8 ft long miter saw station plans

Parts

Cut list

Kerf 1/8″ included. Every cut runs edge to edge.

Steps

• Tape measure
• Speed square
• Pencil
• Drill/driver
• Clamps
• Safety glasses
• Hearing protection
• Dust mask
• Circular saw and a straight edge (or have the store cut the sheets)
• Miter saw, or circular saw in two passes, for 4×4 posts
• Table saw or track saw for ripping
• Long straightedge or 6 ft level
• Socket wrench for the saw bolts
• 3/8″ drill bit
• Sander, 120 and 180 grit

Underlined words have a short explanation: hover or tap them. All of them are on the glossary page.

1. 1Before you start

   Read every step once, start to finish, before you buy or cut anything. Each step names the parts it uses by letter; the parts list gives their sizes.

   Set up somewhere flat with good light. A pair of sawhorses with a sheet of plywood on top makes a fine work table.

   Wear safety glasses whenever a tool is running, hearing protection for saws, and a dust mask for sanding and for cutting treated wood or sheet goods. Tie back long hair and loose sleeves. Keep children and pets out of the work area.

   • Tip At the store, pick straight boards: hold each one up to your eye and look down its length. Skip boards that bow, twist or have big knots near the ends.
   • Tip Measure twice, cut once. Most mistakes are a misread tape, not a bad cut.

2. 2Cut and label the parts

   Cut every part on the cut list. Cut the longest parts first: if one goes wrong, it can still become a shorter part.

   To mark a cut, hook your tape on the end of the board, make a small V with its point exactly at the measurement, and draw a square line through the point with a speed square. Put an X on the waste side.

   Cut on the waste side of the line, so the blade's kerf (about 1/8″) comes out of the scrap, not your part. Cut sheets with the good face down when using a circular saw: the blade splinters the top face.

   Write each part's letter in pencil on a face that won't show, and stack the parts by letter.

   Sand the faces before assembly while they're flat and easy to reach: 120 grit, then 180.

   ✓ Lay the parts out and count them against the parts list. Measure a few: if one is off by more than 1/16″, recut it now.

   STOP. Let the saw reach full speed before it touches the wood, keep both hands clear of the blade's path, and never reach under a board you're cutting. Support long boards on both sides of the cut so the blade doesn't pinch.

3. 3Build the top frame

   Pick the two straightest 2×4s for the top rails. Sight down each edge to find the crown (the slight hump) and mark it: crowns up.

   Lay the rails (B) on edge on a flat floor, 24″ apart outside to outside. Mark the cross piece positions on both rails at once, measured from the left end: 0″, 16 1/4″, 32 1/2″, 34″, 47 1/4″, 60 1/2″, 62″, 78 1/4″, 94 1/2″. Each mark is the left edge of a cross piece. The pairs at 32 1/2″ and 34″, and at 60 1/2″ and 62″, sit side by side: they carry the edges of the saw platform and the wings.

   Set the cross pieces (C) between the rails, tops flush, and drive 2 screws, 3″, through the rail into each end.

   • Tip Predrill the screws within 1″ of a board end, or the end will split.
   • Tip Do this on the flattest floor you have: a frame screwed together over a dip keeps the twist.

   ✓ Measure the frame's two diagonals: equal within 1/8″. Push the corners until they are, then drive the last screws.

4. 4Add the legs

   Turn the frame upside down. Stand a leg (A) in each inside corner, tight against the rail and the end cross piece. The four middle legs go on the outside of the doubled cross pieces at the saw edges, tight against the rails.

   Drive 2 screws, 3″, through the rail into each leg and 2 through the cross piece into each leg (where a cross piece touches it).

   Check each leg with a level on two faces before the last screw: plumb legs keep the top flat when you turn it over.

   ✓ Turn the station upright. It stands on all legs without rocking; a level on the rails reads level both ways.

   STOP. This frame is heavy. Get a helper to turn it over, and lift with your legs, not your back.

5. 5Add the lower stretchers

   Mark 6″ up from the floor on every leg. Screw the long stretchers (D) across the outside faces of the front and back legs with their bottom edges on the marks: 2 screws, 3″, into each leg.

   Screw the end stretchers (E) across the outside of the end legs the same way, between the long ones.

   • Tip Later, a sheet of plywood laid on the lower stretchers gives you a shelf for blades, clamps and offcuts.

   ✓ Push the top hard from the end and from the front. It doesn't sway.

6. 6Fit the saw platform

   Lay the platform (F) on the frame between the saw-edge cross pieces, from 34″ to 62″, flush with the front and back rails.

   Glue and screw it down every 8″ into the rails and cross pieces, 1 5/8″ screws, countersunk so the heads sit just below the surface.

   ✓ The platform is flat: a straightedge across it touches all the way.

7. 7Rip the wing risers to your saw's bed height

   Set the saw on the platform and measure from the platform to the top of the saw's table at the fence, in three places. Use the smallest number. The plan uses 3 3/4″; if yours differs, rip to yours.

   Rip each riser (G) from a 2×6 to that width, all at one fence setting so they match exactly. Cut them to 24″ long.

   Stand the risers on edge over every wing cross piece (one riser per cross piece, including the two at the ends and the two next to the platform). Glue the bottom edge, then toe-screw: drive 3 screws, 2 1/2″, at a steep angle through each face of the riser into the cross piece.

   • Tip Rip one test piece first and check it against the saw before cutting all of them. Tape or sandpaper can raise or lower a wing by a hair later, but not by 1/4″.

   ✓ Lay a straightedge across a riser and the saw's table: it touches both with no light under it.

   STOP. Ripping on a table saw: use the fence, a push stick for the last 6″, and keep your hands out of the blade's path. A circular saw with a clamped straightedge guide works too.

8. 8Put on the wing tops

   Lay a wing top (H) on the risers each side, flush with the outer end and the front and back, its inner edge flush with the inside face of the last riser (at the platform).

   Screw down into every riser every 6″, 1 5/8″ screws, countersunk.

   ✓ Each wing top is flat and does not rock on the risers.

9. 9Bolt down the saw and level the wings to it

   Set the saw in the middle of the platform, its fence parallel to the back edge. Mark its four mounting holes and drill 3/8″ holes through the platform.

   Push a 5/16″ × 3″ bolt down through each saw hole and the platform, with a fender washer under the head and under the nut, and tighten.

   Lay a long straight board or a 6 ft level across the saw's table onto both wings. Check at the front, middle and back.

   ✓ The straightedge lies flat on the saw table and on both wings. A wing that's low by less than 1/16″ is fine; more than that, shim under the wing top with card strips at the low risers.

   STOP. Unplug the saw before you move or bolt it. Never cut with the saw only resting on the platform.

10. 10Finish

    Ease every sharp edge and corner with 120-grit sandpaper so nobody gets a splinter.

    Sand all over with 180 grit, always along the grain (the direction the wood fibres run). Scratches across the grain show through stain.

    Wipe off the dust with a barely damp rag and let it dry.

    Paint, stain or a clear coat (water-based polyurethane is the easiest). Apply thin coats with the grain, let each dry fully, and sand lightly with 220 grit between coats.

    Let it dry for the time on the can before using it.

    • Tip Try your finish on a scrap of the same wood first: stain looks different on every board.