# Show me your assembly table



## Momcanfixit (Sep 19, 2012)

With my husband's snowmobile and the seasonal stuff now tucked away in the newly built shed, I'm enjoying a bit more shop space. High on the list of shop projects is an assembly table. I like the look of the large ones with a torsion box top that double as outfeed tables so feel free to post those, but I'm looking for something with a smaller foot print.

So what do you use? Is it saw horses and plywood? Adjustable height? Show me what ya got!

Thanks


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## Gene01 (Jan 5, 2009)

I'll show ya mine if you..etc.

You already eliminated mind from consideration. It's 42" wide and 90" long. It's NOT portable.


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## JL7 (Apr 13, 2010)

Sandra, I thought this design looked pretty usefull…

http://www.woodsmithlibrary.com/promo/2015/02/12/?autostart=true


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## 1Woody (Mar 20, 2013)

A few years back I picked up an older steel desk and added 4 swivel casters to the 4 legs, it works great but it's not adjustable on the height. I also always wanted to add some flip up wings to be able to make it bigger. The drawers are very handy.


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## Rick Dennington (Aug 27, 2009)

Here's one of my assembly tables….This is prolly a bigger one than you want, but you can make it any size you need…..Mine is 4' x 8', and has a torsion box with 3/4" ply for the top layer….The bottom shelf is 1/2" ply, and also has a torsion box-type construction…. But there again, you can make it any size you need…....


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## benchbuilder (Sep 10, 2011)

I set my workbench ( 40×84 ) at the outfeed end of my tablesaw, now i dont need the extra table. Its my outfeed table, workbench and assembley table. I have a19×21 shop, so space is valuable. Wall space is even more so.


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## DocSavage45 (Aug 14, 2010)

I use my benches and my cabinet saw. I have a 1/4 inch of old plywood with tight pattern that I cover the saw. I'n warmer weather I work outside to catch the sun. Metal saw horses, and 3/4 inch plywood. 2×6s if its heavy.


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## Momcanfixit (Sep 19, 2012)

Thanks folks. 
Jeff - I've been eyeing that one. This one as well…


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## BJODay (Jan 29, 2013)

Here are 2 tables I use. The first is my outfeed table. It is not a torsion box. It is a simple 2×4 frame with a 1/2" ply top. I added some laminate shelving to the top so I could use the T-tracks for holding work down.








The second table was salvaged from a printing company. It was a plate makers table. It has a stainless steel covered top. Not perfectly flat, but nice for glue-ups.








As always, having too many flat surfaces available can lead to clutter. I have to force myself to clean up and put stuff away. What I really need is a good place to put scrap lumber.

BJ


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## timbertailor (Jul 2, 2014)

Here is my assembly table. It is a smaller footprint that uses Kregg and Rockler bench clamps.


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## Momcanfixit (Sep 19, 2012)

Ooh, clamps, T-tracks and assembly table all in one. I have a new favourite.

BJ - I like the stainless steel - easy to clean up.

Thanks for posting these


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## DanKrager (Apr 13, 2012)

You can get very expensive equipment for free if you know where to look. Hospitals and such have junk too…



















DanK


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## Momcanfixit (Sep 19, 2012)

Now that's what I call repurposing!


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## DanKrager (Apr 13, 2012)

Just noticed your by-line! LAWL!
DanK


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## vikingcape (Jan 3, 2013)

Dan that is awesome! What a cool gizmo that would be for any shop


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## boxcarmarty (Dec 9, 2011)

I keep it portable with my tricycle bench…..


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## Gene01 (Jan 5, 2009)

Hey Dan K, You didn't get that in Gurnee, IL by chance? heehee

Great use of a discarded piece.


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## timbertailor (Jul 2, 2014)

> Hospitals and such have junk too…
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I hope its acquisition is not on omen and it is never used again for its intended purpose.


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## DanKrager (Apr 13, 2012)

No worries. I worked in healthcare IT for 20+ years and if you look at my shop photos you will see healthcare equipment all over the place. Some wont be recognizable…old roll about computer carts using in nursing transformed to tool carts with storage, newer computer stand rollabouts converted to light stands, medicine carts converted to hardware storage, couple IV stands for cord support etc, etc. You can see on the left in these pictures an array of hardware in medicine cart equipment that would make most hardware stores jealous. That's one of three. Actually didn't stop to realize how much had been repurposed! 
DanK
LAWL. Gurnee IL I get it…


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## Bigun (Aug 24, 2014)

Don't have a pic but I cut a piece of 3/4 ply into, put one half on a frame of 2×4" and hindged the other half off one end and edge banded with hardwood. I use the 4×4 table as tablesaw outfeed and raise the other end up when i need the full 8' along with my tablesaw. I support the swing up end with roller stand. I could add locking casters on it but I don't have a need to move it no more than slide it around if needed.


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## Bluepine38 (Dec 14, 2009)

Ashamed to put a picture up, but I have a couple of the black slick treadmill decks that I throw on one of
my tablesaws, or a pair of sawhorses. Dan K has the right idea, but you almost have to work at the
healthcare place to have easy access to those tables. A friend happened to be at a doctors office that
was being remodeled, and he got one of the cart tables and one of those operating room heavy 
reflector type lights-they are a great help for old eyes-but it cost him a few hundred.


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## Notw (Aug 7, 2013)

> I keep it portable with my tricycle bench…..
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Where did you get those casters? I have the Rockler workbench casters on my workbench but I am always looking for something less expensive if its out there


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## SirIrb (Jan 12, 2015)

best asm table I ever used was at the second cabinet shop I worked at. Rough. 2" high, 4×8. Covered in carpet. I am going to make one for my shop. It was the best table. Get on it and work those cabinets together fast. sanding all day without scratching the faceframes or doors. Great table. I miss those days.


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## Jim Jakosh (Nov 24, 2009)

I'm not home to take a photo, but mine is laminate covered and 24×60. It has a wood vise on the right side.
it is very easy to clean glue off of it!!


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## Momcanfixit (Sep 19, 2012)

Certainly leaning toward laminate…


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## AandCstyle (Mar 21, 2012)

Sandra, you can see mine here. The pic was shortly after we moved into the house and before the shop was "finished". I subsequently put 1/4" melamine on it for glue resistance.


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## Momcanfixit (Sep 19, 2012)

Nice table Art. I had to go back and look again, because I was too distracted by the rest of the shop. Nice set up.


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## toeachhisown (Eddie) (Mar 30, 2011)

sandra heres mine it has served me well ,but am now thinking of getting a heaver one ,http://lumberjocks.com/projects/64647


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## pmayer (Jan 3, 2010)

Mine is modeled after David Marks' table. Sits right in the middle of the shop, just a few steps from any tool. I love it.


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## toeachhisown (Eddie) (Mar 30, 2011)

http://bcove.me/t6pewdau


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## rwe2156 (May 7, 2014)

I've since added drawers in the bays underneath and egded with oak.
Top is torsion box with 3/4 ply and 3/4 MDF skins.
Coated with Linseed Oil.


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## Momcanfixit (Sep 19, 2012)

Well folks, maybe a torsion box isn't completely out of the question. A narrower one perhaps like rwe


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## CB_Cohick (Dec 22, 2014)

You guys with space kill me, lol. My assembly table is a 3' x 4' piece of 3/4" birch ply fitted with stops to sit on top of my jobsite table saw. When not in use, it sits between my washer and dryer. Someday I will build a building. Until then, I will get creative about using the space I have.


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## DanKrager (Apr 13, 2012)

CB, you're on the right track. You could build a 100×200' building and still run out of space! Tools and "junk" expand to fill the available space==>tools and "junk" are a gas. 

DanK


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## devann (Jan 11, 2011)

Sandra, I'm posting some pictures of my assembly table to give you some more design ideas and to show you how I made myself a poor boy's tail vise out of an existing clamp that you may already have laying around.










Has you can see, it made from a clamp from an older miter saw I have. One day I needed to work on the end of a 4×4 and this is what I came up with. It bolts into holes of a block that I screwed to the side of my table. In the picture I was needing to drill some holes in an existing shelf so I have the backing plate set flush with the corner of the table. The backing plate is the thing with three pieces of MDF screwed together at right angles with the round file laying on it. To work on a 4×4 I simply let the backing plate hang off the side of the table.










The clamp can be bolted at any angle / 360° along the bolt axis to accommodate what ever you're doing. This table came about when I leased a workshop space and it was left by the previous tenant. It wasn't a finished table. Somebody started to make a 4'x8' table from a pallet, I skinned it with 3/4" plywood and tweaked it to make it *flat*. You'll see down the sides I had to use a plywood rips to straighten the table edges. The slots are cut in the rip to allow for edge clamping. You may also notice I've cut a hole or two in the top. These are for clamps also. I keep the holes down at one end of the table and only cut as many as needed. Because of using pallets 50% of the top is 1 1/2" thick. I guess I could drill some dog holes but haven't needed to yet, I simply screw something to the top if I want to.


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## macatlin1 (May 5, 2010)

Just keeping it simple…


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## timbertailor (Jul 2, 2014)

> Ooh, clamps, T-tracks and assembly table all in one. I have a new favorite.
> 
> Thanks for posting these
> 
> - Sandra


Thanks for saying so Sandra. Made my day!


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## tomclark (Feb 16, 2010)

Mine has super simple construction, and is my favorite work table in the shop. Make it whatever size and height you want. Top is torsion box under two layers of 3/4" MDF with a replaceable top of 1/4" Masonite. (It's holding up just fine after 15 years. Years later added a small box with 8 drawers as needed.


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