

I was able to make some more progress today. After receiving most of the hardware needed for this table saw island, the tool racks are sliding. I also finished the wiring, so the saw doesn't require an extension cord and the handy electrical on the ends of the bench now in use. I had to add some more wiring to supply voltage to the tool chargers on the power tool racks. You may notice the tee track is installed across the top of the bench, This track will be used to secure the sliding and folding out feed extension table.
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I picked up most the hardware for this project from Wood Workers Hardware, they supplied us a automatic catch. They work really nice to secure two cabinet doors with only one cam lock. 12 cam locks are going to be added to this island to secure it.
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The table saw island now has all its drawers installed on the front.
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#34 ·
Finished parts/hardware trays

Here you see some of the trays with the drawer fronts completed.
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This picture is a close up of the drawer fronts with custom wood pulls. Not sure what to call this style pull but it worked great for this application. I needed to make them low profile in order to clear the cabinet doors that they reside behind.
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More pictures of the parts trays.
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On the left side of the front of the Table saw island, I had two pull out trays behind cabinet doors. These trays now have drawer fronts to match the parts trays.
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#39 ·
The sliding flip up out feed extension table

I have been looking forward to this part of the table saw island for a long time.
In fact its been in process for a month or so, but I have had the idea to build one for years.
I need to have out feed support on the table saw when ever cutting large sheet goods or long lumber.
However I don't always need the extra table taking up space and I don't always need the support in the same position on the back of the bench.
So here is my first sliding flip up out feed extension table, built special for my friend's table saw island.
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I first installed two 48" sections of 1/4" mini tee track in the side of the bench top. This track supports the whole table extension.
The design utilizes two small fixed casters which ride along the side of the bench below the cabinet doors and above the dust collection port.
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You will notice I built small flip down doors below each set of cabinet doors.
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The section of the bench with the dust port is enclosed and therefore hasn't got a flip down door.
The casters ride on these doors that are held closed with magnetic catches.
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While the table is flipped down there are four star knobs that are loosened to slide the table back and forth across the island.
When the table is in the right position for my cut, I tighten the star knobs securing the table.
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Next I lift the table by grabbing the handle in the end or bottom of the extension table.
Next the right support is hinged into position using my other hand followed by the left support.
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The last step is to flip the handle to the down position insuring the table is level and properly supported.
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All the moving parts have magnetic catches to hold it in each of it's positions.
I was forced to build the handle portion of the support system because of clearance issues with all interlocking parts when the table is folded up. Another feature I have included is in each hinged support I installed bench levelers that work upside down. This enables us to level the end of the bench up or down about an inch and a half.
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The entire extension table was constructed from super lite Mdf with lots of holes cut away to keep the whole contraption as lite as possible.
I'd like to do a video of this table in the future to better show how easy it works.
I did my best to describe the way it works and there for have included a lot of pictures for you to see my latest addition to the table saw island.
Please let me know if I left out any information needed to understand this table and the way it works.
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