Build Log: Table Saw Mobile Base & Outfeed
In general, I’ve been pretty happy with my table saw and with incremental improvements over the years, I’m running out of quick, easy and ‘just buy this one little thing’ upgrades that I can do. I’ve wanted to [one day] tackle the mobile base and outfeed support situation with this saw, and things are finally starting to make sense to look at them.
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Where we started
After the last round of upgrades (and a few upgrades since then), I’m rapidly approaching the end of the line terms of small, easy improvements I can add to the saw.
Goals and Objectives
I originally set out to do two things:
Stop the integrated mobile base from interfering with the dust hose/fittings
Add some kind of outfeed support
For the hose/mobile-base issue, the problem arises because the crossbar of the (connecting the front and back halves of the mobile base to a common actuation lever) is directly inline with the opening for the dust port. Technically, everything fits — but just barely — if you tap anything funny, the hose will just pop off (and it can definitely happen mid-cut). I can’t just clamp the hose to the fitting because this is the hose I disconnect to use on my bandsaw, jointer, planer etc. When I started (foreshadowing), I had some additional vague requirements for the replacement mobile base:
The current integrated base, when transitioning from ‘up’ to ‘down’, is a very jarring ker-chunk process. While I’m sure the table saw can handle it, I would like to reduce this if possible
Ideally, I wanted to level the saw (at the least, in the ‘down’ state)
I wanted to add additional shelving underneath the right wing and also, on the back side of the saw (which would then become the outfeed support)
I wanted to keep the table saw as close to the current altitude as possible (i.e., reduce the amount of lift that any platform, wheels, stands might add)
Although I don’t do it often, I wanted to keep the transition between ‘up’ and ‘down’ as simple as possible
I wanted to reduce any chance of ‘stubbing’ the wheels, feet or mechanisms
The motivation for the outfeed support is pretty straightforward: to be able to cut longer things without it falling off the table and/or bugging my very gracious wife to act has a human outfeed support.
Rough Design
Since I wanted to the outfeed to be connected to (and move with) the saw, I needed to tackle the mobile base first. Originally, I wanted to leave the integrated mobile base intact: I would leave the table-saw in the ‘down’ position and place the entire saw on a platform that would then go up and down. My first order of business was to figure out how to handle supporting, levelling and moving the saw would look (i.e., “the feet/wheels”). There were three archtypes I was considering:
Popup casters (like this).
$80-ish
800-lb (ish) weight capacity
This is the simplest option: some models allow you to remove the entire wheel mechanism (when in the ‘down’ state), completely eliminating any chance of stubbing anything
Downside: to way to level the saw (in the ‘down’ state), I would have to figure out a way to do this
Downside: in almost all scenarios, transitioning between ‘up’ and ‘down’ would result in a substantial ker-chunk
Potential downside: most of these models (and particularly ones with removable plates), rely on two screws attach to the base. Even if I found a model using four screws (or bolts), that feels like a ton of torquing force applied to each foot.
Levelling casters (like this)
$60-ish
2200-lb (ish) weight capacity
This single unit contains a levelling wheel and caster all in one, all in a fairly tight footprint
There’s no ker-chunk when transitioning between
Downside: it’s possible for ratcheting models to accidentally ratchet while moving the saw around (causing the levelling to unintentionally adjust). There are models without the built-in ratcheting mechanism that don’t have this problem but that is even more tedious — now you have to use a wrench on each wheel to transition
Downside: it’s tedious to transition between states, you have to manually adjust each foot
Potential downside: most models have a maximum height adjustment span of about 3/4”
Floor locks (like this) paired with dedicated castors
$130-ish (for the floor locks) + $60-ish for casters to pair with it
800-lb (ish) capacity
The floor lock is exceptionally beefy and pressing on the go-up/go-down lever is super easy
There is a slight amount of give in the floor lock (perhaps 1/4” compression, when weight is loaded on it — more on this later)
It’s possible to reduce the amount of ker-chunk to near zero: by keeping the height-gap between the extended-floor lock and the wheel to a minimum. In this case, the wheel would be smaller
Downside: there isn’t really much of a way to level anything
Potential downside: it is possible to unintentionally trigger a transition through accidental tap
Potential downside: since you have four locks and wheels, you have twice as many things that you can potentially stub
Buy a mobile base (like this)
$360(!!) (plus I know down the road, I’d sink another $200 into the extension)
1500-lb (ish) capacity
Off the shelf solution that has mobility, levelling and isn’t tedious to transition between
There is a cheaper model that also features all-swivelling wheels, but this option doesn’t allow me to add an extension of any sort
My original plan was to just get the mobile base and move on with my life, but the significant increase in cost made me go down the rabbit hole of exploring options. As an alternative, II originally set my mind on Option 3. For the last ten years, I haven’t had a levelled saw, so I figured, maybe I can live without that (although I did come with an idea to address this)
Step 1 - Prototyping a base
I opted to go with a 58x40 base: left-to-right, that would not overhang the saw (reducing any chance of stubbing as I walk around it), but on the back side that would give me 8-12” of additional room to build up an outfeed support.
At one point, I debated building out the lower support box — this would allow me to integrate levellers between the main body and the lower support, but all of this is still a prototype that may or may not work, so I didn’t want to go down that rabbit hole. If this worked out, I would entertain the option of rebuilding the lower box (with an integrated dust port that would make connecting the saw so much easier)
Next is to make the base platform: a sheet of plywood with a couple 2x4s running across to stiffen it
Last is to attach the double-laminated ply and do a test run of the floor locks…
And this was a total bust.
The floor locks did their part and can handle the weight
The 2x4 did it’s job: there’s very little flex left-to-right. Surprisingly, there is only a little bit of flex front-to-back
The reason this fails is because there’s just not enough overall lift (and/or my tolerances were too tight) — I had about 1/4” to work with (which was what I wanted), but there’s
Flex in the base
The slope of the garage
The 1/4” sponginess in the floor locks when weight is applied
So in the end, I’ve got maybe 1/16th of clearance across the floor — and this is on a brand new build with no long-term sag. I had some options if I wanted to salvage this:
I could try and put some 2x4s front-to-back to stiffen that up (— I would have to plan that carefully not to interfere with the dust hose)
Using another sheet of plywood and some scraps, I could turn the entire base into a torsion box that would virtually eliminate the sponginess. But this would now start to bump the height of the floor closer to 2”
I could compensate by building a custom base entirely (which would let me incorporate levelling as well)
All of these were unknowns that I wasn’t in the mood to explore. Although this was a dead end, I’m super glad I explored it — if I hadn’t, I would have second guessed myself for the next decade if I could have saved a bunch of money by building things out myself.
Step 2 - Outfeed support
Top attachment point
With that out of the way, I bought the Bora PM-3550 mobile base and installed that according to the instructions. Although this was mostly straightforward, it was a hell of a pain to lift my table saw into and onto the mobile base, solo. I eventually got the saw in place, dialed in (and levelled!). So time to move onto the real project.
First, I needed to create a mounting point on the back of the saw running left-right. I was able to make use of the bolts holding the rear-fence rail to the table-saw body to hang some angle-steel to make a shelf.
Bottom attachment point
Next is to find a way to make an attachment point at the bottom - I wanted to leverage the mobile base (that I paid dearly for, ha). This way, the outfeed automatically moves with the saw and I don’t have to do any fiddling.
Main attachment panel
With the vertical plate in place, I can add a removable panel that I can use to attach our folding outfeed to.
A splash of color
Now is a good time to do a quick sand and stain before I can’t access areas behind the folding shelf supports. I was able to get some better pictures of how everything fits together as well.
Mounting the folding arms
The folding arms I bought work but they are really finicky to install. When the back side is fully secured down, you can still swing the entire arm side to side by 3/4” or so. Which means it’s really hard to get a pair of them aligned. Also note: the back screw holes are big enough for 1/4 bolts, but the top ones are not.
Milestone
The primary objective of this project was to eliminate connectivity issues with the dust hose and to have an folding outfeed support and despite the struggles and setbacks, this was ultimately a success. I did some soft-touches on the outfeed support (sanded the top to 800-grit and rounded over the bottom exterior edges).
After getting everything together, I did a thorough clean and tune-up of the saw, so we’re good to rock for the next project!
Mixups, surprises and lessons learned
Although the original idea for the mobile base was a flop, I’m glad I tried it out — I think it could have totally worked, but this would turn into a much bigger project — essentially integrating a table saw into a mobile work station essentially, and that wasn’t what I wanted to do.
The folding arms though were a bit of a mess to get installed. It’s super hard to describe but the top panel kept moving diagonally when they shouldn’t have moved at all (or if anything, vertically). I suspect this was due to the amount of play that is in the folding arms (which exists until you get all the screws down), so it’s just a one-time frustration.
I didn’t expect the folding arms to open 90-degrees (some models advertise that they can — I didn’t have time to sift through the options when I ordered). I briefly considered adding a tapered shim to the under side of the folding top but that would require removing it… and then more frustration when putting it back together (using the same screw holes) … and it doesn’t close properly.
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