A few weeks ago my wife awesomely decided to get me a little "just because" gift: a thickness planer I've had my eye on forever. It was down to a reasonable price on Amazon so she pulled the trigger on it for me.
This sucker is HEAVY and I didn't really have anywhere to put it in my garage, so this could only mean one thing: I had to build a stand for it!
Earlier this year I built Steve Ramsey's Basic Mobile Workbench. I've been watching Steve's YouTube channel for years and I even purchased his Weekend Woodworker online course. The course is amazing; I've only had a chance to make the workbench so far but I plan to make all the projects eventually.
Steve's plan:
And my workbench (pretty much stuffed with every tool I own):
Why am I talking about this workbench? Well, since it came out so great (in my opinion), I decided to use the same basic concept for the planer stand. It needed to be strong, since the planer weighs 70+ pounds, and I definitely wanted it on wheels so I can tuck it away when I'm not using it.
So I took the workbench concept, shamelessly stole the dimensions of the official WEN planer stand, and came up with this:
I'm pretty happy with how it turned out! After I built the stand, I decided that I'd like a drawer too, so I can store things like the manual and extra parts/tools:
Making the drawer was the first opportunity I had to use the Kreg jig I got last December. The drawer frame is made from 1/2" Russian birch plywood I found at Menards, and the drawer bottom is 1/4" MDF that I had left over from a failed attempt at repairing one of our dining room chairs.
The stand is cool but I'm really thrilled at how well the drawer came out. The pocket holes were insanely easy and the drawer is super-sturdy and square.
I'm dying to make some proper cabinets that I can put up in the garage, and how well this drawer came out has really given me the confidence that I just might be able to do it.
Oh, and I still haven't actually run anything through the planer yet...