Acidea.net Team
How to Create own DIY Workbench with Table Saw
Have you ever wanted a nice garage shop DIY workbench with table saw, with a router table, a vice, a place to sit, store tools?
Well, stay tuned, watch this video, and I’ll show you how I built mine.
Alright, I’ll give you a little tour of the design. So I built this in SketchUp because I wanted to understand how I’m gonna organize the space of this table saw bench.
So it’s about 36 inches tall, I built it on casters, so I’ve got four locking casters, and then I’ll do two regular swivel casters in the middle. And then on the opposite side of the table saw, I’ve got a little place where I could put my feet up, I’ll have some benches that I store underneath this space. So if I’m working with my girls or with Cassidy, we can have little benches to sit on and work on projects. This distance here is seven feet, and then the width of it is four feet. So it’s gonna be a four-by-seven foot table.
The first piece I’m gonna cut is the bottom, it’s gonna be 78 inches long by 42 inches wide. I’m gonna use four-by-fours for the legs. We’re gonna gave one in each corner and then one in the middle on each side. Okay, so now that I have the legs cut, the next step is to build the frame. I’m gonna use two-by-fours in between these legs, then I’m gonna use the Kreg Jig and I’m gonna do a pocket hole, attach them with the screws, and then I’m gonna do a two-by-four in between the two sets of legs.
For these middle legs I am putting this in the center, and how I’m gonna do that, I’m gonna just put these up on little blocks, these are one-inch blocks. Okay, so I’ve got the three sets of legs put together. What I’m gonna do is put them upside down, so the bottom is gonna be on top of the legs, I’m gonna screw them down nice and tight. And then I’m gonna screw the casters in place. I used a two-inch long carriage bolt with the lock washer and a washer, pre-drilled all the holes, and bolted the casters in place.
Now with the casters in place, I’m gonna flip it over and I’m gonna put the top braces on in between the three support leg beams. Now the next step is, I need to grab one more sheet of plywood, and we’re gonna do the middle partition. So from here to there, right down the middle, we’re gonna create a partition. It’s gonna be screwed up through the bottom and give it some extra support.
In our DIY workbench with table saw, is the Table saw is gonna be in this area, and then over here is gonna be the router area.
Just as long as that’s below, that’s good. So what I’m gonna do is I’m gonna screw it in place, and then I’ll roll it over, and then we’ll screw it on the bottom. Screwed this in place with the two-by-four, the middle two-by-four on the table saw side.
Throughout this video, you’re gonna see me using a bunch of different tools and products that are from Rockler.
In the video description, I’ll have a list of all those tools I’ve been using that I think are awesome because they helped make this process of building this table nicely.
So, check out the description below for the list of all the Rockler products that show up throughout this video. Here’s another cool Rockler tool, this is a jig to help you clamp corners.
So this is how the clamp works, there’s this block that goes on the inside, the top side, it makes a nice square corner. And then on this site, you’ve got the clamp that you tighten up right here, and you tighten that right there. I lined it up with my mark right there, so that’s gonna hold it nice and straight up and down. So I’m just gonna draw a line at the bottom of this, it’s gonna be right in the middle of that partition board. And then we’ll screw it on the bottom.
Alright, our DIY workbench with a table saw is built, now I’m excited to start getting the top put together.
I’m gonna do it in two layers.I’m gonna do a base layer of three-quarter-inch birch plywood, and then the top layer at three-quarter inch birch plywood. It’s gonna be an inch-and-a-half thick, total, with about a three-inch overhang on the table. So again, it’s a four-foot-wide by the seven-foot-long table. So the first thing I’m gonna do is center it on the table, with that three-inch overhang on three of the sides. On this side, I’m gonna leave the long portion, and then I’m gonna cut it to length. I’m gonna screw it in place as well so that I don’t have to clamp it down.
Now that it’s completely centered on the table, I’m gonna go through and just screw down every 12 to 18 inches into the frame of the table, and this piece will be in place. So now that I have that screwed on, I’m gonna bring the top layer and put that on top to hold the two pieces together on top, I’m gonna screw it from underneath. So if I ever have to replace the top for some reason, all I have to do is unscrew the ones underneath and take the top off.
Okay, so we now have our DIY workbench with table saw, the main thing, all framed, put together, it’s very sturdy, and it’s very cool because it moves around on the wheels.
So what I’m gonna do next, is I’m gonna take apart my table saw, and I’m gonna measure exactly how big of a space I need, and I’m gonna cut out a hole for it. So it’s gonna slide right into this spot, and that’s gonna be the new home for the table saw instead of on the stand that it currently is on.
Alright, so it looks like taping this edge was a really good idea, because it did protect it when I was cutting it. Now I’m gonna build the shelf that the table saw is gonna sit on. So from this surface down to the top of the shelf is gonna be 12 and three-eighths to make sure that the surface of the table saw sits right flush with this.
So it works out nice that this piece that I just cut out for the table saw, I’m gonna use those two pieces for the two side legs that’s gonna support the table saw underneath it.
So I’m gonna turn the table saw on right now and cut those pieces to the right width and length. I’ve got the shelf laid out, cut to length, cut to width. Now I’m gonna notch out the two little corners where it needs to kinda wrap around the post. I’ll cut those out with the jigsaw real quick, and then we’ll see if it’ll fit.
So I took the three pieces that I cut to length and width, laid them out, clamped them using those corner clamps, so it can have a nice squared corner, screwed those in place with three two-inch construction screws. Now I’m gonna take this table saw shelf and place it inside the table saw bench.
So I’m gonna cut a hole on top of the shelf where all the sawdust is gonna fall into a compartment underneath the shelf. I’m just gonna leave enough room for the table saw to sit on the shelf, so it has enough support. And then the sawdust will just fall into a compartment that I can then go back every once in a while and vacuum it out. I’m going to now screw it in place, I’m gonna screw it in from the backside of the middle partition. And then underneath I’m gonna screw it in as well. The table saw now sits just below the benchtop, about an eighth of an inch. This will give me a little bit of flexibility so I can shim up underneath the table saw to make it just right and perfectly level with the top of the bench.
So the table saw has two little channels, so when you’re using, cutting angles or stuff like that, or you’ve got a table saw sled. I’m gonna take a router and I’m gonna continue those channels into the table as my next step.
So I’m excited about this part of the project, I’m working on the top of the DIY workbench with the table saw. I’m gonna be using a T-track system, and it’s cool because it’s recessed down into the top of the workbench, these little tracks, it has all kinds of clamps, and gear, but it’s cool because it’s gonna be really quick clamping and working on projects. I’m excited about it. If you ever used a T-track system before, let me know in the comments below and tell me how you like it. I’m laying it out, and so I’m gonna have three inches around the perimeter of the table. And then I have a bunch of intersections, I’m gonna do one right down the middle of the table as well, divide it right in half. And then I’m gonna have one offset about 16 inches in from the edge so that I have a variety of distances for the T-track to work for whatever projects I’m working on.
So the next step I have to take, I’m just kinda laying it out, making sure where all the tracks are gonna go, then I’m gonna draw out on the tabletop where I’m gonna have to take the router at three-eighths of an inch deep, by three-fourths of an inch wide. Not that wide, but, you know, this wide.
So the T-track will just sit right in that channel and you can screw it in. Now that the T-tracks are installed, I’m going to work over at the router lift station and cut out the area where the router lift will be set inside the top of the table. I used the Pro-Lift as an outline, flipped it upside down, traced the outline of it onto the table. Once that was traced on I clamped four boards around the perimeter of that. That was two and five-eighths offset from the hole that I wanted to route out. That way I could just use those as bumpers and route out the entire inside. Now it’s time to cut the next level out.
So I’m gonna have to leave at least a quarter of an inch around the perimeter for the plate to sit on. And then I’m going to cut out kind of an odd shape inside the routed area so that the Pro-Lift can fit right down inside there, and all that stuff lying underneath the table.
For more detailed instructions on how I installed this router lift, check below in the descriptions, there will be a link to the blog post. Now that I have this awesome Rockler Pro-Lift in place on the table, I’m gonna go through, and I’m gonna send the entire table.
I’m gonna sand it down with 120 grit, just to knock off those sharp edges around the plywood and where the T-tracks are gonna be set. So now that that’s finished, I’m gonna go ahead and start putting on a coat of polyurethane, and this is a satin polyurethane. I wanna do like two or three coats, I’m just gonna start brushing on this polyurethane. I’m gonna wait a couple of hours and then I’m gonna put on another coat, probably sand in between, I want it nice and polished.
So I got the top of the DIY Workbench with Table Saw finished, it looks amazing. I got three coats of polyurethane on it, it’s a satin finish. And now I’m gonna put all the T-tracks in place, I’m gonna start with the intersections, I’m gonna put those down, and then I’m gonna cut the other pieces to length to fit in the gaps.
Now I’m gonna work on the router station, so I’m gonna put the lift in place. Once I’m done installing the lift plate I’ll install the router in the fence, and all the accessories that I have that go with that. And these accessories are gonna be able to clamp onto the T-tracks that are surrounding the router. I always wanted a nice router table, and I’m excited about this table, because of the fence, the accessories, the ability to go up and down and change the router bit without pulling the router out. It’s cool.
So, I don’t know what I’m gonna make the first time with it, but it’s gonna be nice, whatever it is. I also installed a little switch it’s not little, but it’s cool because it’s got a Start and Stop, and the Stop is really big, you can hit it with your knee if you need to shut it off fast. So the final feature that I wanna install on this DIY workbench with Table Saw is a bench vice. I’m going to install it on the opposite side of the router table.
So I used a number 14 screw, one-and-a-half-inch long to attach it to the bottom of the woodshop bench. Now what I have to do is build a block of wood that’s gonna be attached to half of the vice, so when it clamps it’ll clamp in between the DIY Workbench with Table Saw and that piece of wood that I add to the vice.
I wanted to say one last thanks to Rockler for sponsoring this video. I’ve enjoyed working with their products, you will be seeing more cool products as we continue to clean up and organize our shop. Be sure to come back for more, and in the meantime, check out rockler.com. Okay, so that’s as far as I’m gonna take this table right now, I’m gonna go and use it and find out how I can customize all the separate spaces around the bottom portion of the table. And then I’ll come back and I’ll show you the other video of how I customize it even further. I’ll have plans available on my blog at remodelaholic.com, you’ll be able to download them, and if you wanna build this exact table, or if you wanna modify it to your needs.
Do you like this DIY Workbench with Table Saw project than you have to look at this workbench project.
Source: youtube
