Your circular saw is one of the most important tools in your woodworking arsenal.
Versatile, powerful and time-saving, you can achieve a lot with it. However, it’s not going to do you much good if you can’t position it on a circular saw stand.
This powerful tool needs a place to rest, and a spot for you to position wood for clear and straight cuts.
Let’s look over the ideal dimensions for a good circular saw table, what you’ll need to make your own custom unit, and everything in between.
Contents
What is the Perfect Size?
The perfect size circular saw stand will be adjustable.
However, since we’re not buying a stand, we need a good set of dimensions to shoot for.
It’s important to keep in mind that you need maximum mobility since your saw is not affixed to the bench, like a miter saw.
The ideal dimensions are 31” W x 25” L x 33” H—this gives the best range of mobility, and allows for enough room to put larger pieces of wood.
Even if some piece overhang, those will usually be long boards that are lightweight enough for you to hold them properly in place.
Materials Needed
- (1) 31” W x 25” L piece of ¾” plywood
- (8) 31” H, ¾” thick plywood boards (some will be left over)
- (4) 1” W x 2” L x 1” H wood blocks
- Wood glue of choice
- (various amount) 1 ½” long screws
- (various amount) 2” long screws
- At least 76” of aluminum weatherside cornering
Wood vs. Metal
You can absolutely make a metal top to it, but it’s not necessary.
You’ll notice that it protects the wood frame and base better and is a lot easier to clean.
Plus, if you’re going for some minor aesthetic points, it makes it look just like a store-bought model.
Simply having a wooden top doesn’t improve or diminish the quality of your circular saw stand. As long as there’s enough room, you’re good to go.
If you wish, you can get a piece of ¼” thick aluminum sheeting that matches the dimensions of the plywood. You’ll be applying it to the top of the plywood and securing it with screws.
Tools Needed
- Circular Saw: How else are you going to make cuts? It’s going to be a bit difficult, but you will need a temporary spot to use this while you cut the wood down to size.
- Clamps: When it comes time to cut part of the legs, you’ll be using clamps to hold things in place after you make your measurement markings.
- Electric Drill: You’ll need different bits to drill the holes, so be sure to have a set ready. We’re going to use larger screws for the top.
- Marking Tool: You’ll be free-handing part of this without a stand (horribly ironic, isn’t it?), so let’s get our markings straight so there are no mistakes.
- Electric Sander: Just because it’s a basic table doesn’t mean we can’t make it look nice with a belt sander. It’s good to have this for splinters and splits in the legs as well..
Step by Step Guide
This simple circular saw stand is going to be effective while giving you a decent amount of surface space, and will be lightweight enough to move around. Let’s get to building.
Make Cuts on the Plywood
You should make a cut along the width of the wood.
Start at 6” away from the width and length of the corner. Cut along the width until you reach the same area on the other side.
The result should be a 19” slice that’s six inches from the edge. You want this slice to be three times the thickness of your aluminum cornering.
Repeat this on the other side so you will have two tracks to run your saw through.
Fit With Aluminum Cornering
There’s going to be a bit of cutting involved here, but you want to get 19” of aluminum cornering, and affix it onto one side of the slice.
It will take two 19” pieces on each slat for a total of 76” between both sides of the table.
You’re making thin aluminum guardrails with the ends facing down (through the wood, which will be underneath the table).
Now you’ll have two metal-lined thin tracks that your circular saw should be able to glide in.
Flip It Upside Down
You can select the size of the stand, but if we’re going for maximum stability, you want to make the legs on the actual corners of the table.
Use some of those boards and cut them appropriately, so you have two 31” long and ¾” thick boards.
You’re going to wood glue them along the long edges of the table.
In the remaining areas, cut two boards appropriately, down to 23.5” each (accounting for the thickness of plywood) and glue them into place as well.
This would be a good time to use your clamps.
Screw it Into Place
After the wood glue has had a bit of time to dry, gently flip the table back over. You basically now have an elevated platform with some aluminum slats in it.
Take your drill, and put 1 ½” screws around the corners, spacing every six inches. These will go down into the frame board we just created, and hold everything in place.
Set your table aside so we can separately work on the legs.
Creating Stability
One by one, we’re going to make the table legs and stability. Your boards should already be cut to size: you’re going to use four of them as legs.
One by one, take those wooden blocks and center the longboards standing up on the block. Drive some 2” screws through the bottom of the block and into the boards.
Use two for stability, repeat this process four times.
Attaching the Legs
With your tabletop flipped upside down, you’re going to wood glue the legs into the corners you created underneath the table.
Use glue on the end, as well as the side of the board that will be flush with the corner you created. Use clamps to keep it in place.
Do this for all four of the legs, and flip it upright. We’re almost done.
Finishing it Off
Take 2” screws and drive them through the top of the table right through the leg boards. Just like with the feet, we want to drive two screws through it for stability.
Once the wood glue dries, remove the clamps, and you’ll now have a stable circular saw stand.
Is a Circular Saw Stand Just a Miter Saw Stand?
Not exactly.
A miter saw is affixed to the stand or table that it rests on, and is gently brought downward to cut through the wood.
You’re moving the wood underneath the blade, not the blade through the wood. It is possible to affix your circular saw and put it on a spring to treat it like a miter saw, but there’s no real need.
Does This Stand Help Keep Wood in Place?
No, it simply provides a safe area for you to draw your saw through.
Because of the 6” buffer on either side, it’s also a safe table because you won’t be bringing the blade too close to your or the edge.
You’ll want to keep wood in place with a few clamps. In our recommendation, if you build this circular saw stand, you should leave about four clamps constantly clung to the edge of the table, just for quick access.
Sometimes you’ll have to secure a board or large piece of wood into the corner before cutting it, at which point you’ll need at least two clamps.
The other side/slat of the table is designed to be used by a fellow woodworker, or while teaching your children how to woodwork.
Alternatively, it can also be used to make measured cuts on one piece of wood without having to readjust it.
Can I Put a Finish on my Circular Saw Stand/Table?
More power to you.
It’s not necessary, and this bench was made with basic needs in mind, so you could always upgrade to another stand in the future.
If you want to apply a finish, just be certain that it doesn’t get in the saw slit. It can be cut away, but it’s just aggravating and doesn’t need to happen.
If you wish to finish it, wait until the project is done.
Apply either 100% pure tung oil or polyurethane, and understand that it’s going to get a bit messed up from wood scratches over time.
There’s nothing wrong with taking pride in something like this that you built from scratch, so feel free to get creative with the aesthetics once it’s built.
DIY Woodworking for DIY Woodworking
You just used woodworking to help you get further with woodworking—look at your sufficiency and be proud of it.
Now that you’ve made the perfect circular saw stand, it’s time to move on to your workbench and the rest of your workshop.
Take it one step at a time, and use this stand in all of your future projects to keep things nice and even.
