We’ve all been there. Nobody likes to use a chop saw on the floor, so the handiest thing around usually gets pressed into service for support duty. Sometimes it’s a cabinet waiting to be installed; often, here in Bermuda, it’s two barrels with a plank in between. Whatever you come up with, it usually doesn’t move around much, so you end up bringing the work to it like a sacrifice to some ancient, immovable god.

When I bought Hitachi’s compound-miter saw, I was determined to break away from this mindless cycle and to build a portable work center that would take advantage of the saw’s many features. As good as the saw is, in order to fully utilize it, you’ll need to bolt it down and provide some sort of infeed system to handle the long stuff. If you use the saw for long periods at a time, having it at a comfortable working height is also important. The ability to move the whole system around as work progresses, and to provide secure storage when the saw isn’t in use, are the final criteria.

When I bought the saw I also bought a Trojan “Workcenter”: a saw table and two adjustable rollers that clamp to the edge of a 2×6 and mount on a pair of metal sawhorse legs (Trojan Mfg., Portland, Ore.). I thought it might work well with the Hitachi. I tried it out, but the Hitachi exerts quite a bit of leverage, and the table wobbled. For better results, I bolted a 2×6 base to the bottom of the Trojan table so it could sit on a flat surface. I then notched two holes in the base, just large enough to let a 2×4 pass through. The 2×4 acts…