# Minimum Lengths for Miter Station?



## jaykal001 (Nov 27, 2013)

Hi all -
I'm sure this will stir up everyone, but maybe fun for a Monday 

I have a spot in my basement shop, where I'm building a miter station. In a perfect world, I'd have a 20 foot wall that I can fill up, but it's not reality for me.
Question - For the majority of your needs, is 5ft left of the blade and 3ft to the right "good enough" ?

My thoughts are that I rarely work with anything longer than 8ft, and even if I have 10ft I'd be cutting something off of it at the saw (thus half is always supported)
In my head, I think this is functionally fine, but would love to hear from folks who maybe have a smaller set up and can weigh in.
I have an aluminum extrusion I can position if needed for stop, so I think i'm good there - even if it's hanging off the end.
Understanding there could be some circumstances where I need to get creative, but I work in a basement shop, so that's half of every project 

Thanks, Jay


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## _Ogre (Feb 1, 2013)

small shop takes creativity, make a 30'' workbench and mount the chop saw at 40'' with no fixed supports. this allows 10'' of ''stuff'' on the workbench. have movable supports that you can place or screw down on the workbench. my buddy has narrow shop, his chopsaw and workbench at the same height, he's gotta move stuff every time he uses the chopsaw

i have a bigger shop and have a dedicated 12 foot wall for my radial arm saw. 8 feet left, 18'' right, but i can place a support to the right if needed


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## GuitarPhotographer (Jun 26, 2015)

I have a dedicated miter saw bench with 8' on the left and 5' on the right. The space on the right used to be much longer but a saw replacement (10" to 12") caused me to have to move the saw back, so it now is limited by an old chimney.


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## Terry Q (Jul 28, 2016)

I work with lots of ten-foot, rough cut lumber which usually comes in 10 1/2 feet long lengths. I need to cut the ends off to square them up so I need one side to be nearly 10 1/2 feet long. I have stops and fences, but they extend only 5 1/2 feet to left and 3 1/2 feet to right so there is no support for the end of the long boards but it isn’t a problem on the 5 1/2 foot side. I’m only rough cutting at the time anyway.


In woodworking there is always more then one way to accomplish something.


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## jaykal001 (Nov 27, 2013)

Terry, that's an interesting thought, but I was sort of thinking the same thing.
Even if cutting the end off of a 8' board, If it's a rough cut, there's nothing saying the adjacent face is square anyways. I can just balance/chop it there in that case, or just chop it off with a jigsaw just as easy too.

I think I have a max span of 11 feet, but the last 2 feet on the far right have some obstructions. I'll be able to float a wing out there, but no cabinet/drawers/etc under it.


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## John Smith_inFL (Jul 4, 2018)

yes, in the perfect world, a dedicated bench would be great.
I just recently put my miter saw on a rolling cabinet the same height 
as the table saw which works quite well for me in my cramped space.
soon, everything will be on rollers level with the table saw.

.


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## NoThankyou (Mar 21, 2018)

I have a dedicated SCMS set up. 

To the right is almost infinity with the garage door open. Between 4 and 5 feet supported. To the left is 15 feet sort of supported. To the left I may have to move the drill press table out of the way, (Raise or lower). These supported surfaces double as work surfaces. The trick is to build the bench top so that the table of the SCMS is level with the work surfaces. You can adjust the height of the SCMS using washers.


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## FrankC (Aug 24, 2012)

If you have space on either side, just not supported, then you need a "hired man" as my father called it, a stand to support the material.

http://sawdustmaking.com/Hired Man/hiredman.html


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## Tool Agnostic (Aug 13, 2017)

Our Craftsman miter saw was a Mother's Day gift for my spouse many years ago. It is a basic, single bevel, non-sliding, compound miter saw. She loves molding, baseboard, chair rails, etc. Our old Craftsman miter saw is on the included metal stand, against one wall. For short cuts - there it is, ready to use. 

A lot of the molding that we buy comes in 16 foot lengths. When we need to make longer cuts, we pull the miter saw away from the wall, which puts it in the main "corridor" of the garage/workshop, giving us the room we need. The left side goes out the back garage door, and the right side goes deeper into the garage/workshop. 

We make supports from trash cans, other tools that are on stands and wheeled cabinets, and sometimes a helper to hold the long molding as we make the initial cuts of the long lengths. We don't always cut the molding in half. Sometimes we use the full 16 foot length on a long wall, with just the angle cuts at the ends, so we need nearly 16 feet on each side. 

It works for us. 

P.S. Remember to align your saw from time to time. It is something that I tend to neglect, and then I am suddenly stunned and surprised when I check it and find that it is not as square as I want after years of sloppy use. Caulking hides a lot. :-(


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## Toolman50 (Mar 22, 2015)

If you don’t afix your Miter stand to the workbench or the wall behind it you can always slide it away from the wall to use the full 20’ of wall space you say you have. So if you build the stand 8’ wide as suggested above you could still pull the stand forward if more length is needed. 
Moldings are typically sold in 8’, 10’, and 12’ lengths.


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## gj13us (Apr 19, 2016)

jaykal001 said:


> Question - For the majority of your needs, is 5ft left of the blade and 3ft to the right "good enough" ?



Yes, for the majority of the time, but not always. It's the "not always" times that you need to plan for. 

Like others replied, make the set-up moveable so you can reposition it when needed.


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## Mikhail2400 (Jun 20, 2018)

You said "In my head, I think this is functionally fine". Thats when down the road I usually find myself wondering why I made some thing to small or large. If you can get away with it add more length on both sides. You may not all ways need the extra length but when you do need it you will be glad you have it. Also when you dont need that extra room you can use the extra table space which is all ways nice to have.


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## NewBlackDak (Mar 15, 2021)

I built my first with 6’ right, and 4’ left, and immediately had pantry project where I was cutting 8’ face frames. 

I moved it to the long wall. The miter station is the same height as all the other tool storage cabinets and work surfaces. It gives me 17’ left, and I can hang out the garage for as long as I need on the right. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## Jim Frye (Aug 24, 2016)

Mine is portable. It sits in my WorkMate and has two 6' extensions that can be placed on either or both sides. When not in use, all three parts hang on the shop walls.








10 in CMS set up for long work pieces with two extension...







www.woodworkingtalk.com


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## B Coll (Nov 2, 2019)

jaykal001 said:


> Hi all -
> I'm sure this will stir up everyone, but maybe fun for a Monday
> 
> I have a spot in my basement shop, where I'm building a miter station. In a perfect world, I'd have a 20 foot wall that I can fill up, but it's not reality for me.
> ...


It is a balance between what you make, what kind of stock you get in, and how much room you have. Most of the lumber I get in is 10'-14' long. I have a decent sized shop. My miter station has 15' left of blade and 10' right of blade. My miter station, though it is on rollers, has a fence that I can slide out and cut 16' left and 10' right of blade with a fence stop.


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## Colosnoball (Oct 16, 2021)

My current mitre saw bench has 8' + 10" left of center and 5' right of center to the closed door. If I open the outside door, I have an additional 10' to the edge of the building next door. 

I used to own radial arm saws, especially for cutting lumber to lengths, and always tried to have an adjacent window or door that could be opened and used with portable support legs that could be set outside the building, to hold the ends of planks etc. up. 

Easy choices aren'r always available, however. I find walls in workshops are always in the way.


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