Table Saw Station Design Questions

**BradTheNailer** · 08-30-2007, 08:26 PM

The drawings look good.

Have just built some things in the shop out of MDF...I'll never do it again. It's a b#tch to get fasteners to work with it, it's heavy and I've just found out it mildews like crazy. Everything I've built out of MDF in the shop that isn't painted is covered in mildew. Ya, I am in Houston, but that doesn't explain the massive amount of mildew I'm experiencing. Nothing else has it growing on it.

"I just don't understand...
I've cut it three times and it's still too short!"

[link:www.mgsawmill.com|M&G Sawmill]. Makers of the finest sawdust in Texas.
Oh, did I mention we have hardwood as well?

http://www.mgsawmill.com/images/flag.gif http://www.mgsawmill.com/images/texas.gif

**dbriski** · 08-31-2007, 11:25 AM

As for fasteners I was planning on glue and brads. I guess the Drawer slide screws might be an issue. I was mostly just going to do the Torsion box out of MDF and the rest could be ply or mdf, whatever I have on hand or is cheep. The Top will probably be MDF with Laminate also. Wow Mildew didn't think about that. I was planning on using danish oil on all the mdf. Was your Mildew problem with any finish on it or just raw?

**beamerweb** · 08-31-2007, 11:36 AM

David, if you laminate one side, I'd suggest laminating the other face as well. Anything I've laminated only one side of has warped because the laminate doesn't let that face breathe at the same rate as an open face. I've laminated both sides of several things and they're still as rock solid flat as they were the day I did them.

Just food for thought :)

Torsion boxes and mdf - How thick is your torsion box base? Looks to be somewhere around 3". For the span you're thinking of, it might hold, but I'd consider going to 4" if you can. I don't have any engineering reasons for it, just my gut says 3" may sag a little in 1/2" mdf. The MDF (even 1/2") is gonna be pretty heavy itself. That span you're working with will probably weigh as much as at least two sheets of 1/2" mdf just for the torsion box alone. That's a considerable weight on its own.

If you can find it fairly cheaply, there are some softwood ply out there with a nice sanded face (maybe even of hardwood) that weighs nothing compared to MDF. That'd give you the lightest possible torsion box, with all the benefits of that strength. The lighter the base, the more weight it can support because it's not busy supporting it's own weight in addition to it's load. At least, that's what my brain thinks.

Good luck!

The design looks good!

**dbriski** · 08-31-2007, 01:48 PM

Jason,
Yes I was planing on putting laminate on both sides of the top.

I have never made a torsion box before so I was unsure of the strength. I was going to use mdf to make sure it was dead flat. Probably use a ply for the rest of the structure (except the top).

Good eye, It was planned for 3" torsion box I'll see about bumping it up to 4".

**tbragsdale** · 08-31-2007, 03:19 PM

David,

I was thinking of building something just like that back some time ago. After figuring the costs, I could upgrade my saw for little more.

Just food for thought.

TBR

**dbriski** · 08-31-2007, 04:30 PM

Saw upgrade is unfortunatly out of the question. The next saw I want would be a cabinet saw, and I don't have the electrical supply to handle that. (I am on a single 20amp 110 Circuit for everything in my garage, and the 10 or so next to me)

Also that doesn't help in the storage issue, I need more of it in a small space. I figure it should only cost me about $150 ( I have a lot of sheet scraps too).

**BradTheNailer** · 09-01-2007, 10:57 AM

David,

The mildew is on the raw material. I looked a moment ago and notice there was mildew popping up from under the paint on the edges in places.

It looks like I may end up trashing all of it... very disappointing

"I just don't understand...
I've cut it three times and it's still too short!"

[link:www.mgsawmill.com|M&G Sawmill]. Makers of the finest sawdust in Texas.
Oh, did I mention we have hardwood as well?

http://www.mgsawmill.com/images/flag.gif http://www.mgsawmill.com/images/texas.gif

**dbriski** · 06-02-2010, 09:04 AM

I am working on building a large table saw station. I am going to take the main body of my ridgid contractor saw and build a large base cabinet. My Idea is to make a large stable base with lots of drawers and cabinet storage (I need more storage) and larger outfeed and wings.

I was designing it with a torsion box base, then a base cabinet for storage and dust collection (I don't have a dust collector so I am going to catch it all in drawer below the saw). Then ontop of the base cabinet will be the saw and a cabinet on either side, the left for storage and the right will be router table.

The question I have right now is what should I make the torsion box out of and how much can it hold? I was thinking of 1/2" MDF as the skins and the dividers. Right now I have it at 55" wide buy 40" deep. Will a 4" locking caster at each corner be enough to support it without sag? I am guessing it will hold like 600-800 lbs fully loaded.

**dbriski** · 06-02-2010, 09:04 AM

I have another question. How do I attach the top to the saw?

The top will have a lot of support from below so the bolts will only be holding snug with the saw and level with the top.

I top I was thinking of a single or double layer of MDF (covered both outer sides with laminate) wraped in Cherry (I have a bunch of it on hand)

When I made my current extention table with 1 layer 3/4 mdf wraped with 1 1/2" poplar the bolts would come through at a location I had dig into the bottom of the mdf a little to tighten the nuts.

I was thinking I put some threaded inserts into the hardwood and then screw the bolt in from the saw side.

Any other suggestions for attachement or construction?