My Mobile Base

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  • yamato72
    Forum Newbie
    • Apr 2009
    • 57
    • Lansing, MI

    #46
    So on to the miter saw base and the modification that it needed.

    Here's where I started with my Ryobi CMS



    I've outgrown it and looked long and hard for a slider with an accurate laser and finally found a Ridgid that I like. I thought I was going to end up with a DeWalt, but after looking at 4 different models (every one of which had a miter table much wider than the ~24" that I had to work with), I had to look elsewhere. The Bosch's are nice too but their tables were even wider than the DeWalts'. I did NOT want to have to cut down the cabinets or re-shape the tops.

    The problem I ran into was the swing of the big miter "arm" on the new saw was too wide for the opening afforded by my cabinet arrangement. The fix was to slide the whole saw forward on the center cabinet, but that presented a problem with 1) storing the base in my shed (too deep) and 2) losing table area.

    So what I ended up doing was remaking the 3/4" MDF top of the center cabinet so that I could slide the saw back and forth. I made the top a little deeper in order to fully support the saw with it all the way to the front of the cabinet. This saw needed full 1/2" thick shims to match the height of the side cabinets, so what I did was buy some 1/2x6" project boards in hard pine (Lowe's) and turned the shims into a sort of sled for the saw to slide back-and-forth on. Of course I didn't get as many pictures as I should have, but I basically made two skids and two cross-members out of the 1/2" boards and used the two front holes on the saw to bolt to the "sled." I then routed slots in the cabinet top and bolted the two back holes of the saw through the sled and through the slots in the cabinet top. The bolts have a 3/4" spacer for the MDF top and are backed up with a fender washer. The whole saw can then be slid to the back for storage, to the front for up to a 60* miter, and anywhere in between for shallower crosscuts. Hopefully the pics below show what I did. It works really well and was a fun little project.

    New top test-fit



    Test-fitting the saw to the sled



    Routing the slots in the top



    Saw installed and slid all the way to the back for storage



    I don't have to slide the saw fore-and-aft very often so I am hoping that the two hard materials, if kept clear of sawdust, will hold up over the years.

    And lastly here is the base with the drawers installed



    If you have sharp eyes you may have noticed that I added a switch in the front. Last year I finally electrified the saw base. I power it with a twist-lock plug that fits a receptacle in the ceiling, and has a duplex outlet on the side controlled by the switch at the front. Now I can plug in both the saw and the shop-vac, and turn on both the saw and the vacuum at the same time. Best upgrade ever since I now can't forget to turn the vacuum on before I operate the saw.
    Attached Files

    Comment

    • leehljp
      Just me
      • Dec 2002
      • 8429
      • Tunica, MS
      • BT3000/3100

      #47
      Looks VERY Good! Well done and great pictures too!
      Hank Lee

      Experience is what you get when you don't get what you wanted!

      Comment

      • yamato72
        Forum Newbie
        • Apr 2009
        • 57
        • Lansing, MI

        #48
        What's up guys - thought I'd share another mobile base build that I'm working on, this time for my thickness planer (yay!). I got a DeWalt planer this spring and it's... really heavy and once parked on top of my trusty sawhorses-and-boards work table it took up too much floor space. I decided to make another mobile base, torsion box and all, for a couple reasons: 1) I wanted it to match my other saw tables and 2) I wanted to re-learn and improve the torsion box building process. The latter is important because my miter saw base has dipped about 1/8" in the middle. I believe that is likely due to not putting dadoes into the bottom skin (if you go back a few pages you can see what I did). I also decided that placing the casters outside the torsion box was not a good idea and is contributing to the dip. There is no question that a torsion box is overkill for this purpose but I want the practice and I want the consistency of the design.
        So for this mobile base I set out to use full-length long ribs, dadoes on both the top and bottom skins, and fully box it with casters bolted to the bottom. After I finish this base I plan on remaking new torsion boxes for the TS and CMS bases using the same technique, then I will move the existing cabinets to their respective new bases. This will have the effect of raising up the work surfaces about 4-1/2", but this is actually desirable to me as I've decided that I'm bent over just a little too much when working with the TS and CMS currently.
        I settled on a box 22-3/4" deep by 32" wide, the depth matching the two other bases (which were based on the BT saw table depth) and the width approximately matching the thickness planer with its infeed and outfeed tables lowered. At first I routed the dadoes in the same fashion as I did the earlier bases, though this time I used a fancy edge-clamping straightedge:

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        I then cut out each half (skin) to its final size and flipped one half over the other to see how things were lining up and... no way, there was enough difference in the dado lines that these never would have gone together. I then remembered that I had gotten a stacked dado set for the BT last year and decided to try again. So I cut the two skins to their final size and then cut the dadoes on the BT, and that was perfection. I cut up the original skins to use as the ribs since this base won't be subject to much abuse.
        I did not notch any ribs but ran the "long" (horizontal) ribs all the way to the end and then cut the vertical ribs to fit. Depending on your construction order, you can glue every intersection.

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        Running a sanding block down each side of the rib/dado makes assembly much easier.


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        In order to be able to attach the casters to the bottom skin, and use a fastener that would not be accessible after the base was glued together, I drilled 3/8" holes and pressed 5/16" Tee nuts into place prior to final glue-up. The Tee-nuts are held in by friction and should stay in place if I ever need to replace a caster in the future.

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        Yesterday I started building up the cabinet so I'll post the next group of pics in a new post.

        Comment

        • yamato72
          Forum Newbie
          • Apr 2009
          • 57
          • Lansing, MI

          #49
          Now for the rest of it

          As frequently happens with my projects, I was short of material; In this case, I didn't have enough 3" wide maple to make the face frame for a full-width cabinet. So I decided to run with what I had by making the cabinet a little smaller and using the end for clamp storage. Here I am judging the size needed for my Bessey clamps... should work. I'm planning on making a slotted rack at the top and hanging the bars down in order for them not to interfere with the planer outfeed table.

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          From there, much like I did with the other two bases, I built the face frames and installed them, then measured, cut and attached the sides and back to the face frames. I went crazy with pocket screws this time; I've always liked how they make it easy to disassemble, and used them this time to attach the face frames to the sides so that the fasteners were hidden (previously I just used brad nails).


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          That's it for now as I've got to work on clearing out the garage for winter. Will post up pics of the clamp storage and then hopefully I can turn to making new torsion box bases for the TS and CMS this winter. The laser guide died on my CMS and the part is of course NLA so I'm conflicted about replacing the saw or keeping on without it. If I were to replace the saw, the potential candidates have larger miter tables and would necessitate major surgery to the cabinets. If I have to reconstruct anything major, it could be the opportunity to finally add a miter fence and stop block to the cabinets. We will see....
          Last edited by yamato72; 11-05-2019, 10:05 AM.

          Comment

          • DrakePandor
            Forum Newbie
            • Apr 2018
            • 11
            • BT3000

            #50
            It looks like there is an issue with your image links.

            Comment

            • yamato72
              Forum Newbie
              • Apr 2009
              • 57
              • Lansing, MI

              #51
              Originally posted by DrakePandor
              It looks like there is an issue with your image links.
              They are working on a PC browser but not on mobile... I'll see what I can do.

              EDIT: Should be working now, I recreated the IMG links
              Last edited by yamato72; 11-05-2019, 10:06 AM.

              Comment

              • DrakePandor
                Forum Newbie
                • Apr 2018
                • 11
                • BT3000

                #52
                Yup, they are working now. Looks good, is the plan to have the planer stored in the top portion when not being used? It should really help with keeping your shop organized!

                Comment

                • yamato72
                  Forum Newbie
                  • Apr 2009
                  • 57
                  • Lansing, MI

                  #53
                  Originally posted by DrakePandor
                  Yup, they are working now. Looks good, is the plan to have the planer stored in the top portion when not being used? It should really help with keeping your shop organized!
                  The planer is bolted to the top. It weighs over 90lbs so this is now its permanent home.

                  Comment

                  • LCHIEN
                    Internet Fact Checker
                    • Dec 2002
                    • 20914
                    • Katy, TX, USA.
                    • BT3000 vintage 1999

                    #54
                    Just a thought. I have seen Miter saw tables where the two outfeed tables to the right and left were just rectangular boxes of the same height as the miter saw base. They could be slid right and left on a flat worksurface to accommodate different miter saws. If you ever changed the miter saw, you could adjust the height of the outfeed boxes.

                    Loring in Katy, TX USA
                    If your only tool is a hammer, you tend to treat all problems as if they were nails.
                    BT3 FAQ - https://www.sawdustzone.org/forum/di...sked-questions

                    Comment

                    • yamato72
                      Forum Newbie
                      • Apr 2009
                      • 57
                      • Lansing, MI

                      #55
                      Originally posted by LCHIEN
                      Just a thought. I have seen Miter saw tables where the two outfeed tables to the right and left were just rectangular boxes of the same height as the miter saw base. They could be slid right and left on a flat worksurface to accommodate different miter saws. If you ever changed the miter saw, you could adjust the height of the outfeed boxes.
                      I have looked at a couple designs like that, which could work if I were to re-build the base.

                      Comment

                      • LCHIEN
                        Internet Fact Checker
                        • Dec 2002
                        • 20914
                        • Katy, TX, USA.
                        • BT3000 vintage 1999

                        #56
                        Did you consider making the planer table height lower? If the table is the same height as your CMS and table saw then the actual workpiece level is higher still.because of the planer infeed/outfeed tables are elevated.

                        I find that having the planer lower makes it easier to feed and clear when repetitively planing multiple boards down to size.
                        Loring in Katy, TX USA
                        If your only tool is a hammer, you tend to treat all problems as if they were nails.
                        BT3 FAQ - https://www.sawdustzone.org/forum/di...sked-questions

                        Comment

                        • yamato72
                          Forum Newbie
                          • Apr 2009
                          • 57
                          • Lansing, MI

                          #57
                          Originally posted by LCHIEN
                          Did you consider making the planer table height lower? If the table is the same height as your CMS and table saw then the actual workpiece level is higher still.because of the planer infeed/outfeed tables are elevated.

                          I find that having the planer lower makes it easier to feed and clear when repetitively planing multiple boards down to size.
                          You have a sharp eye.

                          The height of the planer base was dictated by my desire for the planer's infeed/outfeed tables to match the height of the TS and CMS worksurfaces... after I remake the torsion boxes and fasten the casters to the box bottom rather than the top skin. This will effectively raise the work surfaces on those two saws up about 4-1/2". Target height is about 41" (I'm 6'-1" with back problems).
                          Last edited by yamato72; 11-13-2019, 01:22 PM.

                          Comment

                          • randombetrayal
                            Forum Newbie
                            • Feb 2015
                            • 12
                            • Greater Lansing Michigan
                            • bt 3000

                            #58
                            I have been meaning to build a mobile base and incorporate the wide table rails I have into it. I will have to follow along.

                            It is also nice to see and unexpected that there are two of us from Lansing on this board. Temps are falling fast in the garage so hopefully, your shop allows you to keep moving on this project.

                            Comment

                            • yamato72
                              Forum Newbie
                              • Apr 2009
                              • 57
                              • Lansing, MI

                              #59
                              Originally posted by randombetrayal
                              It is also nice to see and unexpected that there are two of us from Lansing on this board. Temps are falling fast in the garage so hopefully, your shop allows you to keep moving on this project.
                              Small world. I am setup in half of a mostly finished, insulated, attached garage so between leaving the door to the garage open and a small space heater it stays plenty warm.

                              I am currently assembling the last base cabinet of my kitchen renovation and of course have used the BT throughout. I am looking to get a cabinet saw next year though. I’ve already been brainstorming how to elevate a 400# saw ( and an assumed factory mobile base) safely to my new desired working height.

                              Before that happens though I would like to build another similar base dedicated to a router table (there are a couple good reasons why I’m contemplating moving the router out of the BT mobile base).

                              Comment

                              • capncarl
                                Veteran Member
                                • Jan 2007
                                • 3564
                                • Leesburg Georgia USA
                                • SawStop CTS

                                #60
                                If you are going with a cabinet saw, why not incorporate the router table in one of the cabinet saw wings or outfeed table? You would have lots more table room than with a cabinet mounted router.... your side of the garage is going to be filling up fast when you get rid of the BT and bring in a cabinet saw.

                                Comment

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