…with my hands, then I will tighten the clamp down and come back with some brad nails and screws again, whatever your joinery choice is, for this project. Okay, and so I got the top cut. And now, it is the moment of truth. See if I got it cut right the first time. Could that be nice? Let us see. I got lucky. All right, so that is the top.
Now, the bottom, obviously, given the structure, the bottom is going to be pretty much impossible to get a full sheet on, which is no big deal, it is just really for storage. So, I am going to do the bottom and two separate sheets. Now, I am going to secure the top just using a little bit of glue in a few different places. I wanted to be, you know, secure so it does not move and at the same time, I want to be able to take it apart if I ever need to replace this stop without doing a significant amount of damage. And I really do not want any screw heads on the top of this, either that I can eventually catch the pieces of material that are moving across this also. A little bit of strategic with paste glue and we should be good to go.
Now, I have two different types of leveling feet here. One, sort of, goes in the corner, so corner bracket style and the other hooks underneath one of the four legs. So, I have got two of each, I am just going to, you know, use them up because that where I have a stock right now. But basically, they just hook on to the bottom of the leg, screw in the place and that is where we it.
Setting the final height is pretty easy. I place along straight edge across both the saw and the outfeed table. I then, sight down the straight edge and check to see how much adjustment is needed. Next, I make the necessary adjustments to all four legs so that the outfeed table is about the 16th of an inch below the surface of the table saw.
Now, here is the detail I completely, forgot about the first time I built an outfeed table and everything done, it looked beautiful and I want to use it for the first time with my mother gauge and I was in for a surprised where the end of my cut. Obviously, as things run through the major slot, they need actually, have a place to go even after their hanging off the table saw. So, typically what people do is, they make a lightly wider space for this bar to go into and very easy to make. You want to do one on both sides, the easiest thing to do, I find this just get a straight edge, a router and a straight bit and do it in two or three passes, whatever it takes, depending on the sides, of router bit you have. There is no reason for you to be perfect because this table could move one way or the other. See, I want to make it slightly oversized to give you that extra bit of room.
Now, from what I can see here, my table was a little bit further out, then it might be for most people. So, I am looking at the clearance that I have here and I think I might be okay for that for now. So, if I do not have to put strips in my top, I would rather not, you know. So, if I can get away with not doing it, I am going to try that. So, I am not going to do it but definitely, something to think about, depending how yours is set up, you may need to that. Now, I know, what a shop furniture, but there are few things that you can do to make this piece look a little bit nicer and sometimes it is just cool to have a really cool looking shop furniture.
What I like to do, first of all is, all of my holes that I have created where I have screw holes, I like to plug those with a dough. Okay, usually, it takes some dough material. I cut it into small little plugs on the bend saw and with a little bit of glue, tap them into place, and then once dry, I usually, flash trim them smooth with the flush trim saw and then sand flush. Ad, we can also improve the look of the table by actually, adding one more strip or ply across all of these recess portions here. So, by attaching it there, it gives the top a nice border all the way around, fills in this gap, and gives the front a much more finished look. Again, it is not necessary, but if you want to pretty add up a little bit, that is a good way to do it.
Although I design this table to be an outfeed table, as you can see, you can apply this to about a hundred different things in the shop, whether it is a roll around work station, or possibly, even an assembly table. Whatever you want to do with it, the basic idea that I wanted to show you is that, with a very simple and basic compliment of tools, you can make a really, rugged and sturdy table like this, just using a couple of sheets of plywood.
All right, so how do we finish our outfeed table? Now, for me, personally, I have got a policy with shop furniture and that is pretty much, anything goes. So, if you have a new furnish that you want to experiment with. You do not really want to do it on a fine piece of furniture. This is a great place to do it, just slap it on there, get to feel the properties of the finish, learn a little bit more about it and you will be that much more prepared for your next project.
And here is our—look out at our finished outfeed table. It is sturdy and beautiful. The catalyze lacquer finish will allow the boards to slide across the surface with this. It is almost like it is saying, “Somebody feed me.”
Now, if you have any questions or comments, please feel free to email me at Marc@TheWoodWhisperer.com.
Well, I would to take a minute to thank Incra for helping us out with the table saw fence system. If you have not seen Incra stuff, go to Incra.com and check it out. And, I should probably also, thank good old Norman for his help on this project. His assembly table is really an inspiration for the design and I think it is a great design, I think it is something that I can applied all over the workshop. It gives you a good idea in how a simple design can still be very rugged and have simple materials and be made with simple tools.
So, we will see you next time on The Wood Whisperer. Thanks for watching.
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