Miter saws can be utilized in a workshop as a permanently affixed tool or on the jobsite as a portable or semi-portable unit. I will take a look at the construction of miter saw tables careful to both types of installations.The objective of a miter saw table is two-fold: (1) to lift up the saw to a comfortable working height for the operator and (2) to provide a surface to the left and/or right of the saw for the expansion of the fence and to provide support for long materials while being cut. If you have ever sought to cut a 45-degree miter at one end of a 2 x 6 x 12, you identify why a miter saw table or roller stand is always necessary. Time and again, miter saws are utilized to make duplicate cuts of the same measurement. Some sort of saw block comes in handy and greatly saves production time for this sort of process. A saw block must mount to something to hold it in place, usually a fence. You can fabricate your own fence out of a very straight piece of wood or metal or you can do as I did and acquire a commercially available moveable stop that slides along an aluminum track that features a stick-on measuring tape. PERMANENT SAW TABLE FOR SHOP USE Since I buy lumber in lengths up to 14 feet long, I decided to make a very long miter saw table in my workshop. You may not have the physical room for this in your workshop so you may have to modify my dimensions accordingly. The longer you can build it, the more useful but any length of saw table is better than no table at all. My miter saw table measures 8 feet to the left of the saw blade and another 8 feet to the right of the saw blade. This way, I can support the full length of a sheet of plywood on either side. The saw table is made over 2 x 4 framing and has multiple storage drawers below the table which I use to stock small tools and supplies. If you need, the space below the saw table can be left open for shelves or wood. I suggest that the top surface be 3/4" Melamine or Formica over 3/4" particle board. If you can use the entire 4-foot width of the Melamine or China orange safety fence manufacturers particle board, by all means do so, especially if your miter saw is of the “sliding compound miter” style. As for overall table height, I would suggest that you make the miter saw table so that the top of the table comes to your belt line when standing. This will give you a comfortable working height and still permit you to bend over the table.There should be a gap cut into the saw table top in the area where the tool is to be mounted. This gap must be exactly as wide as the top of your miter saw and must be open to the front of the table. The gap should close behind the top of the miter saw. The saw must be mounted in this gap so that the top of the miter saw table is flush with the top of the saw table. The miter handle must be free to move its full travel in both directions, left to right. Foresee the need for this gap as you are framing the underside of your miter saw table because you will want to fabricate a shelf underneath to support the weight of the miter saw.
