I’ve built the ultimate workbench with room for both your table saw and mitre saw (as well as outfeed space) and plenty of storage and room to grow. Free building plans here.
My Ultimate workbench has been months in the making and will likely continue to evolve for months to come as my needs change. That’s what’s great about these workbench building plans – I’ve created a perfect saw station complete with a recessed table saw section and outfield table, as well as a mitre saw station all within a single (large) build.
I decided I wanted a large – 4′ x 8′ – workspace that would house my table saw, mitre saw, shop vac and planer and give me extra storage space for paint, tools etc that seem to pile up all over my She-shop.
To that end, I decided to build an “ultimate workbench” as a series of cabinets – versus a large table on 2″x4″ legs. Each cabinet is made up of ¾” plywood and serves a different purpose within the overall workbench space.
This workbench is stationary, I didn’t think it was reasonable to have something this size on wheels and to be honest, I didn’t really want the option to move it around. I like the ‘solid’ feeling of having my saws unable to move around.
Please bear with my Sketchup drawings – I lost my original copy and now have to work with the free online version or fork out $300 US per year for a new one. For now we’re going to attempt building plans with the free. lol
This is the underside of the workbench, made up of 2″x4″s to keep the base plywood off of the ground and give the overall workstation a 3″ toe kick.
I started with the 90″ (7’6″) 2×4’s for the outside and then tucked the 39″ (3’3″) sections inside at either end. Overall width of the base will be 43″ x 90″ which allows for a 3″ overhang all the way around the base.
You’ll notice that the centre length isn’t actually centred within the base – this is because the plywood on top won’t be centred either. It’s been positioned slightly off-centre to make adequate room for the table saw on one side and the mitre saw on the other. It’s totally up to you whether you finish out your base centred or not – I just wanted a little extra stability in a particular spot. Screw everything to gather with 2 ½” – 3″ construction screws.
Next, place your first 4’x8′ sheet of ¾” plywood over top of the base, leaving a 3″ overhang all the way around your ultimate workbench.
Screw into place with 1 ¼” construction screws around the outer edge of the base and along the centre sections so that your base doesn’t have any give or wobble.
I pre-cut some of the base pieces ahead of time and drilled pocket holes every 6″.
I started with the table saw cabinet section by installing a 4′ by 33″ (2’9″) board 22 ¼” (1′ 10 ¼”) back from the narrow edge of the workbench base. This was held in place with 1 ¼” pocket hole screws.
I then attached the smaller sides per the building plans above.
I should note however, that the measurements for my table saw shelf were based on my DeWalt table saw and that you should verify the height and depth of your table saw before building. You may need your table saw shelf to be higher or lower and possibly even deeper than I have used in these ultimate workbench building plans.
I used a jigsaw to cut a small notch in the ¾” plywood to the left of the table saw to allow for extension and contraction of my rip fence.
I left a 6″ section on the far left of this portion of the workbench for small parts storage – I’ll show you the French cleat system I used later in this article.
Now it’s time to move on to the mitre saw section of this ultimate workbench;
I’m not sure how to explain this any better than the photo shows except to say that these building plans were also made to accommodate a DeWalt 12″ compound bevel mitre saw, so the mitre saw shelf is recessed enough so that the ultimate workbench surface is flush to the cutting surface and allows for full range of the blade for any angle cuts.
Again, pocket holes were drilled every 6″ and then attached to the base (and each other) with 1 ¼” pocket screws. The mitre saw is on the opposite side of the bench from the table saw to allow for more space (longer pieces of wood) while cutting at the mitre station and a bit of outfeed space for the table saw. (I rarely cut 4’x8′ sheets of ply, but should I need to, I can just move the mitre saw off of the workbench and use the entire thing as an outfeed.)
At this point I added my work surface. It might have looked better if I’d used a full sheet of ¾” ply with sections cut out of it, but it was much easier to piece it together. Each section was attached with 1 ¼” pocket screws drilled up from the frame sections.
I lived with my workbench like this for a while, until I found uses for the extra storage spaces I had created.
On one side, I’ve left the base completely open to hold my scroll saw, drill press and planer – you could easily add shelves to this section if you wanted additional storage.
After using my ultimate workbench for a while I decided I needed some storage that wouldn’t collect sawdust – something to house rags, extension cords, small camps and jigs.
I opted for a drawer section and some narrow shelves for spray paints.
I inserted some 2″x4″ boards into the drawer section to hold and reinforce the table surface and then build three large drawers (1″ smaller than the space) to fit inside.
I used full-extension drawer glides with a 75lb weight capacity to be sure I had enough strength to hold whatever gets tucked inside.
Don’t worry that the drawers don’t reach edge-to-edge; a face frame on the front will hide the spaces and 2″x4″s.
The spray paint shelves on my ultimate workbench were cut from excess plywood and are deep enough, at 6″, to hold two rows of spray paint cans per shelf – so roughly 45 cans of spray paint.
It’s so pretty!!
The last thing I did to my workbench – outside of giving it a coat of paint – was to cut a hole from the table saw section around and through to the space next to the mitre saw – where I house my shop vac. The hole is big enough to feed the vacuum hose through to keep sawdust accumulation to the vac itself.
You can see the hose next to my drill press in the below photo,
and where my shop vac is placed to keep everything tucked into one neat footprint.
I’m using the large section next to the table saw for larger plywood scraps (for now) and I may build in a couple more drawers in the area below the table saw itself, but for now, I don’t have anymore storage needs that aren’t being met – so like I said, this may continue to be a work in progress.
For the measurements and details on how I built the French cleat storage bins in the photo below, check out my Small Parts Bins post.
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Ultimate workbench
This was a difficult article to write, so if I’ve left things out (I apologize), please leave your questions in the comments and I will do my best to flesh things out more clearly.
I purchased 5 sheets of 4′ x 8′ plywood for this build, plus pocket screws and drawer glides – so the approximate cost of this build was $450 CDN – not a cheap build, but one that will allow me to work efficiently and safely on numerous other builds down the road.
This really is the ultimate workbench and I’m so thrilled with how it turned out and how well it functions in my little She-shop!
Have a great one!