How to Build a Mobile Miter Saw Stand in 11 Simple Steps!
- Workshop DIY Projects
- April Wilkerson
- Updated: March 4, 2023
One of my favorite and most used shop builds is my Mobile Miter Saw Stand. I built this in February of 2014! It was one of the first things I built for my old shop and it’s still working for me! The best part about this DIY is it’s mobile so it can move just as much as I do! It has foldable wings that don’t interfere with the deck when they’re down but do help support longer joints when up. I built a large bin to quickly toss in cut offs to get rid of and a shelf to just as quickly place cut offs that are worth keeping. It’s so versatile and makes all my projects a breeze.
The only downside to my current saw is I can’t rotate it to a full 45 degrees without the back bumping into the frame of the stand. I’ve been just dealing with it up until now, but I’ve finally had enough and have decided to remake the stand. I thought about going to a more stationary unit but decided against it. I love my stand being mobile as I often move it around, and I love having the ability to expand or collapse it’s footprint as needed.
I started by using my track saw to cut down two sheets of plywood into the different pieces needed. Almost all the pieces are a rectangle so this goes pretty quickly. The only slightly odd shaped parts are the two wing supports. When cutting these, I joined both together and cut out one large rectangle to start. This way I could just make a diagonal cut and have two pieces.
Next I quickly taped the two parts together before taking them to the bandsaw and cutting out that top notch. Be sure to use the fence when making long straight cuts like this. Then shove it out of the way to freehand and finish it. Now I have two identical parts.
Moving onto assembly. I’m using my Armor Tool jig to create pocket holes in three pieces that will be the shelves. I first set up the jig with a piece of my material in it’s jaws to adjust the depth of the drilling block, and the collar on the bit. You can use 2x4s as side supports for wider pieces like this.
After drilling in the rest of the pocket holes on the other shelves I brought out my Rockler Clamp It Square Jigs to help assemble things together. These jigs make quick work of assembling a box and making sure it goes together at a 90 degree angle.
You’ll notice I’m using two different types of plywood. I was using what I had on hand which was one sheet of red oak veneer ply and one construction grade ply. I arranged the parts so all the visible pieces were cut from the nicer ply and the more hidden ones from the construction grade.
When I was done attaching the bottom, I went ahead and attached four casters. I make almost everything I build in the shop mobile but this stand gets moved the most, by far. Even if you skip casters on your other builds, I recommend not skipping them on this one.
To put in the top shelf, I flipped the unit on it’s head then placed in two spacers to act as a ledge. If you’re following along with the video, you’ll notice I’m placing the shelves with the pocket holes down. This way you won’t see them when the unit is complete. Also, if you get a set of mobile miter saw stand build plans and have a different saw you’ll just need to measure from a flat surface up to the deck of your saw to figure out where to place this shelf.
I repeated with new spacers to place the shelf. If you wanted to change up your stand so it was all shelves you could carry on with this process until the space was filled.
Lets go ahead and keep things upside down for a second. It will just make attaching the next pieces easier. These parts will be what the wings will be hinged onto later on. Since they need to be flushed to the top of the sides, I could use some glue (in this case I’m using Titebond Original) then only worry about lining it up flush to the front. With that the body is done, I could move the entire thing down to the ground and start attaching the wings.
To do this I first cut to size a piano hinge to fit the fold up wings. You can make quick work of this if you use a reciprocating saw but a hack saw will work as well. I used my SuperJaws to hold onto the hinge as I cut it. To make sure it was lined up in the proper place I used two Bessey quick clamps to clamp down a scrap board to the top of my wing.
Since piano hinge screws are so small and hard to get started, I used a small pre drill before driving in the screws. If you use the stock screws that come with the hinge, I recommend driving them in by hand as they are incredibly easy to over tighten and strip out.
Next, I repeated the process by setting the wing in place and attaching the other side of the hinge to the built out piece I attached in the last step. I suppose I could have made things easier on myself by leaving the unit upside down on my workbench. That’s a tip to make your build easier, if you tackle this one. Alright then after repeating on the other side you can see I have two foldable wings. Now to add the supports to keep them open.
I cut yet another two strips of hinge to length, then stuck one wing support at a time in my SuperJaws to attach. I went ahead and upgraded the screws used here to something a little more heavy duty than the stock screws. Oh, with the wings being directional I made sure I was attaching the hinge in the correct orientation so that it would fold correctly when opened and closed.
With the body on it’s head and both wings opened up, I started by setting one wing support into place and lining it up. It’s important to attach this hinge on at a true 90 degree angle so that when it swings out to support the wing it will hold it up level. After predrilling the holes in the hinge on the opposite side, I also used the beefier screws to attach it to the body of the stand.
Next I attached a stop. I first positioned the wing so that it would provide the most support to the center of the area where a board would be laid across, took a few measurements to get the other wing in the same position, then cut a small block from some thin scrap I had in my bin. I didn’t want to use nails or screws to attach it so I applied some quick setting glue called Thick and Quick.
I love this stuff, it’s from Titebond so it’s quality but you just need to apply pressure for about 60 seconds before moving on.
I typically fold the wings up from the front but I’m trying to stay out of your way so you can see. Wing goes up, support comes out, stops against the block on the underside then it’s ready to use but when you’re done one or both can be flipped back down and you’re back to a small footprint for storage or even general use.
In the bottom most cubby, you could use this space to store a shop vac however, I love having a place to toss the cut offs that I’ll be trashing so I stuck with making a bin. It’s simple construction for the box but I did cut in a handle on both the front and back pieces as well as a lower profile to make tossing items in easier.
This is great for keeping the work area clean, as you’re getting rid of waste as soon as you create it, but I also very frequently root through here when needing material to cut spacers from.
Alright one last step! I took the time to quickly coat the wings as well as the top shelf with a clear coat. I’m getting in the habit of applying this to all my unfinished shop furniture to give it a coat of protection. Just incase a drink gets set down on it or something spills. This finish makes it very easy to wipe off and clean.
That’s it for the build portion. This is easily a day build so if you’ve been needing a better mobile miter saw stand solution, I encourage you to take it on. You can see that by rebuilding the body, I not only cut down on the footprint of the entire unit but also gave the saw the room it needed to wag it’s tail freely.
And that’s the end of this build. Leave me a comment and let me know what you think about my stand! I hope you enjoyed it and don’t forget you can get a set of plans here.
I’ll see you on my next build!
ISOtunes Bluetooth Hearing Protection
Miter saw
Track saw
Band saw
Pocket Hole Jig
Corner Clamping Jig
Casters
Wood Glue
Piano hinges
Super jaws
Bessey Clamps
Titebond Thick & Quick
General Finishes High Performance
18 Gauge Brad Nailer
3 Responses
Really enjoy ALL of your projects and videos – you are so creative! I will be ordering several of your project plans. I am looking to build a drill press table. I just ordered Rockler’s Fence (kinda wondering why I didn’t just build it). Anyway I’ll look through your plans for a DP table.
One question for you; it didn’t appear that you used locking castors for your miter table. How do you -if indeed you do-secure your table when sawing?
Many thanks, and a Big Job well done!
Ken
I live in San Francisco in a room and have been thinking about how I can make a jeweler’s bench that folds down to take minimal room while I’m not creating. This gave me some great ideas, thanks.
I just got my dream workshop built, 20×24, after 24 years. Just retired from the Army and never could settle. Anyway, pegboards and shelved…Complete. Now I’m about to go into the work table phase of building and came across your videos. Love, ❤️❤️ them. Even the split AC, gotta go for it…awesome!!!! Gotta get my paws on some of your plans.
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