I chose to use machine-cut dovetails to join the storage boxes because I tend to obsess over things such as this. Ordinary butt joints—screwed, nailed, biscuited or dowelled—work just as well for saner folk. With your boxes complete, set them where they belong on the tool cabinets and check their positions relative to the work surface of the saw. Remember, you want the tops of these boxes to be slightly lower than the cabinet at this stage. You’ll finesse them up to the perfect height later with the adjustment screws.
When you build drawers to fit your boxes, be sure to incorporate the correct amount of drawer clearance. I used mechanical slides for my drawers, and as with most, these require 1⁄2" of space on each side. Build the boxes, install them on their slides, then add drawer faces. I chose an inset drawer-face design to help keep sawdust out of the drawers more effectively.
Continue by drilling pilot holes for the four screw feet in each storage box, install screws, then adjust their height so the tops of the storage boxes are on exactly the same plane as the working surface of your mitre saw. It’s also important that each box rests solidly on the top of its tool storage cabinet. No wobbling allowed.
Although you could use this saw support system as it is, without a fence, the project will prove much more useful for cutting longer pieces of wood accurately if you go through the trouble of installing a fence. I built mine around the Kreg Precision Trak and Stop Kit. It includes a graduated aluminum extrusion that fits on top of a shop-built wooden fence. Swivelling stop arms slide within a groove in the top of this extrusion, allowing you to complete identical, repetitive cross cuts.
Regardless of the fence design you choose, it’s essential that the fence surfaces extend beyond either side of the saw on exactly the same plane as the saw fence itself. And for this arrangement to happen, both support boxes need to be fastened solidly to the surface that the mitre saw is bolted to. There can be no movement among these components. The easiest way to accomplish this on my set-up involved driving screws through the metal edges of the dust table and into the sides of the storage boxes. Something similar will probably make the most sense if you build your saw support stand from scratch.
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