swivel table

[tom coffey]

First off, let me say that my garage is overstuffed, mostly from being dis-organized, but I'm working on it. Thinking about anything/everything I can do to use my space more wisely, I think I will build two stands/tables for some of my power tools. Each table will have a top on it, just large enough for a tool to bolt on. The top will "roll" and latch in place, so on tool is right-side-up, ready for use, while the other hangs upside down underneath. I might put wheels on them.

 

[Indexmill]

Organize your **** first and see where you are.

 

[darkzero]

Craftsman used to sell one. I always wonder how useful it would be & how well it worked. I guess I never thought much of it cause I never looked into buying one. And I am very limited in space in my garage.

 

[Jacobs976]

Might have an issue with stability. Probably why nobody is currently producing commercial models like that. More so accidentally putting pressure on the ends or too much weight total putting too much stress on the swivel mechanism.

Thought about doing a similar setup in my shop to make a recurring job take half the time but there wasn't any viable way to do it because of the weight involved being too much for anything that wouldn't take up even more space.

 

[TailGunner3000]

Think carefully before you spend a lot of time on design and fabrication. I tried a similar approach using a thickness planer as the tool that flipped up. I used a half inch steel rod and four pillow blocks to build the flip up portion of the bench. On paper, it was awesome, but reality was very different. Heavy machines on a single pivot point are inherently unstable, no matter well you think you can secure them. And the desire to save bench space is completely obliterated when you have to constantly clean off the top surface before flipping over and using the machine stored below.

I then switched to a modular system in which tools and machines were secured to wooden boards that had holes placed in a uniform pattern that corresponded to threaded inserts placed in a workbench That allowed for the movement of those same tools and machines between storage and use. Still not great, but a compromise when space limits the ability to have all tools and machines in place for ready use.

 

[rsanter]

I have a friend that built his own version of that craftsman three station one. It worked will and saved space but to me could be a bit of a pain.

I have seen the home build flip ones in the wood workers magazines where you can flip the top and have two tools mounted or you can flip the tool and then be able to slide the thing under a bench. I like these a lot

There is also a setup a friend did that I think is cool
All his bench mount tools are attached to a piece of plywood. He then built a cabinet that these tools slide into such that the playwood board become a shelf or sorts.
Then to use the tool he put it on a workmate as a base. I like this as well

 

[rharman]

Craftsman used to sell one. I always wonder how useful it would be & how well it worked. I guess I never thought much of it cause I never looked into buying one. And I am very limited in space in my garage. https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/attachments/h8897-l267815657-jpg.1676304/

I had one of those a jillion years ago. Seemed like a good idea but, in practice, it was pretty useless.