American here in Oundle (Peterborough) - Brand new to woodworking

[shortbusruss]

The veneer on this plywood not that great, but it is a piece of shop furniture.

 

[Mike]

Here is the stop block setup for my miter saw workstation. I used a double-channel T-track so I could protect the scale. At the time, I never thought about putting the track on the horizontal shelf of the workstation. I have the T-track only on the left side of the saw and have never needed it on the right side (so far).



I made the stop block using what I had in my shop. If I ever get motivated enough, I'll put a bit more effort into a better stop block, but it has worked great. The cursor window is a small piece of plastic glued into cutout in the aluminum strip. A fine broom hair is glued to the back of the plastic for the cursor.

The far left side has a flip-up extension that allows a full two meters of capacity. The extension is lifted and the vertical support slides under it. When not needed, the extension is flat against the side of the workstation.






A smaller hinged extension on the right side allows me to get as close as 300mm to the blade. A set of rare earth magnets keep the extension in place while I move the stop block along the T-track.

 

[Cabinetman]

Very neat Mike, I like the idea using a brush hair behind plastic, It took a second to work out how you’d zero it to the saw blade but easy enough I suppose. You had got me with the hair not being level with the block!
@shortbusruss coming on well, when I made one for Dil I sat the saw on a piece of ply and packed under it to level it with the side tables, but I like your idea too, presumably you plane the “feet” till all is level?
Ian

 

[Mike]

Very neat Mike, I like the idea using a brush hair behind plastic, It took a second to work out how you’d zero it to the saw blade but easy enough I suppose. You had got me with the hair not being level with the block!

Here is a photo of the back of the block showing the aluminum strip, plastic window, and brush hair. I used a small triangular file to cut a shallow groove into the aluminum and plastic to hold the hair while I tacked it into place on the ends. Ignore the two holes on the right side of the aluminum strip because I worked with what I had. The elongated hole allows some adjustment of the cursor.



After I installed the T-track, I loosely inserted the self-adhesive scale into the upper track without removing the backing. I measured and cut a 800mm length of wood and left it clamped to the table. There was nothing special about the 800mm and any length could have been used.

I slid the stop block to the left end of the wood and tightened the knob to keep it from moving. After moving the scale so the 800mm was under the cursor, I peeled the end of the backing from the right end of the scale and started pressing it in place. After the scale was secured to the T-Track, I used a utility knife to cut it at the places where the T-track folded away from the main section.

 

[Cabinetman]

Here is a photo of the back of the block showing the aluminum strip, plastic window, and brush hair. I used a small triangular file to cut a shallow groove into the aluminum and plastic to hold the hair while I tacked it into place on the ends. Ignore the two holes on the right side of the aluminum strip because I worked with what I had. The elongated hole allows some adjustment of the cursor.

View attachment 56941

After I installed the T-track, I loosely inserted the self-adhesive scale into the upper track without removing the backing. I measured and cut a 800mm length of wood and left it clamped to the table. There was nothing special about the 800mm and any length could have been used.

I slid the stop block to the left end of the wood and tightened the knob to keep it from moving. After moving the scale so the 800mm was under the cursor, I peeled the end of the backing from the right end of the scale and started pressing it in place. After the scale was secured to the T-Track, I used a utility knife to cut it at the places where the T-track folded away from the main section.

Brill, that’s the method I thought about when I pondered it. I like the saw cut for the hair I would have struggled with glue on my fingers I suspect.

 

[shortbusruss]

Very neat Mike, I like the idea using a brush hair behind plastic, It took a second to work out how you’d zero it to the saw blade but easy enough I suppose. You had got me with the hair not being level with the block!
@shortbusruss coming on well, when I made one for Dil I sat the saw on a piece of ply and packed under it to level it with the side tables, but I like your idea too, presumably you plane the “feet” till all is level?
Ian

Uggggh. I wish. No. I have nothing but a No. 5 plane, and planing end grain seemed like it would be beyond my ability to have a good outcome at this point in my journey. SO many mistakes, and a lot of hackish fixes. The legs ended up quite a bit off from each other due to lack of a good stop block setup while cutting them. Ended up trying to get the toppers for the legs level by just using an orbital sander.. Too much material. Ended up using a router on the bottom side of one end of the leg toppers (the pieces between the wings and main saw platform..) to trim the material a bit.

I now have something "just" good enough to work with to get a solid table saw workbench built now, and get 2x4s cut to the exact same length. I expect I will build a new miter saw station at some point.. Need to find a better solution for cutting aluminum cleanly too. Maybe a good metal blade on my jigsaw? The miter saw was melting the aluminum, even when using wax on a metal cutting blade. Plus, that wax made a mess.

This build was done by using a tape measure for the 2x4 cuts and attempting to "eyeball" each cut, and using the same methodology + track saw for "all" the plywood cuts. Legs not the same size.. Plywood pieces not completely square, etc. Just turrible.

I just did not feel comfortable at all setting up my Dewalt DCS7485 without building an actual workbench for it, so I could set it up properly. I am "hoping" this miter saw station is built just decent enough so that the stop block/T track ends up relatively square to the blade. I did get a good aftermarket miter guage for the table saw, so I think I may just end up cutting 2x4 pieces to "rough" length on the miter saw, and use the table saw/miter guage to crosscut to precise repeatable lengths.

YouTube makes it look so easy to get a great result. But with a little experience so far, I can see how specific choices in those builds make certain things SO much easier. Something as simple as having a narrow temporary worktop for the miter saw station, so clamping down 2x4 stop blocks became much easier. Working on full 4x8 sheets made that tougher than it needed to be. Realistically.. I probably should have taken a little bit more time to figure something out to get repeatable miter saw cuts, as legs being 1/8 - 1/4" longer/shorter due to pencil marks and cutting "on or beside" that pencil mark, made those uneven lengths cascade through the project into bigger and bigger issues.

The next miter saw station will DEFINITELY have a micro adjustment setup. And I know now that the complete workbench needs to be built first, and track for metal measuring tape routed (with a narrower bit) using a clampable straight edge on a dead square board, so I can be "sure" the T track ends up square over the full length of the workbench. And "then" mount the miter saw, so I can be sure the fence lines up properly to the T track.

 

[Cabinetman]

Oh crikey, you’ve been having problems. When I built the one for Dil it was built onto a concrete floor that sloped in every direction but it came out flat and level with only a mitre saw and a spirit level and pencil.
A mitre saw isn’t a tool I’ve had much experience with. But once I had determined the length of a leg I just put it on the saw and moved it so that the blade was up to the line before turning it on. I personally wouldn’t use a stop block except maybe if I had a lot of bits all the same length and I’m not someone who works to the exactness of Micro adjustment, I’ve just never found it necessary.
When I built the saw station for her I probably only used a tape measure once to set a height mark and everything was based on that mark from then on using the spirit level.
The plywood I had the Store cut to the depth of the saw table and that became the other mark, and it didn’t matter that they cut it 1/4” too small. From these two marks all distances were marked onto a thin lat (stick) and then transferred to the bit to be cut, but usually not even the lat, just marking from one piece to the next, maybe plus or minus the thickness of a bit of 2x4 which would have been stood onto the lat ( or next piece) against the line and a new line marked, transferring is way more accurate than measuring.
If I wanted two bits the same length the first piece is cut then the second one is put next to it, your fingers are incredibly good at letting you know when they are level at the the LH end then mark across with a sharp pencil. (not one of those rectangular carpenter’s pencils)
My way isn’t the only way by any means but it’s something I’ve refined over a lot of years. Really sorry you’ve had such an unpleasant experience of it, this sort of “sketch it and work it out as you go along “ build should be fun.
Ian

 

[Woodbloke]

My two euros hereabouts. A mitre saw isn't anything I've ever needed or hankered after as I've always found a 'workaround'; I view them as a great, almost essential tool for site work where it can be set up close to a Transit van on a pair of tresses (or dedicated stand) but I see no use for one as a 'stand alone' in my 'shop for the sort of work I do. They take up a lot of space which is better occupied with stuff I would actually use - Rob

 

[duke]

I could never be without a mitre saw both at work or the shop. But thats just me.

 

[Accipiter]

Sorry to hear of the issues you had with the measures, cuts and such for your mitre-saw unit.

I agree with @Cabinetman (Ian) re the measures; fingers/line up timber ends etc., and cuts.

My mitre-saw bench, fliptop workbench, built from some 18mm ply offcuts, 3"x2" base frame and such - same for the Triton TPT125 thicknesser and lathe...

I don't have the space to allow for the mitre-saw to be 'sunk' into the top to allow level 'wings' either side so have to resort to an additional support unit. It flips over so it's under the worktop so I've a flat bench top. Same happens with the thicknesser and lathe benches.

My mitre-saw, Evolution R210 SMS, has a lazer guide to line up with the pencil marks. Wouldn't be without it.

I did my forum introduction with a few photos of the fliptop workbench units.

All a learning curve - things get easier and better along the way.

 

[Mike]

I expect I will build a new miter saw station at some point.. Need to find a better solution for cutting aluminum cleanly too. Maybe a good metal blade on my jigsaw? The miter saw was melting the aluminum, even when using wax on a metal cutting blade. Plus, that wax made a mess.

I built my MFT-style workbench using 40x40mm and 80x40mm aluminum extrusion. All but a few pieces of the extrusion were machined by the vendor.

For the few pieces I cut to fit, I used a Trend CSB/AP30584 tungsten carbide tipped blade in my DeWalt DWS780 miter saw and my sliding table saw. The 84-tooth blade is specifically made for cutting aluminum and plastic without any lubricant.

 

[shortbusruss]

Today's build. Screwed it up here and there.. but it was only supposed to be temporary in order to use to build the real table saw workbench.. Accidentally mounted the saw base 2 inches higher than I meant to.. Overall table saw work surface ended up being FOURinches higher than my assembly table. Compounding errors! Turned out that this was the only way the rack and pinion rails ended up being able to move freely. The miter saw workbench stop block is janky as heck.. But it worked well enough to get all the relevant pieces "exactly" the same length.

I now have a temporary table to use as a reference for the final build, which will incorporate a router station in the right wing.

 

[Cabinetman]

I’ve shown this ad nauseum but this close up of the bit you’re talking about might help you in your design for the proper one? Ian

 

[shortbusruss]

I’ve shown this ad nauseum but this close up of the bit you’re talking about might help you in your design for the proper one? Ian

View attachment 57160

Yeah, that is the general idea, only there will be a router station where your fence is sitting right now. Your setup looks more or less exactly what mine will end up looking like. How wide is this table when looking at the front of the saw? With the other two work benches to sit against an approximate space of 11 feet, I have almost exactly 48" of width available for the final table saw workbench. I really need to clear out that section and put the workbenchs in their final positions, so I can measure "exactly" how much space I have up to the door jamb. It feels like an extra inch or three is really going to matter in this final workbench build.

I need to take some time to measure out exactly what the dimensions of different parts of the build will be, but for now, the table saw I know is 24" wide, and 4 end legs will be 2 2x4s laminated face to face, ripped down to 2.5". I need 2 more vertical pieces to support the left side of router section, and I have to consider whether I want that to be the "thickness" of a 2x4, or whether I want to maintain consistent aesthetics and make those 2.5" wide. I also need to consider that the drop in router plate needs to go between the rack and pinion slot and the front vertical pieces, with room to reach under and manipulate the router.

I "want" to build a dropover router fence for the Dewalt fence so I can reuse it for the router section, with a dust control plenum that pulls the sawdust away, and has a Cen-Tec quick connect fitting for connecting to my shop vac. The main consideration being the maximum width of the material the router section can comfortably support with the router plate set in as close to the table saw section as possible. The dropover fence needs to sit forward a few inches in front of Dewalt fence to give the dust control plenum access to the area right over the router bit when dropover fence is surrounding the largest bit.

I "think" I will be okay, because absolute worst scenario... I can build something that "docks" into the end of the router section to extend it to support larger stock, and I am not limited all that much in depth of the workstation, so I can build short flip up wings for front and back of router section to support running longer pieces against the router fence.

 

[Cabinetman]

I’m a long way away from the saw unfortunately, but looking at it it’s the saw width - fully extended plus about 4-5” on the left.
Ian

 

[shortbusruss]

Decided to take a shortcut and look for oak dressers to repurpose the drawers directly into my assembly workbench. Going Sunday to pick up atleast one of these oak dressers

 

[shortbusruss]

 

[Cabinetman]

Hmm, sorry to say Russ, but they’re both Pine.

 

[shortbusruss]

Hmm, sorry to say Russ, but they’re both Pine.

Seller said that some are pine, and some are oak.. There are multiple dressers available. If I am looking for a quick fix to get some storage, would pine not be recommended? The garage is getting a little out of hand, and I "really" need to use up some of my remaining three plywood sheets on the main workbench drawer box and French cleat wall backer board, to free up room both to remove the plywood sheets from the temp worktop they are on, and to start storing tools. I am somewhat time-constrained, so simply taking the best solution I can do within the time I have.

The French cleat wall is gonna be a more involved project than I expected, as I have to protect the plywood and 2x4s comprising the backer board from absorbing moisture from the garage wall. Going with DPM and gaffer's tape for that part.

I bought an "actual" oak dining room table that will be repurposed for the French cleats themselves, but I need to remove all screws and metal hardware first.

I am painting any drawers I get black. The French cleat backer board will be painted black, and gonna rip a test strip off the oak table to see if the wood is pale (preferred) or a more brownish co,or on the unstained portion. I am hoping to end up with a two toned pale wood/black theme to everything, but if the oak table ends up having darker colors just for the cleats themselves, I can live with it.

I don't feel like it would bother me much either way if drawers ended up pine "or" oak, so long as I can get them in this weekend. But I could be convinced.

 

[Woodbloke]

You may find that the construction of the pine drawers isn't very robust; the fronts could be held on with nothing more than two or three dowels and if you'r lucky, there might be a dab of glue included. Under workshop conditions they're liable to fall apart quite rapidly so not recommended. The dressers appear typical of the sort of economical pine furniture which is very common; we had quite a lot which has gradually been replaced with oak pieces somewhat better constructed - Rob

 

[shortbusruss]

You may find that the construction of the pine drawers isn't very robust; the fronts could be held on with nothing more than two or three dowels and if you'r lucky, there might be a dab of glue included. Under workshop conditions they're liable to fall apart quite rapidly so not recommended. The dressers appear typical of the sort of economical pine furniture which is very common; we had quite a lot which has gradually been replaced with oak pieces somewhat better constructed - Rob

Fair enough. I will definitely prioritize any oak pieces.. For a newbie.. Any particular way to tell the difference?

 

[Woodbloke]

Fair enough. I will definitely prioritize any oak pieces.. For a newbie.. Any particular way to tell the difference?

On better quality pieces you'll probably find a machine dovetail construction on the drawers. You can usually tell when they're made by a commercial machine as the tails and pins are identical sizes - Rob

 

[shortbusruss]

Ummm... did I just get an entire dressers worth of mahogany for 40£? I went for the tall skinny thingie, and he had this out in his work area. There is an entire dresser carcass waiting back there for next weekend.

 

[shortbusruss]

 

[shortbusruss]

 

[shortbusruss]

 

[shortbusruss]

Framing for french cleat wall backer board support in place..

 

[shortbusruss]

 

[shortbusruss]

 

[duke]

I'm all for using unwanted furniture for storage.

 

[Cabinetman]

I would say you’ve almost turned it into an art form Scott lol.

 

[AndyP]

I wonder how many workshops / garages there are without repurposed kitchen cupboards?

 

[duke]

Not many I guess but I have been in a few workshops that are nicer than their home interior.

 

[shortbusruss]

Got the first section of french cleat backer board up, capped on sides, and ready to receive cleats. Taking a break from that project to try to get a drawer box into my assembly workbench. Given I have been operating almost "completely" off a track saw and miter saw... Starting to find that getting perfectly square pieces to use to square off my drawer box so the rails slide well... Is not as simple as it seems.

I have one straight edge, got another on the table saw.. Measured the angle to the other edges with a square, and they are definitely not square. Fortunately, got an after market miter guage, and I think this is what I need to get the other edges square? Man, it seems like none of these processes are quite as simple as YouTube makes it look.

 

[shortbusruss]

Welp...They say that every mistake is an opportunity to learn. Certainly getting a lot of opportunities to learn. So, with a little bit of reworking of my temporary table saw platform, I did successfully rip my 7 cleats for my first 43"H x 48"W section of french cleat backer board. Exciting! Came out really clean on most.. A few crept away from the fence at some point, or got burned a bit from an uncertain feed rate. I don't think anything serious enough to affect how the tool holders sit on them.

Took the time to sand all of them, and knock the sharp edge off. So far so good. I break out my T square and decide the offsets from edges and center for each set of double screws that will attach the cleats to my backer board. Mark the offsets on the vertical axis lined up across all 7 cleats.. Then decide my top and bottom offsets, and strike lines across to locate my countersunk screw holes. I use an awl/punch to set my holes, to correctly start my countersink nonmarring bit..

I am now considering drilling my holes for the first cleat, just to see how it turns out.

Then... I realize I marked the screw points on the wrong side of the cleats, considering this is the set being attached to the backer board.

FML. Fortunately, I caught it before I messed up any cleats. But I call it a night, as I just wasted about an hour or so marking the cleats incorrectly. If I had a drill press, prolly could have recovered by using just a drill bit all the way through, then rerunning the countersink bit through those holes from the other side. But, I don't have a drill press.

 

[Cabinetman]

Rather than marking all the good sides with pencil I think I would do it all on a bit of card and transfer the points from there, not sure you will need all those screws though - perhaps just a row along the top edge?
Ian

 

[duke]

" If I had a drill press." A must for a workshop. Go on, time to get one.

 

[shortbusruss]

" If I had a drill press." A must for a workshop. Go on, time to get one.

Ain't that the truth. We'll, for now.. I have so many tools and parts cluttering the house, the wife would kill me if I bought a drill press before I got the garage sorted.. So for now, I am just going to have to wait. I did push things a little and bought a combo spindle sander for prettying up the tool hangers. But without any cleats to store anything on yet, it is still in the box waiting for it's first day of glory.

Even after I get this cleat wall ironed out and get some tools out of the way up on it, I still need to plan out and build another 2' X 7' section of cleat wall to span across the top of my designated space in the garage. But prolly after finally building out the drawer box under my main assembly table. These two projects alone, will cause 90% of the tool and part clutter to disappear from the house/garage, and finally allow me to start organizing my stuff so I can find the proper tool for the job without hunting throughout the house.

I am unhappy with how the gaffer's tape is lifting on the end caps of the first section of cleat wall. So I am going to have to find a solution for that before I commit to the 2' X 7' section.

And I really need to set up the 3D printer so I can print out a set of spacer blocks and battery clips.

 

[Cabinetman]

The tape problem, are you talking about the tape around the battens on the wall for the backer board to screw onto? Just curious why it’s there at all really?
Ian

 

[shortbusruss]

The tape problem, are you talking about the tape around the battens on the wall for the backer board to screw onto? Just curious why it’s there at all really?
Ian

I used gaffer's tape to wrap two side caps to seal off the rear of the backer board from the wall, to keep it from absorping moisture. Backer board has DPM stapled to it. I did a decent job on the other side cap, because I think I wrapped the gaffer's around the edges and stapled it to internal edge.The one giving me provlem was not done that way, and the tape edge is showing, and starting to lift. And I used my 18G brad nailer to secure it, so.. Not so easy to take off and fix.