Okay, I know I saw this in a “reader’s tips” in one of my woodworking magazines not too long ago.
It was a work station that rolled under an extension table for a table saw. The neat thing that stuck in my mind was that a portable planer was attached, upside down, to the work station. When you rolled the work station out to use it, you flipped the planer over into position so that it was at a suitable height, locked it into place in its new upright position, and went to work.
My memory may be confabulating details — maybe it didn’t fit under an extension table, maybe it wasn’t a planer. But the bottom line is I just got a new table saw with an extension table and I want to make use of the space beneath it and this is what I have in mind.
So my question is this: can any of you direct me to where I saw this, or tell me your thoughts on what kind of mechanism to use to be able to flip a heavy, attached piece of equipment and lock it into place in either its upright or upside down position? (In the upside down position the work station could be rolled out and used as a work bench.)
Thanks in advance.
Replies
There's a really nice one in this article -- page 8 -- over in "Workshop" (paid subscription area of FWW.com).
There's one at Lumberjocks (click here).
I'm sure you can find more by Googling flip-top tool stand.
Thanks Forestgirl. That's the article (in FWW #195) I was remembering. It would have taken me forever to retrieve it from my library. I appreciate you saving me the time.
With only one tool to flip, make sure you have enough mass in the base of the table to keep it stable. Be careful.
The flip tables/carts are excellent space savers!
-nazard
I made a version of this fliptop to go under my TS, and found I had to be very careful with dimensions. I have an SC saw and planer, and with the planer at a height to use the saw top as an outfeed, when you flip the table to store it back under the saw there's less than an inch clearance -- certainly not room for the cleat shown in the article, or for the rollers I had planned. Depends on how tall your machines are.
You should be careful too to follow the instructions re gluing the rod in firmly with epoxy. That's to stop the table sides from splaying out under the weight of the machine. I don't find much use for it as a work surface given its small size, though it's big enough to act as an outfeed for the saw if the height thing works out.
Jim
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