After a long hiatus from the shop, I was able to work on the largest shop project I have ever tackled. A mega miter saw station

Miter Saw Station Plans

The plan took 4 iterations to get it where I liked mostly everything. Some of the dimensions changed as i got into the build. For instance the far right bank of drawers is a single 40″ drawer. The third photo has the final dimensions I used for the drawers/middle shelves

• Overall station
  • 13′ 9″ wide and over 8′ tall
  • Lower cabinets are 35″ from the wall to front face
  • Middle and upper cabinets are 15.5″ deep
• Large Lower Cabinets (23 ” deep)
  • 24″ cavity next to Dust collection
  • 30″ Left
  • (2X) 20″ Center,
  • 40″ Right
  • 25″ open cavity on far right
  • Miter saw surface is about 44″ from the ground
• Second level of storage
  • Drawers down low
  • Dust box around saw
  • Adjustable open shelving up high
• Third level of storage
  • Open adjustable shelving

Miter Saw Station Video (Part 1)

Materials

After being confident in the plan and materials I headed to HD and bought a lot of plywood. Also rented a truck.

• (8X) 3/4″ 8’X4′ Birch Plywood
• (10X) 1/2″ 8’x4′ Birch Plywood
• (8X) 1/4″ 8’X4′ Birch Plywood
• (4X) 2″X4″X8′
• 3/8″ T Nuts
• 3/8″ Carriage Bolts
• 22″ Drawer Slides
• 14″ Drawer Slides
• Awesome #8X1/2″ Screws
  • These are ideal for 1/2″ drawer boxes
• Handle Pulls
• #8X1 1/4″ Screws for Pulls
  • Needed for 1/2″ thick drawer and drawer front
• 5mm Shelf Pins
• Small Knurled Knobs for Fence
• USB Hub for Charging
• Miscellaneous Screws,Bolts,Washers

I had almost no 3/4″plywood left, a half sheet of 1/2″, and 2 sheets of 1/4″ plywood left. I wish I would have purchased a bit more 1/2″ since I don’t like the way the 1/4″ drawer bottoms felt. The 1/4 bottoms were for the center 2 sets of drawers. They will hold up just fine, but just not rigid enough for my liking.

Base Cabinet Construction

Once the plywood was purchased and brought home it was time to start cutting the cabinet sides for the lower cabinet. I started by laying down some rigid insulation and then put my plywood on top of that. Then cut everything to the its final height with the track saw.

After cutting the plywood down I took it to the table saw and cut all the sides down to width (Depth from wall). Since I used the track saw for the height, I had to use a flush trim bit and router to make sure my parts were all the same length. Then it was time to make the leveling “feet” for the base cabinets. This comprised of a 2×2, T-Nut, and a 5/16″ carriage bolt. The 2X2 will get glued and screwed to the bottom of the cabinet sides.

Next step was to cut all the cabinet stretchers (side to side), which was more 3/4″ plywood, but ripped to 3 1/2″, then cross cut to the appropriate length. 2 to 3 pocket holes were drilled into each stretcher

It is important to note that when you have a single 3/4 divider between two stretchers you must offset the hole locations else the screws will run into each other when driving into the divider.

Base Cabinet Install

Once the base cabinets were assembled it was time to put them into position and level them. After the cabinets were leveled, I marked where the 2X4 cleat would go onto the wall. Keep in mind the cabinets are only 23″ deep, but are ~35″ from the wall. So the work surface needs something to support it near the wall.

Once the left and right cabinets were leveled to each other I could position the miter saw cabinet so the miter saw was flush with the work surface. The whole leveling process took a while. Below are some shots of the 2X4 cleats and the leveling feet with plywood spacers and locking nuts. After the cleats were installed I stapled on a 1/4″ plywood back to the Left and Right lower cabinets. The miter saw cabinet just had a piece screwed on from the inside since I needed to access to the dust collection connection yet

Miter Saw Station Video (Part 2)

Second Story of Cabinets

The second story of cabinets started with the dust box around the miter saw. This specific section took a lot of effort to get it to fit around the dust collection pipe. The total height of the dust box also set the height for the rest of the second story cabinets.

After the dust box was installed I took the dimensions needed for the remaining second story cabinets. The cabinets are glued and screwed together. Then attached to the work surface with pocket holes and to each other with normal screws.

One important note is to make sure a cabinet doesn’t end where an outlet is. That is the reason why the two cabinets on the right are not the same width.

Fence

The fence for the miter saw station is comprised of 4 parts. 3/4″ ply, 1/4″ ply, and another piece of 3/4 ply, then the T-Track. The plywood sandwich is to offset the fence from the cabinets so a knob can fit with finger clearance. The Kreg T-track is not the best option for this type of application. I had a bunch left over and I didn’t want to waste it.

The first piece of 3/4 plywood is pocket screwed down into the work surface. It acts like a short spine across the top and establishes the straight line for the fence. Then the 1/4 and 3/4 ply is screwed to the first piece. I used a chalk line to ensure the first piece of ply was in a straight line.

Once the fence was attached it was time to secure the saw to the work surface. I used a straight edge and drill bits to ensure the miter saw was proud of the fence by ~1/8″ I think. This allows for any warped boards to still contact the miter saw fence.

Trim

The plywood edge was covered with 3/4″ oak screen molding that was mitered at the corners, then glued and pin nailed. The work surface was covered with a large piece of oak that was glued and screwed (then plugged)

Miter Saw Station Video (Part 3)

Third Story Cabinets

The upper most boxes are very simple. Just glued and screwed. I did drill the shelf pin holes before assembly, which is much easier! The only complication is working around the dust collection pipe. Then getting it up onto the top of the cabinets…… by myself.

Cabinet Finishing

The cabinet boxes and trim were all finished the same way:

• Sanded everything with 120 grit, wetted, and then sanded again with 180 grit.
• Applied shellac to every piece of oak trim and any large external area.
• Applied a coat of water based poly with brush and roller
• Sanded with 320 grit, vacuumed
• Applied a second coat of poly with brush and roller

Drawer Box Construction

I had a total of 23 drawers to build for this project. I will be using a reinforced rabbet for the drawer construction.

It started by measuring the rough cabinet openings and rough cutting everything with the track saw. Then cut all the drawers to height on the table saw. Once all the pieces were cut to height, I moved onto cutting the drawer sides to length at 23″. Then, I cut the bottom grooves and the rabbets. Once the rabbets were cut I could measure the front and backs to the exact size I needed.

After getting all the pieces cut to size I cut off the lower section on the rear piece. I will screw the back into this spot. Once that was complete, I could measure and cut the bottoms. These little woodpecker corner clamps are really useful in something like this.

Even though I was being careful measuring I wasn’t careful enough and had to make some…..(ahem) modifications to a few. It was also at this point that I realized that I cut my drawers too tall. I took the measurements for the drawer fronts and used them for the drawer boxes by accident.

Drawer Finishing

Before I mount the drawer boxes, I sanded everything to 120 grit, wetted and then 180 grit. I had a pretty good rotation between sanding and spraying finish to limit the waiting time.

Drawer Mounting

I utilized an initial spacer to get the first drawer slide mounted and then it took me a while to figure out how long the next spacer should be.

• A – Air Gap Between Drawers
• B – Spacing from Slide to Bottom
• C – Drawer Slide Height
• D – Drawer Height
• H1 = A + B
• H2 = B + A + D – B – C
• H2 = A + D – C

Drawer Fronts

The drawer fronts were made from 1/2″ plywood and trimmed in the same screen molding, but ripped down to 1/2″ wide. The molding was mitered, glued, and pin nailed in place. The most complicated part was subtracting the thickness of the screen molding. Since I screwed up my drawer heights I had to be very precise on my measurements. The fronts were only 1/32″ of overhang on top and bottom. I drilled the holes for the pulls and used them to mount the fronts to the drawers.

Here is a little math trick for centering drawer pulls

• W = Width of Drawer
• S = Spacing between Pull Holes
• D = Distance from Edge of Drawer to Pull Hole
• D = (W-S)/2

Drawer Front Finishing

I sanded the fronts in a similar fashion as everything else (120, wet, 180). Then I applied shellac to every front. Sprayed a coat of poly on the back and front. Sand with 320. I repeated this process for 3 coats total.

Flip Stops