shop "tables" height

[CNT]

I have nothing better to talk about at this time, so I like to bring up router table height... So ye got?

I am going to build my own router table cabinet. I have to deicide on how high. I keep thinking of MIGHT be able to use the router table as outfeed table.

Table saw is 35 1/2" high and other stationeries are 40" and 43". I think I will go with the 40".

What do you guys have for the miter saw? What is the height of the top of the base (where you put the wood on)? Mine is 43" high (just put it on top of my RAS). Someday, I will make a spot for the miter saw and thought would 40" be little low for a miter saw? Had a little dream of having the miter saw and router table on one wall (maybe with a window :P).

How effective is having wheels for moving the router table? Or one of those step-thing that picks up the table and move it, then step on again to lower the cabinet to it's resting spot?

I haven't made a workbeach yet, saving it for when we move to more room. Then I can make a heavy one (maybe with those step-thing wheels?) and level that one with the table saw.

Chuck

[Teamcasa]

All of the tables and work benches are the same height as my tablesaw and router table. This has worked out very well.

The miter saw and RAS are on the same table and the same height as everything else.

If you have a space crunch, then wheels work good. Dave

Posted Via Usenet.com Premium Usenet Newsgroup Services

---------------------------------------------------------- ** SPEED ** RETENTION ** COMPLETION ** ANONYMITY **

----------------------------------------------------------

[Leon]

I do not loke bending over for hours at a time at the router table. 2 or 3 hours straight is not unusual. I prefer the router table to be taller so that there is no bending. On the other hand. if you put a lot of big panels for cabinet doors up there to do round overs too tall may make it tough to handle the large panels. I recently put my steel work bench on 5 inch wheels and was shocked at how high the top was. I really like it that tall now.

I have 2 fixed wheels on the back side of my router cabinet almost even with the floor but not touching the floor. When I want to move the cabined I tilt it back like a 2 wheel dolly and move it around.

[CNT]

I agree, this is why I am asking what you guys have it set at. I forgot to mention that I am a regular 6ft tall gentleman. Could you at least take out your tape measure and measure how high is your router table top (as it is heightened)?

Excellent idea. I didn't think of that! I might do that then! Do you have a pic of it (so I can imagine it better, just the wheel part, bet it's all wrapped up with webs?).

[Nicky]

Good move!

Router table not ok by window, a view could distract the task at hand, CMS will spray dust on your view or you'll be distracted. If you have a dust hood, will ruin view. Save the view for a nice workbench, and enjoy the view.

I might have gotten carried away but everything is on wheels. My router table is 30" x 60", on wheels. Really helps when machining long stock or large panals.

Now you're talking. But you need two, one for the outfeed of the TS, the second for under the window. I've seen a lot of different benches, and I do believe this is where so much space is wasted. Build drawers and cabinet space under, you won't regret it, especially if you're space challenged. I will be starting a bench project myself here before long, have really been looking at a lot of great designs, and I will incorporate storage.

[Edwin Pawlowski]

Sure, that can work.

My router talbe is 1/4" higher than my workbench at 36". The reason for the router table to be slightly hiher is if I'm putting a long piece through, it will go over instead of hit the bench next to it.

Right now it is on a Stanley plastic table. Easily moved, but some day I'd like it on a station against a wall.

Mine is on wheels, but I have locks for leveling and keeping it steady.

[CNT]

OK.

I was just saying "window" meaning a shop out of the basement. I saw a house one time that had a long, good sized shop build in between the house and detached garage. I would say it's about 30 to 40 feet long! It had all windows on two walls and he had all kinds of stationaries in it. Thought it was neat for that design.

Boy, I am really asking how HIGH you guys have the router table set to, not how wide or long.

I got the tablesaw on wheels, thought that would be enough (at least for my little shop). Well, I also have the bandsaw on wheels (and move/use it quite a lot), but not the drillpress.

I agree about having drawers/cabinets under the workbench, but sometimes leaving it open is meaningful. Could put a shopvac under there or (my plan) scraps bin. Often I "tunk" my feet/leg under the workbench.

What you mean for the second bench "under the window"?

WILL SOMEBODY START GIVING OUT HEIGHT MEASUREMENTS... :)

Chuck

[Dan]

WILL SOMEBODY START GIVING OUT HEIGHT MEASUREMENTS... :)

Chuck;

My router table is 37" high. There is no underlying reason why it is that tall except that it is just comfortable for me to work on.

Hope that helps some and make more sawdust,

Woodworkerdan Dan Harriman Orange, Texas

[Jim]

I once read something that was fairly amusing but serious about the height of tools & it turned out to be a bit tall, IMO. "Keep working heights between your belt & your belly button." I'm 5'11" with standard legs, so that puts stuff between 39" & 42" for me.

I made my bench 40" tall because that's how high my RAS table was. I like it for working on small stuff (no bending over), but anything larger than a foot high & it becomes a pain. I plan on cutting a few inches off when I can get around to it. It's also too high to get my shoulder into a plane properly with wider boards. I think I'd rather bend over a bit more than work at chest height.

Roy Underhill has stated that he likes his benches shorter than most people & at one shop he went back to, found all the benches were up on blocks that added a couple of inches. I think his measurement was 32" but it's been a while. He does all handtool work.

I guess what all that adds up to is I'd like my bench to be about 36" & that seems to be what I recall seeing around. Your router table can certainly be taller, though. I would think 40 would be pretty good if you're not running tall stuff through it.

Jim

[Bob G.]

The ONLY two tools that I have set HIGH (both 43 inches) are my router table and my bandsaw... Reason is that I do not like bending over ... and I can see better... IF I did a lot of resawing I would not have my bandsaw set so high ...

I also have a router set up in the outfeed table of the table saw BUT it is way way ...did I say way...too low to use comfortability .

Bob Griffiths

[Patriarch]

CNT wrote in news: [e-mail]:

Mine are 34.5" tall. That's lower than is comfortable for me.

Everything except the bench and drill press are on wheels, because I need the room for infeed and outfeed of stock longer than 30" or so. And when the weather is nice, even many of the stationary tools move out to the driveway.

In a dream shop, for the way I work, the router table would be 40-42" high, with maybe 30" of folding wing table on each side. Right now, the table serves as an aux left wing on the left tilting Unisaw, for large panel cutting.

The tablesaw at 34.5" is just fine. The miter saw lives on top of the Craftsman rolling mechanics tool chest my wife bought me for Christmas 6 years ago, unless I need to cut longer stock. Then I'll set up the Ridgid MSUV in the driveway. On sale at $99, it was a good deal. Both about 34" tall.

The Shopsmith in lathe mode is too low. The Delta drill press should be

6" taller, and will be, when I build a proper base. I can live with the standard height of the band saw. Assembly tables get built ad hoc, and recycled into other projects.

Take what you have, and mock things up with blocks of twoby stock, and see if it feels comfortable. Everybody's different. There's more than a couple of us who work in wheelchairs, and get by just fine, with a few adjustments.

Patriarch

[Prometheus]

I imagine that this will vary by the height of the operator- mine is about 38" inches. My table saw is the same, and the miter saw is about 40". At 6'3", 40" is about perfect for me for most things, but sometimes I make things a couple of inches lower if I know that I'm going to want to exert a decent amount of downward force on a piece. If you're shorter, make it shorter- If you're taller, make it taller.

Aut inveniam viam aut faciam

[Prometheus]

I kind of shoot for a height that lines up with my elbow, but that's me. If it's at waist level, I do a lot of bending over, and it's tough on the back. Waist level is about what I go for on my tables that I use for sanding and chiseling, when I am usually sitting down.

Aut inveniam viam aut faciam

[Leon]

. That might be helpful if all of us were exactly the same height.

[Dan]

On Sat 26 Mar 2005 10:49:24a, "Jim" wrote in news: [e-mail]:

Frank Klausz says in one of his videos (I really like watching his videos) that a bench should be of the height you set by extending your arms straight down, relaxed, and then put your hands horizontal, as though you were laying them flat on an imaginary bench. For me, that's a little lower than my belt.

But then I found a transcript of an online chat with Frank, in which he said that the older he got, the higher he wanted his workbench and that he was in the process of building a new, higher one.

My first workbench ended up about 36 or 37 inches. That's about right for me, right now. Now that I've used it a little and I know what I *really* want in a bench, my next one might be a little higher.

I think the bottom line for all this discussion is that you've got to build and use something that you think is ABOUT the right height, and what you discover from working with it will determine what height is best for you.

[skeezics]

mine is 1/8 " lower than my bandsaw table. the bandsaw table is 41 1/2 ". the router table does double duty as an outfeed table for the bandsaw. makes it nice for resawing 2byheavy's. i am also 6' tall and the hight of the router table means i aint bending over all the time. YMMV.

skeez

[CNT]

Not bending over, assuming you use feathers too?

Chuck

[skeezics]

feathers depend on what i am doing. if i am cutting stiles and rails or raising panels then yes i use em. if just detailing edges or cutting circles then no. i realy like the higher table. and my back apreciates it too. :-]>

skeez

[Robert Bonomi]

OK, here's the authoritative checklist:

[ ] some [ ] several [ ] too high ("just right for _me_", says poppa bear) [ ] too low ("just right for _me_", says momma bear) [ ] just right [ ] tall enough to reach from the table top to the ground

[Another Jewish Carpenter]

I raised my TS about 2" to clear my old bench. Since then I've built all new benches and set the hieghts acording to what work is done on them and where they are in the shop. My main bench is in the middle of the shop and just below below the hieght of the TS because a sheet of plywood may extend over the bench and i want my fingers under the wood when i push it through the saw. I have a long bench on one wall where I built in my RAS, cut off saw and router plate with guides for the fence. This bench is at 36" and comfortable for me but I'm a mere 5'7". The chop saw and RAS fences line up and I can support material as long as required allowing me an easy 8" on either side of the RAS. If i need to run a long length through the mounted router I have a base plate which I can clamp onto the bench and allow ten feet on either side but I find for the kinds of stuff I do (full size furniture but not cabinets) the four feet I have past the regular router plate is sufficient.

I don't like the idea of having a router table built into the outfeed table because I often will use both tools sequentially and having a bit sticking up in my runout area would create potential problems.

I've been thinking about a stand alone router table but will probably just build a small one I can place ontop of my main workbench for small jobs. I like the long table availability although it does tend to clutter with my work habits.

JC