Folding Miter Saw Wings

I’ve been wanting wings for my miter station since I got the Ryobi saw and built the cart. If I’m cutting anything with 20″ or so on the right side of the saw, the cutoff crashes to the ground after making my cut.

This weekend we’re building something that’ll require a lot of cuts on the miter saw, so it was a good time to tackle this project. I’ve actually had the brackets since this summer, so I could work on it when I got motivated.

Unfortunately I wasn’t thinking about such an upgrade when I built the cart, because neither side was flat.

I created some flat areas by attaching scraps.

The main objective of this project was to extend the horizontal space on both sides, which this does well.

When I don’t need the surfaces, the wings easily fold out of the way.

The brackets I bought are pretty poor, with a lot of play in them. Maybe it would be better if I used two on each wing. The wings are level with the saw top, which is key, but they move front to back quite a bit. If I want to attach a stop block of some kind I’ll have to stiffen up the wing in some way.

They work for now though. Maybe I’ll improve them down the road. On to the next project!

Miter Saw Cart

I picked up a new Ryobi 10″ miter saw.

The used 12″ Delta had served me well, especially after all of the improvements I did:

Not having a blade guard always made me nervous and features of newer saws made me jealous. Things like a slider, positive angle stops, and a cut line are really nice to have. This new saw is beautiful and was definitely the right price!

Due to the sliding feature, I needed a lot more depth in my space to use the saw. I also knew I wanted a mobile cart because the stand from the other one always stayed where it was, which was often in the way. I had saved the two side cabinets from the bathroom vanity and still had a wide drawer from the kitchen desk I removed.

I combined the cabinets and added reinforcements all over to give more stability and connection points because the cabinet walls were so shitty. I made a base, replaced the toe kick, added casters, attached the drawer, and whipped up a little cubby.

The base of an old treadmill has been sitting in my basement, which was a decent piece of MDF. I removed the plastic and chopped it up to make the top of my stand.

The final thing to do was make a riser to the left of the saw for more support while making cuts. The cart turned out great and is so easy to move around.

I took the opportunity to clean the shop and do some rearranging. I moved the drill press out of the dusty area and pulled the band saw in. I also moved the jointer out since it doesn’t get used much and is an awkward size, so it was also in the way. It feels like I have a whole new shop and being able to move the miter saw around is going to be a huge improvement to my workflows.