Tool Heights

[PartTimeHack]

What height have you found best for your tools?

For example, is your table saw, workbench, mitre saw station all set at the same, say 36"? Do you find higher or lower better?

[wardprobst]

It depends on your height. The old standard is stand and with your arm at your side, your palm out flat, measure the distance to the floor from your palm. That would be a good workbench height. I don't have my machines at one level but I do have boxes to set on top of some of them to use as out feed support. HTH
DP

[leehljp]

Some people like everything at one height, and that does make "logical" sense. And that is according to the working height of the user.

AND, then there is the ideal for each specific tool. For people with back problems and those that do a LOT of wood working, multiple heights are best.

Where fine control is needed, higher working heights are better. I like router tables, drill presses, scroll saw tables at elbow height, which most people recommend. It is as much for control sake as it is for saving the back.

Where moderate control is necessary but also equally important is power - table saws and jointer planer - about 4 to 6 inches below the elbow.

Thickness planers where you may need more power - to push with some force - hip high.

You can find references to this by googling and then figuring out what works best for you. I love the idea of all being the same height, but it is not healthy for one with back problems.

My router table is 41 inches high and I am 5' 10". My bandsaw table is about the same height but my table saw and miter saws are about 35 to 36 inches high.

[LCHIEN]

I matched my BT3 height, at 38.5 inches or something like tat.

I like the higher height esp for the router table since as I get older its harder to see and harder to bend over to get under the table.

The higher tables are good for detail work on smaller objects.

[JimD]

My BT3100 is at 38.5 inches and my router table is at 38.25. I like the other things to be slightly lower so I can use them for outfeed support more easily. I will work on the fixed bench for my RAS and CMS later today and I plan to set them at 38.25 off the floor. I can see the blade position relative to my mark better if they are higher but higher would be too high for a workbench. The bench I will work on today will be 8 feet long and I plan to add another 4 feet to that later. I need to do something to get tools up off the floor and out of boxes - so the bench with drawers is an early project - before all the walls are finished.

My drill press gets adjusted to fit the work I'm doing but is higher most of the time - it's floor standing. I wouldn't want the router table higher because sometimes I am moving large pieces on it and need to put my weight on them. I guess if I did smaller things I might like it higher.

In a small shop, I think it's important to have most tools at a common height (I consider within 1/4 inch a common height, my floor isn't that good). I want wood to be able to move over other tools, not butt into them. But my track saw has cut down, but not eliminated the need for this. When I get my Paulk inspired rolling workbench finished, I may do more on it and less on the router table and table saw. That seems to be the trend of the "green people" with their MFTs. It does seem to be a logical way to work. On bigger pieces of wood, move the tool, not the wood.

[capncarl]

I try to use 37.5 for my workbench, jointer, table saw and planer. My outfeed table is a rolling, fold up rigid miter saw suv stand with a 6' piece of 12" wide roller conveyor mounted on top. This turned out to be a problem as this Rigid stand is never the same heigth each time it is folded up and reset. Each move costs me 30 minutes adjustment time. When I get around to it I will find another use for the Rigid stand and build another outfeed conveyor with wider rollers.
capncarl

[cwsmith]

My tools are all over the place it seems. But each is comfortable for me as I'm just shy of 6 ft tall.

My HF work bench is just shy of 35 inches. I sit at it a lot on a shop stool and that's comfortable. More important perhaps for me is that it's an ideal height for using a hand-plane or chisel from a standing position.

I find that same height is ideal for my homemade stand-alone router table.

The portable Stanley folding benches that I use are 32" which, like the folding saw horses, seems to be a good height; especially when using power tools like a sander or circular saw.

However, my general puttering/fix-it bench is 36-1/2. I mostly stand at it for just short times fixing household stuff. The height was mostly determined by the plastic storage units that support the table top and I have most of my fastener storage at the back of the work surface or nearby.

The BT is, as previously mentioned, 38-1/2". I find a few table saw a couple of inches lower and I like the BT's height better.

The RAS sits on a home-made table and that I designed to put the table at 39-1/2" which is approx. belt-height for me. At that height, the carriage handle is perfect for my reach with the top of the arm coming right at the shoulder. The supplied leg sets I used to see put the RAS too low for my comfort.

Ridgid's DP15501 drill-press table, although adjustable, is usually kept at 41". That of course is mostly determined by the vertical travel of the quill and the scope of what I'm doing at the time.

The thickness planer is 33-!/2" which is basically fixed because of the included leg set. Same is true of the CMS which measures 38" to the table surface when sitting on my Ryobi portable stand.

The Ridgid jointer is about 31-1/2 which I think is quite low for me, even considering the method of operation. Right now it just sits in a fixed position. It can't be moved easily and I'm thinking of building a 'low-boy' style bed with lockable casters which will raise it a couple of inches and allow it to be rolled and locked into position when I need it.

So bottom line for me, is that tools have different ergonomic work positions which should and do require different heights. Add to that the variations in our heights and you'll see that "one size" simply doesn't fit everyone or everything.

CWS

[Cochese]

My 21829 is right at 36", and my MFT just below (half inch). My router table is about 35, my workbench about 34. I might try the router table higher. I like the workbench lower to get downward pressure on planing tasks.

[leehljp]

My 21829 is right at 36", and my MFT just below (half inch). My router table is about 35, my workbench about 34. I might try the router table higher. I like the workbench lower to get downward pressure on planing tasks.

Perfect example of the need for different heights.

[lrr]

The only place I started to standardize on work surface height is with my BT3100 table saw and outfeed table. The outfeed table happens to be my custom MFT-style workbench that I built for use with my Festool track saw. I specifically built it large (3'X7'), to better handle sheet goods. I built it about 1/4" lower than the table saw, so I could add a piece of 1/4" hardwood-veneered MDF as a smooth surface for outfeed. (I did not want to mar the MDF top on the bench, and I also did not want to risk catches on any of the 20mm holes it has.) I still need to build a rolling planer cart that I can roll up to the workbench and use it for outfeed, much like I do with the table saw.

By the way, getting rid of roller stands by having an outfeed table was one of the best things I've done to simplify table saw use.

[vaking]

Don't overthink it - this topic is not worth it. Kitchen counter has a standard height of 36" and all the cooks use it even though there is no standard for cook's height. BT3 on its factory stand has a height of 38" but Delta Unisaw has a height of 34.5", so height of table saw varies by manufacturer. Whatever it is - you will get used to it.
Relative height of your workbench compared to your table saw may be important if you plan to use your workbench as infeed or outfeed table. Outfeed table should be a fraction of an inch lower than table saw, infeed table should be a tad higher than the saw. You can make your workbench 3/8" lower than table saw to use it as outfeed and an additional sheet of 3/4" ply on top of workbench will make it suitable for infeed. For dovetails - I use a dovetail jig mounted on a special platform and all of it goes on top of my workbench, so dovetail jig ends up much higher than workbench, something like 48" high. This is my comfortable height for detailed work without heavy lifting in standing position. For my table saw I made a mobile base which brings the saw height to the level of 36" - I figured that standard kicthen counter was good enough for me.
Miter saw is much higher - also something like 48". When I do dovetails - I want to see what I am cutting, my router has a built-in light. Miter saw has a laser which you also want to see, that is why those things get lifted high up.