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For the traveling, on-site craftsperson that is Festool's target market, handling large sheet goods can be tricky, particularly when you're a one-man or one-woman show. Table saws are impractical to lug to jobsites, and even if you had one there, muscling a full sheet of plywood into the blade is difficult to do safely. In this case it's better to bring the tool to the workpiece, which is why the tracksaws pioneered by Festool (and now manufactured by everyone) have become a wild success.
Which still leaves the problem of working with large sheets. Festool's answer is the STM 1800, a portable workstation that folds up to fit neatly into trucks, vans and jobsite elevators.
When unfurled it offers approximately 6' square of support area, if you want to place a sheet onto it to use as an assembly table. If you're placing a sheet up there to cut, the table can effectively accommodate sheets as massive as 3100mm x 2150mm (roughly 7' by 10', or a good deal more than a yankee-dimensions 4'x8' plywood sheet).
A neat feature: The table is designed to be tipped onto its side, allowing the user to place a large sheet onto the supports, then tip it back into a horizontal position.
The height is adjustable from 27-5/8" to 35-7/16", allowing both the short and the tall to work in comfort.
Here's what it looks like in action:
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Festool hasn't added the product to their website yet, but Joel from Tools for Working Wood (a Festool distributor) has the skinny on it here.
I’m a lapsed industrial designer. I was born in NYC and figured I’d die there, but a few years ago I abandoned New York to live on a farm in the countryside with my wife. We have six dogs.
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Festool's New Folding, Mobile Sawing Table
Lots of good mobile work solutions our there, but the sheet good loading method looks interesting. Especially for heavy stock like HDF or cast acrylic. What would really sell me on a concept like this is if the table doubled as a vertically-held sheet good cart for transporting a stack of sheet goods through a site without having to carry them.
two folding metal saw horses from a big box store. Drill four holes. use Elevator bolts which have huge flat pan heads and recess them on plywood surface. I use this for sewing canvas and sails so I need a smooth large surface.
And you travel to multiple client locations to sew these sails on premises in a time-efficient manner?
No, I sew my own sails and sail covers for my use, but my friend suggested this idea and he does canvas and upholstery work. I would add L shaped brackets and a horizontal brace to lift this table like they're showing. That's a good idea for single handed use.