Sliding Table VS Crosscut Sled?

[p111dom]

One of the reasons for doing this is the need for outfeed tables that can double as an assembly area.........The Jet Supersaw has a kind of mini sliding table, but I'm not sure if there is much point in having it. I need to go and have a good look.

WiZeR this it exactly what I have. I have my workbench as my outfeed table. With the sliding table locked in place and the mitre fence removed I can remove the guard and riving knife, lower the blade all the way down and that gives me about a 4 foot square flat assembly table.

With regards to the sliding table believe me you'll use it all the time. There are only two drawbacks. The first is screwing the mitre fence on and off is not hard but some times it's off, on, off,on. It would have been nice to have a quick release of some kind for this. The other is my old gripe of no left hand mitre slot. The only issue I've had with this though is in using my tennoning jig which to use ironically I had to make a jig to make it fit the saw. This is all countered by the fact that it's very quick and easy to lock and use the table as if the sliding bit wasn't there. Other saws have huge sliding tables offering capacity that I would never use and get in the way most of the time. The Jets sliding table is contained within the front to back dimension of the saw. It has the minimum capacity I would look for at 2 feet. This means I can rip and 8x4 sheet down the middle giving two 8x2's and then use the sliding table to give quater sheets. It's not a panel saw but I have cutt sheet material on it and I've found it reasonably easy. The sliding action is incredibly smooth and the best I've used without a machine having Hammer on the side. It's just the price really. At a grand it's double the price of the SIP/Axminster etc. I have seen the excalibur (unisaw) in the flesh and it's very solid but the floor footprint is comparable to the Jet's and that's without it having a sliding table. For some reason the fence rails are ultra long which granted give big capacity but maybe overly so. They get in the way and I could see myself catching my hip on them whenever I walked past it. That said it's a brilliant saw and of course will take a dado.

This real quiestion is capacities. That's what it came down to for me. What do you think your biggest rip and cross cut is likley to be? For me I decided on a minimum of 600mm for both. The jet fullfills this but only just but that means I have the capacity I need/wanted within the most compact of footprints. If you wern't in Kent you'd be welcome to pop round for a go. It's probably only a 12 hour round trip. :lol:

 

[wizer]

Thanks Dom. Tho I think you've swayed me away from the Jet. My current TS is the Triton Workcentre and that has a fence capacity of about 640mm. Only yesterday was I wishing I had more capacity than that gave me. If the SS can only manage 600mm, it's probably a bit tight for me. hrmm.. Back to the drawing board.

 

[Philly]

Wizer
I have the Xcaliber 806 and have managed for years without the sliding table. (Of course, if you get the 806 you can buy the table later as it is a "bolt-on" extra)
I use an Osborne miter gauge for most crosscuts up to about 18 inches and a sled for wide pieces.
With the large fence rails (you have over 50 inches of fence!!) you can rip an 8 by 4 sheet in half. And then you can cut any panel from a 4 by 4 foot piece using the fence alone - easy work.
And as for the huge footprint of the saw - well its a lot smaller than a panel saw! And I have built my router table into the side table of the saw saving valuable floor space in the workshop. With a decent wheel kit you can move the saw around fairly easily,too.
Hope this helps
Philly

 

[woodbloke]

One of the reasons for doing this is the need for outfeed tables that can double as an assembly area.........The Jet Supersaw has a kind of mini sliding table, but I'm not sure if there is much point in having it. I need to go and have a good look.

WiZeR this it exactly what I have. I have my workbench as my outfeed table. With the sliding table locked in place and the mitre fence removed I can remove the guard and riving knife, lower the blade all the way down and that gives me about a 4 foot square flat assembly table.

With regards to the sliding table believe me you'll use it all the time. There are only two drawbacks. The first is screwing the mitre fence on and off is not hard but some times it's off, on, off,on. It would have been nice to have a quick release of some kind for this. The other is my old gripe of no left hand mitre slot. The only issue I've had with this though is in using my tennoning jig which to use ironically I had to make a jig to make it fit the saw. This is all countered by the fact that it's very quick and easy to lock and use the table as if the sliding bit wasn't there. Other saws have huge sliding tables offering capacity that I would never use and get in the way most of the time. The Jets sliding table is contained within the front to back dimension of the saw. It has the minimum capacity I would look for at 2 feet. This means I can rip and 8x4 sheet down the middle giving two 8x2's and then use the sliding table to give quater sheets. It's not a panel saw but I have cutt sheet material on it and I've found it reasonably easy. The sliding action is incredibly smooth and the best I've used without a machine having Hammer on the side. It's just the price really. At a grand it's double the price of the SIP/Axminster etc. I have seen the excalibur (unisaw) in the flesh and it's very solid but the floor footprint is comparable to the Jet's and that's without it having a sliding table. For some reason the fence rails are ultra long which granted give big capacity but maybe overly so. They get in the way and I could see myself catching my hip on them whenever I walked past it. That said it's a brilliant saw and of course will take a dado.

This real quiestion is capacities. That's what it came down to for me. What do you think your biggest rip and cross cut is likley to be? For me I decided on a minimum of 600mm for both. The jet fullfills this but only just but that means I have the capacity I need/wanted within the most compact of footprints. If you wern't in Kent you'd be welcome to pop round for a go. It's probably only a 12 hour round trip. :lol:

There's a good review of the new Deft saw in F&C this month which in many ways seems to be similar to the Xcalibur type machines...no sliding table though. Of all the c/s on available at around this sort of price point (£1K or less) the Jett SS is still the one to have IMO - Rob

 

[wizer]

I have built my router table into the side table of the saw

Got a pic of that Phil?

*More Confused* :?

 

[Philly]

Here we go.....

The right hand table has been replaced with some 30mm melamine faced MDF and I've put my T-11 router in there. The Incra fence is fixed in place with two captive bolts which means it can easily be removed and replaced (excuse the temporary false fence).
Any questions just ask,
Philly

 

[wizer]

wow, that's certainly the setup i'd like... Time to seriously think about re-arranging the 'shop.

Thanks for that Philly.

 

[Philly]

Forgot to mention - you can just see the outfeed table in its "folded down" position. I fixed a piano hinge to the rear of the saw so the outfeed can be made to disappear when you don't need it.
Hope that makes sense,
Philly

 

[p111dom]

Thanks Dom. Tho I think you've swayed me away from the Jet. My current TS is the Triton Workcentre and that has a fence capacity of about 640mm. Only yesterday was I wishing I had more capacity than that gave me. If the SS can only manage 600mm, it's probably a bit tight for me. hrmm.. Back to the drawing board.

I'm curious as to what you were cutting to require a rip width much in excess of 600mm. I think the Jet's to be more exact is 648mm on mine but a bit wider still on the current model. I base 600mm as the optimum as you can cut a four foot sheet to any width you like as long as the max rip width of the saw reaches the middle. If you want a 1000mm wide board from a 1200mm wide one you just set the fence to 200mm plus the blade with. That leaves 1000mm on the non fence side.

I stuggle to think of when I would make a peice of furniture with dimensions greater than 8 by 4. Possibly a dining table may be longer but if you were to make a table top 10 feet long by 5 feet wide on any saw, panel or not it would be hard to cut it to final a dimension once it's assembled. What do you make that required such capacities?

My mates Fox (SIP clone) can handle 4 feet infront of the blade for the sliding table which is great but he's never used it, it's big, gets in the way and the top is pressed steel which has stared to rust. Then there's the bearings which I would describe as rough but adequate.

I like Philly's solution on his Excalliber for the router table but you can see what I mean about the fence rails. I've heard of some people actually cutting them down to make the saw more manageable espectially if it's on wheels. Makes you put your head in your hands to hear it but I can see why they do it and good for them for having the bottle.

 

[woodbloke]

Philly- riving knive and crown guard on the saw?...Rob

 

[Philly]

Rob
I took them off for the photo as the bright yellow colour of the guard was throwing the colour balance off..........
Philly :wink:

 

[woodbloke]

Philly - understood... :wink: - Rob

 

[Dave S]

I don't understand why you think you need to remove riving knife and guard to use a sliding table.

Cheers
Steve

sorry - you are right , I meant the table sled

Still no need to remove them if you design it right. Back when I used to use a tablesaw I made a sled which didn't require either to be removed.

Can't post a pic, I'm afraid, because I moved in the opposite direction to Wizer - since getting my rails I haven't once used my tablesaw.

Dave

 

[OPJ]

WiZeR, I agree with Dom's point on ripping capacity - as long as it'll rip 610mm, that's all you need. It might be nice to have a saw that can handle 4ft between fence and blade but can you honestly see yourself managing an 8'x4' sheet over any saw on your own? That's where a skil saw would come in anyway. :wink:

What about a saw with a sliding I-beam, like the Record TS 200? Given the space and money, that's the one I'd like to go for. I don't know how often you're likely to work with 'native' timbers but a sliding beam is ideal for straightening waney-edges. Not that it can't be done with a jig on another saw, of course. This saw wouldn't really be ideal for cross-cutting though, I don't think there's enough support offered to the left of the blade.

 

[wizer]

I wasn't keen on the TS200. The Jet has a similar type fence but much much better quality. Plus that saw is a little too small for what I want. I went back and forth between full cabinet or 'contractor' but in the end I came to the conclusion that I'd still need the same amount of foot print, just using a smaller saw. I'd rather dive in and go for a saw which will last me for a good number of years, if not forever.

Point taken, I probably won't need more than 640mm often and I can use the EZ rails when I do.

As I said, I'd love to have the sort of setup Philly has, but whether I want to devote that sort of width to it :-k

 

[DaveL]

The main reason is space, if I order it now I won't have room to store it until I finish some workshop maintenance.

Just slip it in to the front room, throw a sheet over it and put a plant on the top, SWMBO will never notice. :twisted: :wink:

 

[Digit]

Promise?

Roy.

 

[bjm]

I've owned a Record TS200C for just over a month now and I'm convinced it was designed by a team of unemployed traffic-management consultants. On paper it looks a good idea and, to be fair, the saw mechanism is solidly built. However, I would find it hard to believe that its' designers ever laid their hands on one, let alone set one up (for which you need the patience of a saint!).

It does have wheels though!

Brian

 

[wizer]

Thanks bjm, you confirmed my suspicions with that saw.

 

[p111dom]

Was talking rubish about a few things on the Jet WiZeR sorry. Am for some reason struggling with picture sizes at the mo on Photobucket. I'll be posting something shortly.