I'm planning on building a outfeed table/cabinet for my Delta Contractor's saw, and was wondering what y'all would suggest for a top size.
I'm planning on building a outfeed table/cabinet for my Delta Contractor's saw, and was wondering what y'all would suggest for a top size.
It came to pass...
"Curiosity is the ultimate power tool." - Roy Underhill
The road IS the destination.
You are going to want a full 8' sheet of ply not to tip when you push it safely past the blade. Mine is 44" past the cast iron saw top. Do a tip test on the edge of your bench and factor in the distance needed from the blade so that you can finish a cut and let go of the piece without tipping. Then you got it. Any more and you waste room in your shop.
As for the width it is personal preference really but I would at least make it as wide as the cast iron top.
Dewey
"Everything is better with Inlay or Marquetry!"
John,
I have the Delta contractor saw and my out-feed table is 4 ft. wide and 6.5 ft. long. My table is built with 4X4 legs, a 2X6 frame, and two layers of 3/4" plywood for the top. It's very heavy and that what I wanted.
I have receptacles mounted on both sides of the table so that hand tools can be easily plugged in. My out-feed table also serves as an assembly table and was the best shop improvement I ever made.
Army Veteran 1968 - 1970
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John, my top is 5' X 9' and it si the best thing in my shop
I agree with Dewey that you want it to extend long enough to not allow a sheet of ply to tip ... so that means at least 48 inches past the back end of the saw blade. For the width, I would make it as wide as you have space for. I would like mine to be the same as the length of my table saw extension, but I need the space for other things, so I made it about 4 feet.
I too agree with Dewey! My table is 42" x 74" and is made of 3/4" laminated MDF on a plywood base.......
MyOutfeed.jpg MyOutfeed2.jpg
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Women are like phones. They love to be held and talked to, but if you press the wrong buttons you'll get disconnected!
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For table depth, figure the longest rip cut you're likely to make regularly and size the table depth to half that length. For width make it at least as wide as the saw top including wings. If you have the room, make it as wide as the total width of the saw including extension tables.
The idea is to provide support for the longest, widest workpiece you normally encounter. That's probably a 4x8 or 5x5 sheet of ply. My outfeed table is 4' x 4' which allows most rips of a 4x8 sheet to be supported without tipping. Depth is fine, but I wish I'd made it wider. Mike's at 74" looks about right to me. I may consign mine to assembly work and build version 2 more like Mike's.
Last edited by Tom Veatch; 12-10-2008 at 12:22 AM.
Tom Veatch
Wichita, KS
USA
I designed my table at 42"......From the very back of my fully raised saw blade to the end of my outfeed it measures 48"......from the centerline of the blade (which is when the material is completely cut in two)....It measures about 52" overall.
I wanted to get the maximum effective length without taking up to much valuable space between it and my workbench......If I have to rip a 8' or larger board, I have a three roller adjustable stand to make the transition between the outfeed and the workbench!
AdjustableRoller.gif
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Women are like phones. They love to be held and talked to, but if you press the wrong buttons you'll get disconnected!
* * * *
Life is one fool thing after another whereas love is two fool things after each other
48" x 48" is a convenient size
Might be a bit beyond what you were looking into, but if I hadn't ordered a new cabinet saw, I was going to remove the legs from my Delta contractor saw, and build a cabinet to set it into, with wheels on the bottom.
The beauty of the contractor saw is that it isn't too heavy. You could make a longer deeper cabinet, big enough to provide outfeed support, that way you'd have one unit to push around, and you could port dust collection into a cavity under the saw itself.