PORTABLE PUZZLE TRAY

This expandable assembly station provides dedicated space for your jigsaw masterpieces, plus it stores the puzzle and its pieces between sessions.

- KERRY GIBSON

Assembling a jigsaw puzzle tests your eye for detail, but finding a dedicated worksurface for a span of days presents its own set of challenges. This puzzle tray provides a portable space so you can set your work aside. A double-duty drawer on each end stores unplaced pieces or flips over to expand the worktop.

Simple dado setups on your tablesaw create the drawer slides, and a full-sized sheet of 1/4" plywood makes it economical to build two-one as a gift and one to keep and use yourself!

BUILD THE BASE

We cut the tray top and drawer bottoms from one piece of 1/4" plywood. You'll put the good face down as you assemble some of this project, so double-check grain orientation as you work.

1 From ¹/4" plywood, cut a 21¹4x51" blank. From this, first crosscut one drawer bottom (A) to length, then the top (B) and then the other drawer bottom (A) [Exploded View, Drawing 1]. Set the drawer bottoms aside.

2 Cut the tray sides, drawer sides, drawer fronts, and center support (C-F) to size [Materials List, Drawing 1].

3 Install a 1/4" dado set in the tablesaw and raise it to a height of 1/4". Set the rip fence to cut a centered groove in the tray sides (C) [Drawing 2].