Assembly/ Outfeed Table

Outfeed/ Assembly Table

After a long series of home projects, I’ve decided to make shop cabinets to organize my shop, and decided to tackle the assembly surface first.

Thewoodwhiperer and David Mark’s videos gave me the basics for torsion box construction using 1/2” MDF. I decided to dado half-lap joints rather than nailing individual MDF segments. Assembling the dado’ed MDF sections, I had to be very careful to maintain a straight, square line as the sections were glued. After the grid was completed, plywood squares were glued in the grid where needed for fastening the outer edging and the base.

The “KD” BORG dimensional lumber used on top of the sawhorses to support the construction of the torsion box twisted and warped every day of the project even though it was ripped and milled weeks before I began. If I had to do this again, I would think about using synthetic wood of some type to support the sawhorses – plywood or MDx.

I used the base as practice for a future workbench. I laminated red oak and made 3” mortise/tenons for the stretchers and rails using a benchtop mortiser and dado set. Lesson learned when cutting the tenons was that a shoulder plane is very useful for getting a tight fit.

The edging on the torsion box is maple. I used a plug cutter set to bore holes and create plugs to cover the screws. The edging is level with a replaceable hardboard top. Finish is two coats of varnish.