Project: Outfeed Table

Matt Meiser

Member
Messages
470
Location
Monroe, MI
Finally got around to starting on a new outfeed table for my saw today. Previously I had a set of cabinets. I moved the cabinets to be the base of my miter saw because I wanted something smaller for the outfeed table. Then I realized that my old Stablemate miter saw stand never sold and had a lot of nice looking steel tubing. So I disassembled it and started welding up this frame.

Originally I was going to drill holes in the back rail of my Bies. fence. Then I came up with the idea to clamp it in place for easy removal. Two small C-clamps with the heads ground down to fit through a 1/2" hole were perfect clamps. I also made adjustable feet for leveling the table as needed.

The top is going to be 3/4" MDF with laminate. I'm trying to decide if I should add a cross-brace to the center of the top to support the MDF better? Or maybe just a 1x cleat on the bottom?
 

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Nice job Matt! Great idea about using the C clamp like that. It looks like that your outfeed table is a bout 24" x 40" or so. If it were me and I had one more piece of steel tubing I would weld one more lengthwise across the 40" span and that would support the MDF ever 12". I think that would do it. I think that you are right about worring about it sagging with no additional braceing.
 
Matt, I agree with Allen, and if you can fit one in, in the "Long" direction, (I guess you would call it the width), of the table where it won't interfere with your motor when you tilt the blade, I would definitely put one in there. The problem is that it gets kind of weak and wants to sag after you rout the slots for the mitre guage bar or cut off sled's guide bars. One other thing that might be useful would be to drill a hole through your table frame's square tubing down through the Biese's angle iron and then slip an alignment pin in each hole and tack weld the pin in the table frame only. It would still be easy to remove by removing the clamps and just lifting enough for the pins to come out, but would make it real easy to mount again without having to align the mitre slots each time. (If you do put the pins in, be sure to grind a bevel on the end so they will slip into the holes in the angle easily)

It's looking good so far.:thumb:
 
OK, I added a piece the long way. I didn't have a piece long enough, but I did have a piece that was close and a cutoff that would make it long enough when I welded them together. I was going to look at adding some pins as suggested by Norman, but then I realized that I made it so that it butts against the tube from my Bies. guard (the off-white tube in the first picture) so I already have alignment built in with no additoinal effort :)

Right now it is in the spray booth getting a few coats of some grey clearance spray paint I've had in my cabinet for a while.
 
Good advice was given on making sure the tilt won't get in the way, wish I'd have had it when I made mine.

...of course it was right in the way when I tilted the arbor.:doh:
 
I'm ok on the tilt as long as I don't have the blade fully raised and fully tilted. In that case, there is slightly less than 3/4" clearance between one of the capacitor covers and the plane of the saw's table top. If worse comes to worse I can create a gouge to accomodate it in the underside of the outfeed table top. I don't expect it to be a problem though since it wasn't a problem with my previous outfeed table.

I also found out today that I may be able to get some old work surfaces from my work this week which might work well for the top. The health and safety director says we have to clean out the off-site storage unit. Apparently old furniture stacked 8' high is unsafe?

Here are a couple pictures related to my previous post. Oh, I also started working on getting my router mounted in my extension table. If you look closely you can see how to repair the OOPS! that occurs when the set screw comes out of the bearing retainer and allows the bit to dig into the template :(
 

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If you look closely you can see how to repair the OOPS! that occurs when the set screw comes out of the bearing retainer and allows the bit to dig into the template :(

When I built my router table the same thing happened to me. I really check the set screws now.

The center bar that you added looks good. That should do it.
 
Good advice was given on making sure the tilt won't get in the way, wish I'd have had it when I made mine.

...of course it was right in the way when I tilted the arbor.:doh:

How do you think "I" came up with that suggestion, Steve? :doh: :rofl: :rofl: I did find that a "HF" Sawzall was a good adjustment tool though.:D
 
I finished up the outfeed table today. The top is 3/4" MDF with some clearance-sale laminate. I used some heat sensitive edge banding to dress up the top a little.

I also mostly built my router fence today. Just need to add some dust collection.
 

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Very nice table, Matt. I also like the dust collection system you have. Hmmm...

Here in Seattle, we make "Shaker" sticks like what you have, to release salmon that are too small...(all they do is shake your rod tip, not pull like a big one.) Hook the line and pull the fish up to the end of the stick. When the stick hook meets the fishing hook, flip the stick a little, the fish hook comes out easily, and the fish drops back into the water untouched... We make them 21" long, which is the minimum size salmon to keep. Hook remover and measuring stick all in one...:thumb:

What are yours really for....? :dunno:
 
Regarding the sticks with hooks on the end. Remember the chicken catcher poles with hooks on the end to snare the chickens legs. They were about five feet long with a different shaped hook. So I am guessing that they are chicken catchers for very small chickens and very short people. I do not know why one guy would need so may though.
 
I have no idea what the sticks with hooks were originally for. A friend of the family gave them to me--he originally got a pickup load of them as a donation to a girl scout camp for some folding stools they were making. Apparently everyone involved ended up with several buckets full because there were too many. Now my daughter plays with them and I occasionally use a piece for something.
 
The dust collection works great under the saw. The back remains open, but the base is enclosed. There is pretty decent airflow around the open back so what escapes is pretty minor, and not worth the hassle of covering the back. The overarm guard is collected by the small shop vac under the saw which is wired into the saw's start/stop controls so that it turns on automatically. The vac is really more appropriate for the the small hose that comes with the Biesemeyer guard.
 
Your Table really turned out nice, Matt. I like your colored laminate too. when I made a new RH extension table for my saw, I used some green laminate that I had from an old project on the underside, but put new white laminate on the top, (I wish I had put the green on the top). I also used that same white on both the top and the underside of the Top of the Router table that I made for my WW buddy and also on the TS outfeed table I made for him, and the white tops are like a magnet for every type of stain, dirt, pencil mark, marker pen, blood, etc, and even though all are waxed, I cannot keep them looking clean. I will NEVER use white on any kind of a TOP or jig or anything that can show grime again. It may just be that particular laminate, but it doesn't even look clean when I've just cleaned it.
 
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