Building a sliding shelf for my cut-off saw with floating storage underneath. A space-saving workshop solution when you have more tools than bench space.
I was given a cut-off saw as a gift. The saw is very, very handy. But I have no where in the garage to put it!
Because I dont use it as frequently as my other tools and most of the use of the saw is in the preparation (ie. the saw is only under power for a brief period of time). I decided to make a sliding shelf for it so that it slides under my main bench while i’m not using it. This is my first project involving both wood and metal together, so it was quite exciting.
Design and planning the project took a while (I am not very good at either) but at the end it was executed fairly well with only minor adjustments needed along the way. All in all the shelf is very sturdy (I added additional brackets that you cant see in the pictures later on) and ive used it several times since installation.
Design and planning. This took quite a while to do and im certain there is a much better and easier way of doing this. But im not too good in this part of the project and I lack brilliant ideas. Never-the-less, the shelf turned out nice
Shown here are also pieces of metal I can use for the shelf. Also shown here is the saw.
The shelf will be made to go here
This is under the bench
Another shot of where the saw will placed
The metal ill be using
Cuting the wood for the shelf
Drill press is so darn handy! Im using my new drill press to make the holes in the brackets which screw in to the wood
Brackets screwed in to the wood from below, so you dont see the screw heads from above
hanging shelf brackets
The wood with metal brackets will slide in and out for saw use
At the time I didnt realise this, but the retiaining metal (top square tube) wasnt long enough to hold the shelf in place when it was slid out completely. This was fixed later
Preparing to retro-fit
But the hold in my bench
Screwed in place. No stablising brackets just yet
The static shelf wasnt wide enough, so I had to cut the metal and extend it a couple of mm
The shelf was sliding out of place, so I welding in some guides
This is where I realised the metal tubes were long enough. Ive removed them (plenty of grinding!) and placing them at a better location
All is set and in place
Fully extended shelf. Looks great! But wobbly at this point. Added braces later on using opposing forces to make it more stable
Saw in the fully open position. It doesnt knock up against the bench, perfect!
