Outfeed Table

[Howard Rosenberg]

A WW mag I'd recently browsed through showed how to build folding sawhorses.
I'd always wanted/needed an outfeed table for my TS, so I used their ideas for my outfeed table's base and added a few of my own modifications.

This is the outfeed table fully extended.
The legs are pine shop scraps.
I bought the hinges and used a 3-foot by 4-foot 5/8" thick melamine board for the top.

<img src="http://www.woodshopphotos.com/albums/outfeed-table/outfeed_table_fully_opened.thumb.jpg">

When it's folded up, its overall thickness is less than three inches.

<img src="http://www.woodshopphotos.com/albums/outfeed-table/outfeed_table_legs_closed_top_down.thumb.jpg">

The first trick is to figure out where I can find enough room in the garage to:
- extend the legs so they're almost square to the top's edges
- heave the hinged top onto the legs forming its base
MDF might be heavy but this stuff is murderous!
And the edges are sharp!

<img src="http://www.woodshopphotos.com/albums/outfeed-table/outfeed_table_legs_extended_top_down.thumb.jpg">

I've discovered something important about the relationship between an outfeed table's height and a TS's height:
IT DOESN'T MATTER!!!

I set the top to be 3/16" lower than the bottom of the mitre gauge slots.
That (hard-to-see) pale blue thing in the foreground is my mitre gauge bar hanging out over the back of my TS.

Material just drops ever so gently onto the top as it's passing the blade.
No muss.
No fuss.

<img src="http://www.woodshopphotos.com/albums/outfeed-table/mitre_gauge_higher_than_outfeed_table.thumb.jpg">

I thought another useful mod would be height adjustable legs.
My floors are concrete, pitted and uneven.
And I can't say I roll my TS to precisely the same spot each time I useit.

I screwed another short block on the face of the bottom of each leg.
Extra hardware seems to be magnetically attracted to me.
Using leftovers from previous projects, I drilled up into the leg 3" and cross-drilled 35mm-wide holes 1 1/4" up from the bottom to allow the bolts to pass through threaded metal dowels typically used in RTA-type furniture.
Worked like a champ.... now, if only you could SEE the photo...

<img src="http://www.woodshopphotos.com/albums/outfeed-table/height_adjustable_leg.thumb.jpg">

Thanks for looking.
Howard