Miter station cabinet frame

[Jay Yoder]

I have been designing a miter station and was looking for some preliminary input. I am struggling with finalizing the design. I am leaning toward using 3/4" double sided melamine for construction. The work top will be 1 layer of ply and 1 layer of MDF topped with 1/4" hardboard. It will be 36" deep. A couple more detailed questions I have are 1) do I really need a full panel at the back or could I get away with stapling 1/4" ply on the back or maybe leving just the top cross supports. Am I subjecting the bottom piece with too much weight. I was thinking of building this as individual cabinets and bolting them together to form a left and right side.

[Bruce Wrenn]

Try to get a hold of the NYW Miter Saw Station videos (two shows) and plans. They will help fill in a lot of the blanks.

[Jay Yoder]

Bruce,
I have those and they do fill in some issues, but the prob I have is that even though my basement is dry now, here in NE Ohio homes in this age bracket inevitably will have wet basement, especially if I went with the NYW design with the panels actually on the concrete. The plastic legs also allow me to level it out...

[Justin Leiwig]

Check out how Frank Snyder did his SCMS station in his shop cabinets here

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthre...t=48982&page=3

[Maurice Ungaro]

Just an objective comment: 36" is pretty deep for a cabinet, which can chew up valuable floor space. Of course, you might have a need for that much storage.

[Jim Becker]

Jay, on your back question, 1/4" material securely fastened to the back of the cabinet will serve just fine to prevent racking and present a clean interior. It's probably the simplest way to do this, too. Glue and 1/4" crown staples will take care of the job. This is exactly the method I used to close in the backs of cabinetry I've built for our addition, including the uppers for my office that are currently on the bench. But for those base units, you really don't need a full back unless you want one as long as you get the support you need from the rails that act as stretchers and as a fastening point to the wall.

Maurice does raise an interesting issue with space, however, although it's not unusual to use a slightly deeper cabinet right where the miter saw sits and then use cabinets that are not so deep on either side.

[Stephen Edwards]

I suggest casters on it. I don't think you'd regret it!

[Prashun Patel]

Some other things to consider:

- For the auxiliary fences, consider mounting them to the bench with dowels or t-tracks, so they can be removed when not in use. This'll give you more usable bench space for other purposes.
- It's nice to have 8ft of clearance on either side of the blade, but if your saw is dual bevel (even if not) you can usually get by with a smaller deck on one side (depending on whether yr righty or lefty.
- The miter bench I made is actually a portable deck mounted in runners onto a stable bench. This allows two things: 1) I can remove the deck and mount it to saw horses when I want to take the saw on-site. Second, it allows the deck to slide left and right to accomodate longer stock without having to move the whole bench.

[Jay Yoder]

Excellent comments all! I was basing my design loosely on the NYWS Miter bench and storage concept. They call for 36" depth, reducing to roughly 24" in the miter saw area. The reason I am modifying the plans is b/c my storage needs are different and also because I have the permanent space avail but want to provide a layer of "protection" by using the plastic legs. I tried laying it out as more "standard" cabinet depth at 24" but it did not leave much "table top space" after I mount the saw on top. I envision using the top to double as "assembly space" for some smaller assemblies. I was even toying with the idea of adding a front vise to the LH corner...