One of the first tools I bought for my shop was a miter saw. This was before I had even gotten into woodworking, I just needed something to cut 2x4's and baseboard. It's actually not a bad saw, but it had two problems:
1. It took up a lot of space on my workbench
2. It produced a lot of sawdust in the wrong part of the shop
My shop is pretty small, so I'm always fighting issue #1
. And it's inevitable that miter saws produce sawdust, I don't really mind except that it gets spread all over the workbench. I don't know about you, but I keep screws, drill bits, shop rags, batteries, glue brushes etc. on my bench, which means you can't just use the shop vac to get rid of the dust. (Well, you can, but then you're sifting through the canister every day
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A few months ago, Lowe's was clearing the B&D Firestorm disc/ belt sanders, for $25
Had to get one of course. Turns out to be a pretty useful machine! Except....see problems #1 and #2
To solve both problems, I built a mobile multi-functional shop utility convertible fliptop miter saw/ sander stand (with drawer) (tm). I can now keep these tools in the back of the shop with the other dust producers, and hook it up to the DC piping or shopvac. Here's a shot of the unfinished stand, look at all the stuf on the workbench:
Here's a shot of the finished stand, TONS of space now. An abundance. A cornucopia. I daresay even a PLETHORA of space! I vow to keep my workbench this clean FOREVER! Well, for a while at least. This weekend for sure. At least this Saturday!
I added some side wings to help cutting long boards. Folded down, the cabinet fits easily in the corner.
The wing supports are made from oak, beveled at 45 degrees on the end so they sit flush against the top and side. I used a piece of angled metal as the stop, and a piece of piano hinge to fasten it to the side. I have some shimmin' and trimmin' to do to get the wings perfectly flush with the miter saw bed, but it's very close already.
This is the first drawer I made that used the side-mounted drawer slides. It came out pretty good, very smooth action. I used the lock miter joint, which wasn't too hard to cut after figuring out how to set up the table saw.
The drawer is finished with amber shellac, in hindsight I should have gone with the dewaxed kind, but it was the first time I used shellac. Sprayed no less! I don't care much for the smell, but the fast drying time is nice.
The cabinet is made from birch plywood, trimmed out with some of Jeff's wonderful QS beech. This is the first time I used Beech, and I like it. It has a very fine structure that finishes beautifully. It cuts well, and sanding/ scraping isn't too bad, provided the grain cooperates. If you have a spot where the grain changes direction, oooh boy. Sometimes, there is an area where the grain is going circular, and it becomes this rough, almost fuzzy spot. One board had the grain going all over the place, it splintered/ cracked in a weak area and quickly achieved "firewood" status.
But most of the time, it's not too bad.
I also discovered it's much better to build a face frame rather than gluing on the strips individually. Gluing the pieces one by one takes far too long, since you have to clamp it separately and wait for the glue to dry before you can do the next one. And it's hard to make tight joints this way.
So, lots of "firsts" in this one, including a little metalworking. I copied the idea for the pivot from Monty's cabinet, that was very helpful.
Of course, for a shop cabinet, I probably went a little overboard, finishing it like a "real" piece of furniture. But a man has gotta work in style! Plus, this way, I got many hours of enjoyment out of this project. Many, many hours. Many, many, MANY hours
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08-02-2008, 01:27 AM
.gif "Drogar BigGrin(DBG)")
(It's Dutch for "Stunningly Handsome"). Why don't you have your people call my people, and compare calendars?
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- Take a lesson from Dave - one reply post per person it's one of Daves tricks to boost his post count. Personally I think you should be credited for at least 10 instead of 4 in this thread alone .gif "Drogar Laugh(DBG)")
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