Here’s one for your workshop – a nifty tool hack in the form of a portable/moveable stand to make working with a circular saw or jig saw easier!
This nifty little stand can be made out of just about anything – depending on what you have lying around – from plain off-cut pine, to chipboard or even, if you have the inclination, metal.
The point of it is to raise the item you’re working on – say a plank or board – above the surface of your normal workbench in order to give the blade of the tool you’re using (the jigsaw or circular saw) clearance underneath. On a normal workbench you’d just have the space around the edges of the working surface to use, and that’s not usually ideal.
All this little contraption is, is a U-shaped broad piece of wood with two side pieces on either end to act like legs. Depending on what sort of task I’m busy with, I can use it like a small “table” with the flat surface on top, or with the legs facing up to create a trestle for the item I’m working on – as you can see in the photos!
Because it’s not fastened down, it’s also easy to rotate and change its position on the workbench so you can find the best position for whichever task you’re currently busy with – and it’s also fairly easy to stow out of the way when you need the space for other tasks. It’s made a huge difference to various cutting tasks and taken a lot of frustration off my shoulders! I wish I’d thought of it sooner!
There are no specific measurements I can give you to make this item ideal for you – you can make it according to your own size requirements, but if you must know what measurements mine has, here they are: 36cm x 55cm for the top, and 10cm x 36cm for the legs. The most important thing is that the legs lifts the object you’re working on high enough off your work surface to give the blade of the tool you’re using, enough clearance!
Originally this item was made to use as a desktop computer monitor stand, for those heavy old glass CRT monitor screens! We don’t use those at all anymore – goodness, but they used to take up a lot of space, didn’t they? Anyway, it looks like I found a great way to reuse this stand instead of breaking it up for the wood – and it really makes my life easier!
Pics included – enjoy!
Have a DIY day! 🙂
Cheers!
All material copyright © Christina Engela, 2020.