A benchtop or jobsite table saw is one of the most useful tools in a small shop, and also one of the most awkward to live with; most of them ship with a flimsy folding leg stand that offers nowhere to put a push stick, no dust collection, and nothing under the saw but open air. This build replaces that stand with a rolling plywood cabinet: the saw drops into a dedicated bay up top, dust collection routes straight into the saw’s port, and everything underneath becomes usable storage instead of wasted space.
Finished Project Overview
The finished cabinet is a birch plywood box on locking casters, sized to match the footprint of a compact jobsite-style table saw (a DeWalt compact saw, based on the branding visible in the shop photos, though the exact model isn’t confirmed). The saw sits in an open bay at the top of the cabinet rather than being permanently fastened down, which keeps it easy to lift out if it’s ever needed elsewhere in the shop. Below the saw bay: an open shelf, then a full-depth drawer with a routed hand-pull (no separate pull hardware needed) for blades, push sticks, and other saw accessories. A dust collection hose runs directly from inside the cabinet to the saw’s dust port, and a simple cleat on the side of the cabinet keeps the extension cord coiled and off the floor instead of trailing across the shop.
Dimensions & Specifications
No dimensions, cut list, or measured drawings survive from this build. What’s confirmable from the photos: the cabinet is sized specifically to accept a compact/jobsite table saw footprint (not a full-size contractor or cabinet saw), stands roughly counter height, and rolls on four casters mounted through a plywood base plate.
Materials
- Birch plywood (cabinet carcass, drawer box, and drawer/shelf dividers)
- Full-extension metal drawer slides
- Locking casters (four, mounted through a plywood base plate with carriage bolts)
- Flexible dust collection hose, routed from the shop’s collector to the saw’s dust port
- A compact/jobsite-style table saw (existing tool, not built as part of this project)
Exact plywood thickness/grade, drawer slide length and load rating, fastener sizes, and finish (the plywood is left raw/unfinished in every photo, no stain or topcoat visible) aren’t documented.
Tools
Photos of the build in progress show a cordless drill/driver, bar and F-style clamps, and a combination/framing square used to check the carcass for square during assembly. The table saw itself was, naturally, also used to cut the plywood parts.
Design Considerations
A few deliberate choices stand out in the photos:
- The saw isn’t bolted in. It sits in an open-top bay rather than being permanently mounted, so it can still be pulled out and used elsewhere, or swapped for a different saw later, without modifying the cabinet.
- Dust collection is built into the cabinet, not bolted onto the saw. The hose is routed inside the cabinet body directly to the saw’s dust port, so the collection point travels with the cabinet instead of needing to be re-rigged every time the saw comes out for a cut.
- Storage is layered by access frequency. The open shelf above the drawer holds things you want to grab without opening anything; the full drawer below, with its routed hand-pull, holds everything else.
- The cord storage cleat is a small detail that solves a real annoyance, a coiled extension cord living on a shop floor is a trip hazard and a saw-dust magnet; mounting a cleat on the cabinet side keeps it up, contained, and ready to unspool.
Build Process
The build sequence is visible across the shop photos, start to finish:
The cabinet carcass came together first: the two side panels and internal shelf dividers were dry-fit on sawhorses to check the layout before glue-up.
With the carcass square, the drawer box and its full-extension slides went in next.
The drawer front got a hand-cut pull notch instead of separate pull hardware, a detail that keeps the front flush and avoids a hardware purchase.
With the cabinet body complete (drawer installed, open shelf in place, saw bay clear), the table saw dropped in and the dust collection hose was routed inside the cabinet to the saw’s dust port.
Last, the side-mounted cord storage cleat, which turns an always-underfoot extension cord into a coiled, contained accessory.
Challenges and Solutions
No build notes documenting specific problems or fixes survive for this project. The photos do show one implicit design answer worth calling out: rather than trying to permanently integrate the saw’s factory rip-fence rail system into the cabinet, the rail was left intact and simply extends off the side of the cabinet as built, which keeps the saw’s stock fence fully functional without custom fence-mounting work.
Lessons Learned
Not documented for this project.
Cost & Build-Time Observations
No cost or build-time information is available for this project.
Finished Project Gallery
Related Projects
If a dedicated, mobile, dust-collecting cabinet appeals for this saw, the same approach was used for the shop’s miter saw station; see the Miter Saw Station build for a matching, dust-collection-equipped mobile cabinet for a different tool.