This post is long overdue! This project has been completely finished for 7 months now! Once I had finished the wood storage workbench and my crafting nook storage area, I built this miter saw workbench in the middle to connect them. This project went a lot smoother than the crafting nook because it wasn’t quite as complex. The inspiration for this design came from Handyman’s modular workbench, specifically this image. I modified the dimensions to fit the space I had. I either doodle my sketches freehand on computer paper or use Microsoft Excel (which is what I did this time) for a rough sketch of the dimensions I’d need. I would love to use Google’s Layouts program (I really liked the free trial), but you cannot purchase just Layouts. You have to purchase SketchUp Pro, and I am not paying $695 for that.
This little stand I threw together when I first got my miter saw wasn’t the best solution, but it was free pallet wood, and it worked for the most part.
Before starting on my workbench, I took down the middle section of pegboard, moved it above the wood storage workbench, and painted the pegboard the same color as the walls.
I also put in vertical pieces in the middle section (the area that would be above my miter saw) with pocket holes, filled the holes, and then painted those the same color as the walls. Right now, there is still nothing in that area, but I wanted to set it up that way first to make it easier to add shelving or cabinets later on, after trial and error to see what else I would need.
With the help of clamps and creative positioning, I was able to build this workbench by myself with no help. The longest pieces for me were the 2 back horizontal pieces of the frame which measured 119″ long. I just built each section somewhat separately and went from there, piecing everything together. The piece of 2×4 you see lying on the floor below (in between 2 other pieces of 2×4 on the frame) is not actually attached. I used it to make sure the spacing was correct when screwing in the 2×4 piece on the top part. I just used 2 1/2″ self-drilling deck screws to put all of this together.
The vertical 2×4’s are 35.25″ tall because I wanted the entire thing (with the top) to be 36″ to match the height of the other 2 benches on each end. The frame complete:
Plywood cut and attached for the top and the bottom shelf:
I probably overdid the support for the area where the miter saw would sit. I used some 2×2 pieces of wood to connect the 2×4’s on each side, with a piece in the middle for support. I also added a vertical piece of 2×4 to the frame in the back right to support that corner of the miter saw area; otherwise the back right part of the 2×2 frame would not be attached to anything.
Bottom view:
There is enough space between the 2×4 main frame pieces and the 2×2 miter saw area to slide a piece of 3/4″ plywood for the stand to sit on. And then I put 2×4’s on top of that as a temporary way to elevate the saw so things would be level when cutting wood. From start (moving the pegboard) to somewhat finish (in the picture below), it took me about 8 days to do everything on my own, factoring in other things I had to do those days.
As you can see above, I did not take the front of the frame all the way to the end because I wanted to be able to pull the drawer out from underneath my crafting area without anything getting in the way. Also, the height on the far right does not match up perfectly with the height of the crafting bench. There is some type of hard buildup along the edge of the wall in the crafting nook, so in order to level off that section, we had to put shims in the front, which made that area a little higher than the main workbench. I’m able to work around that though.
I finished this bench just in time for wrapping Christmas presents last year, so that came in handy!
In February of this year, I decided it was time to permanently fix the miter saw area. As I mentioned, the plywood and 2×4’s on top were just temporary. I wanted the miter saw sitting on the plywood. So I cut the 2×4’s so they would fix depth wise and then put the plywood on top of those. I also put 2×4’s on the left and right underneath the plywood top to eliminate a gap to prevent lots of sawdust from falling on the shelving below.
I was originally going to bolt down the miter saw but have decided against it. I like that I can push it back out of the way whenever I am not using it. If it was bolted, it would be a lot closer to the edge, and the handle would stick out too much.
This makes the miter saw base almost level with the top of the workbench. It’s probably about 1/8″ shy of being level, but I am leaving it this way because it works. If I could go back and do it over, I would just eliminate the 2×2 part and screw in those 2×4’s to the frame (so the 2×4’s under the plywood where the miter saw sits run side to side and not front to back like shown), and place the plywood on top, making sure it was done so that it was perfectly level with the top of the workbench.
Having this in place with all my tools close by makes cutting wood 1,000 times easier now! It goes so much faster than before!! I also built a simple (nowhere near perfect) roll-out tool cart to go under the space at the far right and 2 basic drawers for underneath the shelf. I will do a post on those items later.
