Very Cheap $30 Miter Saw Stand

I've owned this Parkside PZKS 1500 B2 sliding miter saw for close to 3 years now and every time I need to use it I was moving it from table to table and into the box without it having a permanent space to sit in.

My initial idea was to build a proper miter saw station around it, but since this thing is huge and requires a lot of space in the back, I would have lost access to the wall behind where I want to hang my tools. So instead I've decided to build only a stand and have it available for quick cuts.

The miter saw stand is built out of a 20x20mm square steel tube that is welded together with 5 rails made out of angle iron. On those rails, I've added 5 drawers made out of 12mm particle board. The entire build cost me less than $30 for the materials and about 2 days of work with the filming.

The end result is very practical and above all, it is a perfect project if you want to get started with welding and metalworking as well as if you are a beginner woodworker. I check all those marks and I had great fun making this miter saw stand.

Before I started working on the stand, I made a SketchUp model for it to plan the materials and you can download it on the link below.

https://www.tastethecode.com/downloads/mitre_saw_s...

Materials:

• ~6m of 20 x 20 mm square steel tube
• 2m of 20 x 20 angle iron
• ~3m x 0.6m particle board piece for the drawers. You can use whatever you have on hand.
• 4 machine screws with nuts to make the adjustable height legs

Tools that you will need (affiliate links):

• Circular Saw - https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_Bf89Q1Oz
• Corded Drill - https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_dUI1Qiv
• Cordless Drill - https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_d8QVbHF
• Welding Machine - https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_dXPsRsD
• Welding Magnets - https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_dT8T8Ot
• Angle Grinder - https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_d7qvFUt
• Disk Sander - https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_dVAxVDL
• Quick Release Clamps - https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_dZ5dh3R
• Wood Screws - https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_dXytKKZ
• Bi-Metal Hole Saw - https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_dXGG4CH
• Metal Marker Pen - https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_d6q2fsD
• L Square - https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_dTOzljR
• Folding Ruller - https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_dSJnXkv
• Straight Edge Guide - https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_dSzjNqH
• Dust Mask - https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_dSXYbWd

When I bought the metal I had the people there cut it to length so I can easily put it in my car.

You can get all of the dimensions on the pieces from the SketchUp model and the final stand measures 85cm x 60cm x 45cm.

The ends need to be ground with a chamfer so they can be welded better and I used my angle grinder with a flap disk to clean up both the pipes and the angle iron.

My basement floor is not very flat. It's a roughly poured concrete so in order for the stand to sit flat I wanted to install adjustable legs.

The legs are made out of a screw and a nut, where the nut is welded to the end of the vertical pipes that make the legs.

For easy access, I clamped each of the legs in my vise and then I welded the nut to the end of it so the screw can go inside.

Later, each screw can be adjusted so the stand will sit horizontally at the end.

To prepare the stand sides, I welded two of the legs with a connecting piece to form two U shaped pieces that will be the stand sides.

I used two welding magnets to hold them in place but make sure that you check for squareness as I welded one wrongly and I had to cut it and re-weld it.

Since both of the sides are the same and the drawer slides will be in the same places on both sides, it is a lot easier to weld them now with the sides laying flat on the workbench.

Each slide is placed 15cm apart starting from the top side of the stand.

This way the top drawer will be a bit smaller than the rest but since the front covers will be the same its face will come all the way up to the top surface.

To hold the angle iron in place, I again used the magnets until I tack welded each rail.

The end result is two side pieces that sort of look like ladders.

Before attaching the two sides together, it is best that we do any of the grinding required as we have better access now.

While grinding beside esthetics, make sure to clean up the rails from any welding residue and also round off the sharp corners of them.

The two sides are connected with two horizontal rails at the top. I've placed those two rails on my workbench and then with the help of the magnets I've held the side pieces vertically while tack welding them.

To attach the other side, I used the same procedure and when I had everything tack welded, I checked squareness and proceeded to fully weld all of the joins.

At the bottom, below the bottom drawer, I've added two more horizontal pieces that add a lot of sturdiness to the entire stand. For one of them, I did not have enough square pipe so I used a scrap piece of rebar that I had laying around.

Before proceeding to the next step, make sure that you clean up any of the remaining welds.

To prevent the frame from rust, I've applied a coat of protective paint to the frame.

Feel free to go as fancy as you want with this step. For me, one coat was enough as the environment is not very humid where I am and since it is inside, a single coat of primer can go a long way.

At the top of the stand, there is a piece of particleboard that sits in between the square pipes that make the top ring.

To hold it in place, I've welded some scrap pieces of 1cm flat iron to the pipes on the bottom side and made two 4mm holes in each.

For the shelf, I've used a scrap piece of 16m particleboard and after I cut it to size, I rounded its corners in order to fit better around the welds in the stand frame.

Once the shelf was properly sized, I used 16mm screws from the bottom and secured it in place.

I have a lot of 12mm particleboard pieces to work with so I chose that as the material to make the drawer boxes.

I do not own a table saw so I used my circular saw to cut all of the pieces required for the drawers by clamping a straight edge to the material and using some XPS insulation on the bottom as a spacer.

By being careful enough, all of the pieces came relatively straight and square so make sure that you take your time in measuring and cutting.

For the bottom pieces, I used 3mm thick fiberboard which is generally OK for not that heavy item in the drawers. If you need them to hold more weight then you can use the same particle board as fr the drawer sides and face.

Each drawer is made the same where the sides and the back pieces are a bit smaller than the front. This way the sides can go inside the frame on the rails while the front provides a positive stop on the front legs.

To assemble them, I've pre-drilled two 3mm holes on the front and the back pieces and I butt joined them with the sides by using 3.5mm x 50mm wood screws.

These should be strong enough as long as the drawers are not thrown around.

The bottom pieces are screwed in place with 3.5mm x 16mm wood screws and it is responsible for giving sturdiness to the entire drawer and making sure that everything is square.

You can do many things for the handles but the easiest for me was to cut some holes in the fronts that I can use to grab it and pull or push on the drawers.

For this, I used a 20 mm hole saw and cut a hole in the center of each of the faces.

Since the entire frame is butt welded, the holes of the pipe used for the legs are visible on the top.

This can easily be fixed by putting a plastic cap in each of the pipes to give the entire stand a much nicer look.

With the stand being finished, I've placed it where I wanted in my workshop and I sued the screws on the legs to make sure that it sits straight and that the top surface is horizontal.

My miter saw has sliding rails and they protrude quite far in the back so I had to place the stand away from the wall.

This is an entirely personal choice and it is dependent on your shop layout. If you have a flat surface on the floor you can add casters so the stand can be moved anywhere you want.

Check out the full build video to see me building this stand.

I'm extremely happy about it as I can now use my miter saw without constantly moving it around.

I have some ideas for upgrading it to include dust extraction or some flip sides to support longer pieces of material but I'll work on them separately after I use it for a while.

If you have any suggestions feel free to leave a comment and if you liked this build then please consider subscribing to my YouTube channel. I make a lot of electronics, coding and making videos and your support means a lot to me.

Thanks for reading and don't forget to check my other Instructables as well!