Cutting Table
Friday, July 3, 2009
I have worked with wood most of my life but my present location only has a carport so I’m at the mercy of the weather. I can’t setup a proper shop. Everything would eventually get wet from wind blown rain. I always started with 2x4s on the floor. Then plywood on top of the 2x4s we me bending over marking, measuring and cutting the plywood. Like I said, It worked but it was very slow and a real pain in the back.
GOALS:
I wanted get my work off the floor. A cutting table was the solution. I was inspired by many other designs that I found on the Internet. For my situation I had several goals (some were conflicting).
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1.The table had to be large and sturdy enough to cut 4 x 8’ sheets of plywood.
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2.I have to be able to move the table out of the way so I can park my car, and so the table would not get wet in the weather.
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3.I have to be able to break the work table down into smaller tables so I can work close around all sides of smaller projects.
The following design Is what I came up with. By making three smaller table stands that make up the support for the full size table. I could make each individual stand with hinges and breaks in the middle. This gives me the ability to fold each down to about a four inch by 48 inch footprint. The total 4 x 8’ table could fold up into a 12” by 48” footprint. Then I could stand the tabletop on edge or hang it from the ceiling.
The construction and assembly goes as follows. All four sides of each small stand was cut on the floor as usual. Then I cut both short sides down the middle at the same time to get equal distance for the hinges. I did have to cut a few extra pieces to give each stand more stability.
Once the 3/4in. hardboard was set in place on top I added the edge rail. The cutout in the middle of the guide rail allows me to lay my aluminum guide rail perpendicular to the edge rail.
This project started from several aquarium stands and canopies that I built. My process always started with 2x4s on the floor, then me cutting 4x8’ sheets of plywood on top of them. It worked, but it was a real pain in the back. I needed Advil after every project. Lots of Advil. Click on any image on this page to see a larger version.
