Rebuilding my Roller Saw Horse Stand

My workshop is fairly limited in size.  While that can be changing, in the immediate time, I don't have a lot of space.  It means I have to be able to set up in a mobile fashion, e.g. I take over the back patio when I need to.

I've used saw horses to set up a large work bench before.  And about 6 years ago, I did what I shouldn't do, and I used roller stands (the kind you'd use to allow long boards to roll off of a table saw, jointer/joiner, or a planer).  Now, they "roll", which they are supposed to, so the idea 6 years ago was tested to keep them from rolling when needed.  I used some 2" PVC pipe, which (when cut lengthwise to allow the arms supporting the rollers to slide into the "pipe") seemed to fit absolutely perfectly on the rollers.

The problem is that over time, the wood split, warped, and encountered some heavy water damage.  They became unusable (not quickly, but just over time).  I needed something that would last a little longer.  So, I made a few purchases, and set to work on "revision 2".

Here's what you'll need : 

• Two HDPE sheets measuring 3/4" thick x 12" wide x 48" long
• Four aluminum angle iron 1-1/2" x 1-1/2", with legs that are 1/4" thick (thick enough to act as a "nut")
• 48" of 2" PVC pipe, cut into 12" lengths
• Eight 2" wide x 1-3/4" thick x 3" long HDPE bars
• Sixteen heat-set threaded inserts for assembly screws of your choice
• Two thread inserts for "locking pins"
• At least two transfer punch screws (4 is preferable)
• One countersink screw bit
• One drill bit for tapping screws of your choice
• One drill bit for clearance of the same screws
• One drill bit for the thread "locking pin" inserts
• One drill bit for the heat-set threaded inserts 
• Eight spacers (I used drops from other projects) that need to be the same length - about 1" in length, maybe 1" in diameter
• One (or more if you break them) tap
• A soldering iron with a heat-set insert tip
• A screwdriver

How to :

1. Identify (and mark) which side of the angle iron is to be the "surface" side.
2. Drill the tapping-size holes for the screws of your choice into the aluminum angle iron.  I used 5 on each surface-side, with spacing at uneven (check that, my CDO/OCD had issues, but I wanted to decrease linear distance the surfaces would be screwed down with).  Two pieces of angle-iron are used per "saw horse", and the downward legs will face each other.  Orientation is key here.
3. Tap the holes.
4. Drill four holes along the downward legs of ONE of those angle iron bars per horse (if building two horses, you'll do two).
5. Tap these holes.
6. Use the transfer screws in the downward legs and bring the two pieces of angle together to mark the other set.
7. Drill the clearance size holes in the second piece of angle aluminum.
8. Put your spacers in between, and screw the two pieces of angle together into a structural arm.
9. Center the arm on one piece of HDPE sheet, and mark ONE hole on the HDPE sheet.
10. Drill that hole for the clearance size.
11. Bolt the HDPE sheet and the structural arm together with that one bolt.
12. Mark the opposite end of the structural arm to the HDPE sheet.
13. Drill with the clearance size, and connect the two together.  The two parts should not move at this point from each other.
14. Use the remaining holes and either use transfer screws, or use transfer punches.
15. Drill the remaining HDPE holes for structural arm attachment.
16. Countersink the holes from the top-side of the saw horse table top. 
17. Attach the two together (note, they might come off the table later in this process, see step 27).
18. Use a hole-saw in a jig (I just built a square "box" I could clamp them to on the drill press, then clamped that box to the drill press table) to cut an arc on one side lengthwise.  This should be about 2-3/8" in diameter, but I just used a 2" hole saw and made two different runs so that they matched.
19. Drill two holes (threaded insert sized)that will be perpendicular to the arc all the way through the bars.  These will allow threaded inserts to be set in from each end, and allow the pipe to be screwed to these blocks.
20. Use threaded inserts on the back side of the HDPE blocks as well (allowing the blocks to be attached to the HDPE table top surface).
21. Heat-set inserts into the blocks.
22. Once cooled, use transfer screws on the non-arc side of the blocks to mark them onto the HDPE table top.
23. Drill (clearance sized) holes for each block.
24. Countersink the remaining holes.
25. Attach the blocks (permanently - we shouldn't have to remove them again) to the table tops.
26. Use the PVC pipe as a guide and mark the arc pattern into the angle aluminum structural bar.  If the pipe clears, you don't need to do anything.
27. If the pipes do not clear the structural arms, remove one piece of aluminum angle at a time, and grind or cut the clearance so that the pipe will not touch the aluminum. I gave between 1/16" to 1/8" of clearance.
28. Once clearanced, re-install the piece of angle aluminum and tighten the screws.
29. Repeat for the other one as necessary.
30. Use a table saw to cut the pipe lengthwise. A word of caution - PVC pipe is under tension, and when it is fully cut through, will snap together and pinch your saw blade.  This is extremely dangerous.  There are other options, but if you go this direction, find a good way to hold the pipe securely without having your fingers close, go slowly, and if it pinches the saw blade and brings it to a halt, do NOT panic.  Just turn off the saw, and work things free.
31. Use the table saw to cut the pipe to the width to clear the roller arms.
32. Use the transfer screws to mark the pipe in conjunction with the HDPE bars.
33. Drill the holes in the pipe and countersink so that you can attach the pipe to the HDPE bars.
34. Drill the CENTER of the table top to take the threaded inserts.
35. Countersink the remaining clearance holes (PVC pipe, table top, etc).
36. Screw everything together. 
37. Heat the inserts up and screw them into the table.  These allow you to put in a pin and prevent the workbench from sliding on the HDPE. 

The screws themselves won't be holding the weight; they just keep things from moving around and shifting.  It means that you don't need shear strength in picking your hardware.

The end result can just clip together when you need a "saw horse" mode from your roller stands.  When you need roller stands, just take them back apart.

They are quite nifty for the "mobile" or "temporary" workshop. 

Converting Out Feed Rollers to Non-Rolling Table Top

 I had four Harbor Freight out feed rollers.  I picked them up for the table project, and during that project, I was a bit frustrated with them.  First, the bolts holding the feet on keep sliding out.  I need to bore/thread the pins to keep them in place, and use a washer system.  A simple hack, but that should take care of it.  However, this is not what this post is about.

My other gripe is that they rolled fairly smooth.  Sure, I know that sounds weird.  But, when you wanted them to roll, they rolled fine.  But when you didn't want them to roll, they still rolled fabulously.  I needed to lock them, so that they wouldn't roll.

I grabbed my calipers and measured the actual rollers.  They came in at just under 2" (1.974", actually).  A piece of 2" PVC pipe has an inside diameter of about 2".  What a coincidence!

A quick note here.  PVC is under pressure - meaning when you are performing this next operation, it will likely pinch down on a saw blade when the first cut is made.  Yes, the kerf instantly snapped closed as soon as the cut was complete.  Anyway, off we go.

I bought some 2" PVC pipe, and cut off 11.5" sections (how long the rollers are), then ran them through the table saw. to get a slot in them lengthwise.  I held them up to the rollers to mark the other length-wise slot so that it was just larger than the brace holding the rollers, and ran them through the table saw again.

I had a sleeve that would fit past the brace.  When it snapped closed, I was worried that it would close too far and make it difficult to install - but that was not the case.  The PVC tubes fit pretty well perfectly.

At this time, I glued two boards together for each one (because my screws were 1-1/4" and the boards were 3/4" thick, and I didn't want to grind off the screws to fit), and let them set overnight.  I used two clamps and stacked all of them to reduce my gluing footprint.

Next was to create some wood braces that these PVC sleeves could be screwed against.  I drilled three holes in them, and with a long countersink bit, I made it so the screws would be under the radius of the PVC, and then screwed them together.  Note that I did it at an angle to the slot so that the slot could be opposite of the brace, preventing the things from coming apart while doing something.

With that done, the next action was to screw the wood panel down.  You can use any surface, really.  This was simple enough, so I won't go into too much detail.  For my test case, I'm using some 1/2" plywood.  These are screwed, and not glued, so that I can replace as needed.

Now I have an instantaneous work table, from roller stands, and these stands can also act as rollers.  (They are now multi-purpose!)  I can use these to keep a longer surface on my jointer to get a flat surface much faster than I did on the table build.  They will work perfectly!