I should have built this tablesaw and router station years ago for its space-saving and efficiency qualities. Housing sawing and routine operations in one place doubles space efficiency, and casters on the station make the machines mobile, allowing you to position the unit exactly where you want it. Then there’s storage: five full-extension drawers create room for tablesaw accessories and router bits. Attach a simple dust port to a vacuum system and you have a dream—clean operation.
This workstation relies heavily on a rock-solid base cabinet. Before starting, measure your tablesaw, fence and blade and apply these specs to your plans.
Begin by cutting the inner cabinet partitions to size, then prepare a 1 ½” x 3 ¼” notch into the top front corner of each one. Cut the shelf to size, then attach it to the partitions, 6 ¼” from their bottom edges. Cut the cabinet sides as well.
The two left-side drawers don’t use metal slides. Instead, they move on ½” x ½” solid wood drawer guides. Cut and attach these with glue and nails while the sides and partitions are still open. Cut both the station’s top and bottom, and fasten the bottom to the underside of the cabinet. The left-side edge should be eight inches from the outside face of the left partition. Set aside the top for now.
This project includes three stiffeners for the unit’s right and left sides and front that fit into the bottom of the cabinet, adding weight, rigidity and a thick caster base. Cut all three stiffeners to size and install them with glue and screws.
Now install the all-important front top brace/front face pieces. Cut the brace from hardwood and the front face from particle board, then glue and clamp them together to make the strong, 1 ½”-thick top-front cabinet face that nestles the partitions and acts as a support beam for the top. Glue and screw the assembly in place, with the front surface flush with the edges of the shelf and partitions.
Add the left cabinet side to the assembly, then cut and fasten the back panel to the back edges of the shelf and partitions. Install the right-hand side and cabinet top.
I added style by capping exposed particleboard edges with ¾” half-round maple moulding. Cap all visible edges and mitre the corners. Secure the wood strips with glue and one-inch brad nails.
Cut the drawer boxes to size using ½” Baltic birch plywood for the box sides and ends and ¼”-thick veneered ply for the bottoms. The drawer fronts are separate pieces of ½” Baltic ply with laminate-covered fronts. After installing the drawer boxes, install the drawer faces and knobs.
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