Miter Saw / Planner Station

I designed and built this miter saw / planner station which has really saved me a lot of space and has proven to be very functional. I modified the design for the miter saw fences from a Fine Woodworking magazine article - # 209 – Tools & Shops 2010. The fences can slide to the side providing additional support when needed. The height of the arms is higher than my benches and, along with the t-tracks, provides an excellent work surface for up-close work or to mount my dovetail jig or for routing mortises. The arms are supported with folding-shelf brackets that can support 500 pounds per pair. I couldn’t pass up the opportunity for drawer storage in the arms. However, I wanted to be able to access the stuff in the drawers even when the arms were down. So, I came up with the “J-shaped” drawer. In the horizontal position it has one side left off and half of a top. Of course, I had to limit the types of things I could store in them – i.e. nothing that would become disorganized or come rolling out by changing the arm orientation. So I store things like sanding disks, sanding blocks, roled PSA sand paper and router parts and jigs I use with my dovetail jig. In the other two drawers I store paint brushes, painter’s points, tack clothes, etc. These two are normal drawers with a sliding lid. When they are in the vertical position, I pull the entire box out of the arm holding onto the lid tightly and then set it down horizontally before accessing the contents. I turned the drawer fronts out of 5/4 stock so I wouldn’t have hardware pulls in the way. Having the planner slide out from under the saw means I no longer have to move that 90+ pounds off of a shelf and onto a bench. I put its shelf on drawer slides and put two legs under the front just so it wouldn’t tip over. I just slide it out, drop the tables, attach the dust port to the planner and a dust collection bag and plan away. I was also able to tuck my compressor under the planner out of the way.