How do you find space requirements for a full size panel saw?
Is it basically sheet cut length times 2 for length?
[OP]
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How do you find space requirements for a full size panel saw?
Is it basically sheet cut length times 2 for length?
Yes, I have 3 phase!
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You should be able to get that from the website.
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More than that. Basically twice the carriage length plus a couple of feet so that it starts clear of the scoring blade and ends beyond the riving knife. My saw is designed for cutting 4' x 8' sheets and needs a minimum of 13'6" wide x 20', plus 4' behind the carriage for a place to stand and load a sheet onto the saw. Realistically it's only a couple of feet longer than if you were using a cabinet saw for breaking down sheets.Originally Posted by andrew whicker
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I have full size slider in my 24' x 24' hobby shop, love being able to rip full 8' on the slider.
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Dims available through manufacturers.
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SOrta, but with a little more space overhead. The 8'6" slider I had on the SCM/Minimax S315WS at my old shop required 19' for the full throw of the wagon, end to end for a cut. The wagon is longer than the actual cutting capacity to get the material beyond the main blade and scoring blade with a full "rip" cut.
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The most expensive tool is the one you buy "cheaply" and often...
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Like the others, I have about 24’x24’. Full length slider is aimed at the garage door. Outrigger/fences can be set to complete most cuts with the door closed. Open the door for full length/panel cuts.
Most fail to consider the infeed and outfeed requirements that still exists with cabinet saws; with the slider it’s marginally bigger but fully supported throughout.
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The front edge of the sliding table has to move back far enough to where it's just behind the scoring blade. Then it moves forward to where the rear edge of the table is just about centered on the the blade. I would say that a rough estimate is:
length of sliding table X 2 plus about 10-20" (depending on if you have a dish/handle or something else attached to the rear of the sliding table).
I would imagine this varies based on the brand of the saw.
Last edited by Aaron Inami; 01-21-2024 at 6:20 PM.
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Hi Andrew, essentially it’s the same as required for a cabinet saw as you need a full sheet space in front of the blade and behind the blade.
A slider may need one foot more because if you’re straight line ripping a sheet the sliding table loses maybe 6 to 8 inches because the crosscut fence will be on the front of the table.
Aside from that you may save some ancillary space as you don’t need an infeed or outfeed table if you use a parallel ripping device on the slider.
Format saws also can use clip on infeed and outfeed tables, they’re only there if you want one.
On my saw the outrigger isn’t normally mounted, saving space.
Regards, Rod
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One thing that solidified my decision to order my 8'6" capacity slider was laying it out in CAD (39 iterations) along with all my other equipment. Had I not done that, I would have ordered a shorter stroke saw. As it is, I have 2" on either end and plenty of room to walk around with the carriage centered.
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this. my martin slider handles 10’ stock in my 35x65 shop, facing the short way. but, layout was achieved in software very carefully with many iterations. spend the time to model it.
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Think if you were squaring up a sheet of plywood. You would have 96” roughly to the blade(left) plus whatever the right side would be. Then figure the amount of space it required to cut that on length..
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Very good point. My former employer had a short stroke slider but "no room" for a full size one until I did some CAD work and figured out how to shoehorn one in. You need to model the material paths along with the machine footprints, and there may be ways to pack things in by using different machine heights so that material paths can overlap. Both that saw and mine are positioned off-axis from the shop floor to get needed clearance.
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As others have said, add about 2’ length to the sliding table length doubled. My saw needs bare minimum of 13’ width, but realistically needs more than that. If you never planned on working with material longer than 8’ you could probably get by with 15’ of width. One thing I’ll add is that when I was looking for a slider I had zeroed my search in to 10’ sliders. I came across a decent used 12’ machine and I don’t regret having the extra length. 90% of the time I have the crosscut fence pulled back a couple feet on the sliding table, but the extra length comes in handy (especially if you add air clamps, etc…) and it really doesn’t take up much extra space. You don’t use the full stroke on every cut after all. Hope you find a nice saw for your shop!
[OP]
Contributor
I appreciate all the responses. I'm asking generically because I don't know what I may end up with. Attached is a simple drawing of my shop. Some tools, workbenches are missing, but I'm willing to make some adjustments on that end. What I am showing is equipment that is hard to move. It can be done of course, but it will be a big project.
I'm going to be buying a container to keep my lumber / sheet goods in right outside my garage door. Ideally, I only bring the bare minimum amount of material into my shop. So having the table saw as the first piece of equipment in front of the garage door. I would need room in front just to move things in and out, store stuff, etc.
I'm starting to think I need to overhaul my layout.. the joiner and planer both feed perp to the garage door. But w/ a large slider that isn't going to work anymore.
Shop Layout.png
Yes, I have 3 phase!
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