Sheet goods breakdown & worktable: sawhorses vs. folding plastic table

[Erik Loza]

One reason is it's not flat...

This ^^^^....

Also, it's just not heavy enough. We have one of these for picnics and whatnot and I can pretty easily bump it out of the way when just walking by. Just my thoughts.

Erik

[Jim Becker]

Even if these tables are sturdy enough...the downside remains having to lift the full sheets of material up onto the surface, something that many of us struggle with. (Even with my sliding table saw, I have had to work out a system to lift full sheets up because of strength required of my body) The true benefit of a track saw, regardless of brand, is that you can take the saw to the material. So for me, I'd opt for keeping a few pieces of foam insulation material around and just break things down on the floor. It doesn't have to be "perfectly flat"...the track will bend up and down a little to compensate while you saw along the line. And it's far easier to plop a sheet down onto "the floor" than it is to lift up on a table. That said, having a table like that...as long as it's sturdy and doesn't wiggle...would be handy for cutting smaller components out of partial sheets without bending down or working on your knees...

[richard poitras]

Search "eurekazone multiform table" . Years ago I made a version of this and it works great for sheet goods.

Mike

I use this set up as well... they work great.

[Erik Christensen]

I suggest the best breakdown table is 4x8 and at about the same height as your delivery vehicle - in my case a pickup truck bed. I cover the 3/4 plywood top with a 1" foam sheet as a sacrificial surface - it lasts for a year or so and then I trash it and get another. I have broken down 100's of 4x8 sheets solo with this setup and it has worked for me.

[Keith Hankins]

I use a 2" piece of 4x8 insulation on the floor for my breakdown and use my festool track saw. I keep the sheet up against the wall and just lay it on the floor and its really light. I use my gorilla gripper to move sheets around since my two boys have grown and gone so i'm horsing it around myself. I simply put that ply on top and cut it up. Don't need to horse it up on a table.

I've had my sheet for 6 years best cheap table i ever got.

[Ben Rivel]

I use a 2" piece of 4x8 insulation on the floor for my breakdown and use my festool track saw. I keep the sheet up against the wall and just lay it on the floor and its really light. I use my gorilla gripper to move sheets around since my two boys have grown and gone so i'm horsing it around myself. I simply put that ply on top and cut it up. Don't need to horse it up on a table.

I've had my sheet for 6 years best cheap table i ever got.

This IMO is the best cheap way to do it!

[Jim Dwight]

I've used a lattice of 1x4s set on edge for years. I put it over sawhorses or the trailer I bring the sheet goods home with and have used it on top of my Paulk workbench but it's a bit high. So I made a lattice of 1x2s laid flat for the workbench. My first lattice is 3x7 but my workbench and second lattice is 3x6. I like having the sheet hang off so I can clamp the track easily. I think you will want a Paulk style worksurface at some point - or a MFT. If you don't want to make that investment soon, the lattice of 1x4s can have a set of folding metal legs and be a great way to cut up sheet goods. I've seen a you tube of a guy doing this. He has a bad back but just slides the sheets from his truck bed to the cutup table and never has to lift the sheet. My technique is to carry the sheets on my side clamped up against me and then I tilt them up against the workbench. It's heavy enough to stay put. I then lift the bottom up to the height of the workbench and slide it over onto the bench. I can pick up full sheets but try to lift one end at a time as much as possible.

My wife wants a pickup and we'll probably get one sometime. It could help my sheet goods carrying because I could back it to the shop garage and slide sheets from the bed to the workbench. The trailer is too low and hard to back to do this.

[Stew Hagerty]

I've used the on-the-floor method for several years. 1, I got tired of getting up & down all the time. 2, I wanted something that I could use for other things. But I still didn't want to take up much space, and it couldn't be anything heavy or awkward to move around since I work by myself. I was going to make myself some folding sawhorses and use 2x's to make an open platform. Then I saw these: http://www.homedepot.com/p/TOUGHBUIL...C700/205870356 I really like their versatility, sturdiness, and size (both open & closed). It works great! It can be set low enough to be just about perfect for track saw work or raised for use as an assemble table. Oh yeah, and they work pretty well as sawhorses too. I'm never going back to the floor.

Oh... One more thing, I am going to be adding a shortened (or shop-made) "LegUp" to one of the crosspieces for super easy loading of sheetgoods.

[Mike Heidrick]

Originally Posted by Andrew Hughes One reason is it's not flat...


This ^^^^....

Also, it's just not heavy enough. We have one of these for picnics and whatnot and I can pretty easily bump it out of the way when just walking by. Just my thoughts.

Erik

For just breaking down ply....

Tthe reference surface of breaking down ply with a tracksaw or circ saw is the top surface of the ply, not the bottom. You could lean that ply 45 degrees and if the track is flat on the top of the ply, or the circ saw guide is flat on the top of the ply, that saw will cut as square as the shoe is perpendicular to the blade. I can see the flat table being an issue if it is used as a reference surface for things like assembly. Is that what you guys are commenting about being an issue?

[Wade Lippman]

I bought one of these. Never had an opportunity to use it yet, but it looks good.
Of course, I got it for $60...

https://www.amazon.com/Centipede-Compact-Portable-Support-sawhorse/dp/B00T81P4D0

[Terry Therneau]

I have a homemade table for breaking down goods: 2 long 2-4's and 5 cross bars, appox 7' by 3.5', along with a pair of exactly that kind of legs from the local big box store; even cheaper than buying a table. The 2x4s are on edge, and all screws are 1" away from the top. It works great; i'd never go back to the floor. My trailer is the back half of an old pickup and this is about 3" shorter; just slide the goods onto it and cut. I set the tracksaw 1/8" inch deeper than the sheet goods and hardly notice when it goes across a support. I've had it for 10 years and perhaps in another 20 it will have enough cuts in the top to need a rebuild. It's light, folds up. and sits in the plywood rack along with the ply.

Terry T

[Pete Janke]

I have a couple of those tables & use them all the time in the shop. They are strong, light, stable, cheap, & best of all for me is that they fold up thin for easy storage. They don't stand up well to a circ saw though

My wife had one she was using for scrapbooking. I messed it up so bad, it is now my table, and she bought a new one. The height allows me to sit down and work very comfortably on a project. Multiple uses: light assembly, cutting down sheet goods, painting and finishing projects. Like Frank said, it folds up and stores well. Even if you drill through the top, cut a nice gouge with your circ saw or multi tool, or drill through it, it won't fall apart. It is not a substitute for your work bench; you don't hammer on it, and tilting a sheet of plywood onto it may tip it over. Or so I'm told.

[Charles Lent]

I also made one like Terry many years ago. The one in the pictures is my old table of about 20 years ago. Now that I'm older and less able to carry heavy things (metal knees and heart surgery) , I made a new version using 1 X 4 for the perimeter boards to make it lighter, but still very strong (no pictures of this one-but it looks the same except for the 1 X 4 perimeter boards). All of my sheet stock is broken up outside my shop on one of these tables. My shop is too small to do it inside.

On one side of the table (shown in the pictures) I have added two squares of plywood with a screw off center through them and into the table side. Turned one way, they are below the table surface. Turned 180 deg, they extend above the table. To load a sheet, I tip the table on it's side with these plywood pieces down against the driveway, lean the sheet against the table and on these pieces of plywood. Then I bend over and tip the sheet and table back up on it's legs, turn these pieces of plywood 180 deg to drop them below the table surface, and re-position the sheet for cutting. Using a table like this prevents cut pieces from falling as you cut them free. The table sets up and folds easily. I store it leaning against my plywood sheets in my shop.

DSCF0015.jpgDSCF0016.jpgDSCF0022.jpgDSCF0014.jpg

You can get the legs from Northern or Harbor Freight for about $20. The table itself is assembled with glue and biscuits, so the only metal in the wood top are the leg attachment screws and the two screws holding the plywood pieces on the one side. All are more than 1" below the top surface, so there is very little chance of ever cutting into them with your saw blade.

My cutting table has doubled as a picnic table on two occasions. I just set it up with a full sheet of plywood and a table cloth on it. It handles the buffet food collection very well, letting my real picnic table and banquet tables serve as the eating places.

Charley

[Jim Dwight]

I've thought about it some more and I think a plastic table with a partial sheet of foam on top would be a good cut up worksurface for a track saw. I don't really have room for a limited purpose tool like this so I do it differently but if you have the space, or you need something before getting or building a worksurface that can do more than support wood while you cut it, I think this would work well. I would glue the foam to the plastic, however.

I haven't taken my 1x4 lattice to the dump yet but that is my plan. I need to build a rolling cart for my plywood and then clean out the shop so I can push things against the walls and pull my SUV into it. That's the plan. Until the cart is built, the scraps take up too much space for me to pull the SUV in so I still have the lattice. It works great, but I actually use the workbench and with the sacrifical lattice of 1x2s it works at least as well. I can store the 1x2 lattice on the plywood rack.

A long way of saying why I am fixated on space considerations. My 14x24 shop pretty much forces that. My wife thinks it's big but.....

[mark mcfarlane]

I also made one like Terry many years ago. The one in the pictures is my old table of about 20 years ago. Now that I'm older and less able to carry heavy things (metal knees and heart surgery) , I made a new version using 1 X 4 for the perimeter boards to make it lighter, but still very strong (no pictures of this one-but it looks the same except for the 1 X 4 perimeter boards). All of my sheet stock is broken up outside my shop on one of these tables. My shop is too small to do it inside.

On one side of the table (shown in the pictures) I have added two squares of plywood with a screw off center through them and into the table side. Turned one way, they are below the table surface. Turned 180 deg, they extend above the table. To load a sheet, I tip the table on it's side with these plywood pieces down against the driveway, lean the sheet against the table and on these pieces of plywood. Then I bend over and tip the sheet and table back up on it's legs, turn these pieces of plywood 180 deg to drop them below the table surface, and re-position the sheet for cutting. Using a table like this prevents cut pieces from falling as you cut them free. The table sets up and folds easily. I store it leaning against my plywood sheets in my shop.

DSCF0015.jpgDSCF0016.jpgDSCF0022.jpgDSCF0014.jpg

You can get the legs from Northern or Harbor Freight for about $20. The table itself is assembled with glue and biscuits, so the only metal in the wood top are the leg attachment screws and the two screws holding the plywood pieces on the one side. All are more than 1" below the top surface, so there is very little chance of ever cutting into them with your saw blade.

My cutting table has doubled as a picnic table on two occasions. I just set it up with a full sheet of plywood and a table cloth on it. It handles the buffet food collection very well, letting my real picnic table and banquet tables serve as the eating places.

Charley

Thanks Charley for sharing your setup and workflow. Nice tip on the flip-down lips that hold the plywood during your 'tilt-up' operation. This seems like a very practical and inexpensive solution which I shall shamelessly borrow to bootstrap building out my permanent shop tables.