Outfeed/assembly table height?

[Dave Trendymiddlename Starr]

I've had quite a few successful summers of woodworking with borrowed tools, so this summer I'm investing in the beginnings of my own shop. And there's a lot of questions that come along with that, particularly this one:

I'm going to be building a table on casters that will serve as and outfeed table, assembly table, and it'll have a shelf below for storage. But, I'm curious about how precise I have to be with the height of it, in regards to its function as an outfeed table. Obviously it has to be shorter than my table saw, but I wonder how close I need to get to the full height. I'd like to avoid routing out channels for sled rails to pass through, so if I made the table, say, half an inch or 3/4 inch under the height of the table saw, would that be the end of the world? The biggest stuff I'll run through the saw would be 4x8 sheets, so I'm imagining the table will be 3x5. I feel like my garage floor would have more variation than just a half-inch drop over so many feet. But, I just want to make sure, because I'd love to do this right.

Thanks!

[ChrisG-Canada]

I say make it ⅛" to ¼" lower than the bottom of the rail channels if you don't want to route the channels.

If you do decide to route out the channels for the rails make the table ⅛" to ¼" lower than the saw table top.  This is the better solution and routing out the channels isn't a big task.  This is my recommendation.

Hint: route the channels, in the outfeed table, quite a bit wider than the rail width - so that if the outfeed isn't perfectly aligned with the saw then you won't have any problems.

[Janello]

I agree. Make it 1/4 to 3/8  below and you can always use some shims between the casters and base to level it up (or a smidgen below) the saw top. MDF makes for nice flat caster shims.

[Dave Trendymiddlename Starr]

Awesome stuff. Will do. Thanks!

[Chet]

I actually built my table just under an 1/8 of an inch shorter then my saw table and I didn't put channels in it because I also use it as an assembly table.  My reasoning for not putting the channels in was like you it was going to be mobile,and because I use it for assembly also, AND if I was doing crosscuts on the saw with my miter gauge of a crosscut sled I didn't really need the table there to catch pieces so I could just move it back to get out of the way of the rail from the sled or miter gauge.  My table is 32 inches wide and 48 inches long and even in the event of an occasional piece of 4 X 8 material it is adequate with it being on wheels you can turn or line it up how ever you need.  I rounded over the edges of the top so even if you had a real floppy piece of material it would still ride up over the edge and onto the table instead of jamming up causing it to bind.

Don't try and save money on casters, get good one. Mine are 3 inch and the kind of soft material that rolls well even over foreign objects on the floor.  When you lock them they lock both the wheel from turning and the swivel.   Some will only put locking casters on a couple of corners, I put them on all four because when you push the table around one will always end up with the locking mechanism under the table, also if you floor is a little uneven you will always have enough casters  to lock to keep it from rolling.

[..Kev]

Add some adjustable levelers to it and raise it off the wheels if needed.

[nwhomesteader]

Make it 1/16" shorter than your table saw. You want it to support the long pieces you are running through without the tail end of the piece tilting up because your outfeed table is too low.

Also use good quality locking casters to make it mobile (the kind that lock the wheels from rolling as well as the bearings from rotating).

The fact that it's mobile means you can simply roll it slightly away from the table saw when using the sled so you won't need channels routed in it.

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[nwhomesteader]

I actually built my table just under an 1/8 of an inch shorter then my saw table and I didn't put channels in it because I also use it as an assembly table.  My reasoning for not putting the channels in was like you it was going to be mobile,and because I use it for assembly also, AND if I was doing crosscuts on the saw with my miter gauge of a crosscut sled I didn't really need the table there to catch pieces so I could just move it back to get out of the way of the rail from the sled or miter gauge.  My table is 32 inches wide and 48 inches long and even in the event of an occasional piece of 4 X 8 material it is adequate with it being on wheels you can turn or line it up how ever you need.  I rounded over the edges of the top so even if you had a real floppy piece of material it would still ride up over the edge and onto the table instead of jamming up causing it to bind.

Don't try and save money on casters, get good one. Mine are 3 inch and the kind of soft material that rolls well even over foreign objects on the floor.  When you lock them they lock both the wheel from turning and the swivel.   Some will only put locking casters on a couple of corners, I put them on all four because when you push the table around one will always end up with the locking mechanism under the table, also if you floor is a little uneven you will always have enough casters  to lock to keep it from rolling.

Great minds think alike, ha. I didn't read your post before posting mine. I agree with everything chet says. Our tables sound very similar.

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[Ryan Grondin]

As long as it's lower.. 1/8 to 1/4 or so... you should be fine.. 

[TerryMcK]

An alternative is to fix the outfeed surface to a hinge and fix it permanently to the table saw with a couple of folding leg supports to hold it level. You could then still build a wheeled assembly table and store it underneath the outfeed if you have a lack of room in the shop. The advantages are that the outfeed surface could be made flush with the surface of the TS and you don't have to worry about levelling constantly if you have an uneven floor. You can also fold the outfeed surface out of the way when required.

Don't forget to machine clearance slots for any crosscut sleds or other sleds you may make in the top surface.

[jeffpNC]

FWIW, I haven't found it particularly advantageous to shoot for "just below the slots".

Mine is currently about an inch lower than most of the advice above.  Haven't run into any situations yet where I thought "that would have worked a lot better if only my outfeed table had just been a half inch higher".

Long story short, I think you would have to be up in the 2 or 3 inches too short arena before things would get wonky.

[gee-dub]

I skipped the slots on my latest version and did this.  For sheet goods the outfeed being flush with the saw top works very well as the large panels slide around without getting caught or gouged as the surface passes over the edge.  For furniture making I find no issue with the slight height difference.