Woodworking ultimate tool stand

Note: The sides of the insert boxes are inset 1-in. Drill a 3-in. Use a countersink to widen the opening of each hole. Assemble the router table box. Note: The bottom of the router table box is cut 2-in. This allows the router table to be lifted in and out of the well with the router attached. The router is mounted onto a table insert that sits flush to the top.

This allows you to lift the entire router out of the table for changing bits. Make two 8 in. These holes allow room for a pair of hands to adjust the router. To make positioning of the saw and the auxiliary fences easier, line up the front edge of the saw base with the front edge of the tool stand well. Mount T-nuts to the underside of the carcass top Fig.

A and secure the saw with T-handle knobs. Nail the stop blocks to the fixed boxes. Your planer bed may vary, so size the supports accordingly. Now your shop will seem two sizes larger without moving a single wall! Rough cut sheet stock down to a manageable size with a circular saw. Remember, MDF is dusty stuff, use dust control whenever possible.

Make a part template from MDF. Square a straightedge on a rough-cut end, then rout a perfectly square crosscut with a flush-trim bit. Once you have one 24 in. Gang all the torsion box core pieces together and notch them on the tablesaw. Mark the common ends of each core piece so they can be assembled in the same orientation they were cut.

Spread glue on all the edges of the torsion box core. The torsion box can only be as flat as the surface on which it is built. Build it on the carcass laid on its back which will be dead flat. Lay the bottom of the torsion box on the carcass and assemble the core grid. The corner blocks are attachment points for the casters.

Clamp the top onto the grid with weights and extra sheet stock. The extra sheet stock helps distribute the weight of the blocks evenly. C and D. The chop saw stand handles long stock with ease. A portable chop saw begs for additional bed support and fence extensions. The ultimate tool stand does both, and set-up is as simple as ABC.

Align the front edge of the base with the front edge of the tool stand and secure with T-knobs. Planing large stock is a breeze with this setup. Perfectly flat infeed and outfeed support dramatically reduces sniping. The plywood base is secured to the table with clamps. Note: Height of the support blocks may be altered to suit your machine.

The downdraft table insert captures fugitive dust and keeps your shop and your lungs clean. Flip it over and you have a continuous top with slotted channels for machining and gluing.

This router table is huge! The router table insert can be set up or stored in seconds without having to remove the router. Just slide it out see below , drop it into the well and clamp it to the top. The slotted top allows the fence and featherboards to be clamped with ease. The router is plugged into a convenient power switch below Fig.

Cut sheet stock down to size over the open well. No more wrestling with large stock on the tablesaw or trying to cut it down on a pair of wobbly sawhorses. Accurate glue ups are guaranteed on this deadflat surface.

Say goodbye to twisted assemblies. Slots in the top allow you to clamp anything, anywhere on this table. Machining has never been easier. Here the clamps hold straightedge guides and the piece being machined for cutting multiple dadoes. A rock-solid outfeed support that sets up in minutes is like having a second set of hands at the tablesaw.

Heavy-duty casters and levelers can handle uneven shop floors and make this tool stand mobile and stable. This story originally appeared in American Woodworker October , issue Purchase this back issue. Here are some supplies and tools we find essential in our everyday work around the shop.

We may receive a commission from sales referred by our links; however, we have carefully selected these products for their usefulness and quality. By American Woodworker Editors. This strip allows me to shut off all the power at one location and also provides surge protection. I put the cord and switch on the stand just like the plans show, with the cord wrapped around a holder on the outside and the switch plugged into it through a small hole in the wall of the cabinet.

I also used a Rousseau power switch with a shutoff bar to control my router station. This switch is very easy to shutoff without having to look at it.

The router insert in the router table top is also by Rousseau. In the middle bay, you can see the extension knob sticking down from the router table, which allows me to adjust the height settings on my Bosch EVSPK fixed base more easily.

The router motor is not installed in the base in this photo. I added a small shelf in the CMS bay, which holds a boxed set of router bits.

I placed cup hooks on the wall of that same bay, which hold wrenches for the router, small measurement tools, a drill chuck key, and other handy items. I have also added drawers to this project not shown in these pictures. The drawers fit into the four widest bays that you can see under the right and left sections of the table surface. They simply run the depth of the bench and are pulled out for use. When the bench is not against the wall, you can pull the drawers out of either side.

For the sharp-eyed among you, that is indeed a Nerf football on the left side of the bench. The top is mostly cluttered with finishing supplies that I had just used on a project.

The gray matt in the middle bay is a non-skid carpet matt, which I use as a holder for pieces that I am routing or sanding on the workbench. I used 4" wheels with locking casters to keep the base mobile. As you can see in the CMS bay photo, I added shelf brackets into the top corners of the rear portion of each bay. This was probably not necessary, because this bench was awfully stable without them, but it seemed like a cheap way to add a bit more strength to the structure.