Running tablesaws back to back

[Scott Driemel]

I asked this in another thread but it was kinda' off topic so I'll ask in a new post so as not to "jack" my own thread!
I was fortunate enough to buy a second cabinet saw a few days ago. Not by planning, just sorta happened. They are both used, a General Canada and a Unisaw.
I'm having a hard time trying to figure out how to run them back to back? Normally an offeed table is slightly lower than the saw to avoid a hang-up. This would work great for one direction, but would cause a hang-up if using the saw on the other side.
It seems the only thing to do is make them level, but they'd have to be exact or the boards would catch. It looks like it's only a 1/16th of an inch out that could cause disaster!
(each saw would have the others side table acting as it's outfeed) The idea of two saws is really attractive for leaving a Dado set in one, or a dedicated rip blade while the other runs a general purpose blade. But if it means "hang-ups" then I'd sooner get rid of the convience factor and have the safety issue addressed. Anybody out there running a twin saw set-up? They are both R tilt so they'd be opposite. Suggestions as to how to set them would be great.

[Scott T Smith]

Scott, I'm doing the same thing, except that I'm mounting mine side by side. That way I can still use the common fence. One of them is a left tilt, the other a right tilt, so that I can have the motor access hatch to the outside on both.

[Scott Driemel]

Can't do that Scott. My rails on each saw are 74" so I'd be more than 12 feet wide and I just can't do that in my garage shop. Has to be set up back to back.

[Derek Gilmer]

Could you build a triangle spacer between them? Say 1/16" below either table saw at the center. That way boards coming off would have an entry "ramp" to either saw.

[Scott Driemel]

Hey Derek. Not a bad idea. I suppose perhaps if it was gradual, and only 1/16th high but would it cause say an 8/4 board to then continue "airbourne" across the second table? Although only 1/16th higher at the edge, it would compound to much higher by the time it got through(say a 7 foot chunk of wood) might then become a 1/4" high and then rock like a teeter totter?

[Chip Lindley]

Put a roller (or two) between the saws, just proud of the TS surfaces. Stock will roll over instead of try to hang on the table edges.

[Jim O'Dell]

Do you have room to make it into an "L" shape? That's what I've done with my 2 saws. I've got about 6" between the rear of the right extension on my Griz to the left side of the Ridgid. My outfeed table is mobile and can be used for both saws. Jim.

[Derek Gilmer]

Hey Derek. Not a bad idea. I suppose perhaps if it was gradual, and only 1/16th high but would it cause say an 8/4 board to then continue "airbourne" across the second table? Although only 1/16th higher at the edge, it would compound to much higher by the time it got through(say a 7 foot chunk of wood) might then become a 1/4" high and then rock like a teeter totter?
That would be the case if the table saws aren't perfectly even anyways right? I wasn't saying have the peak of the triangle above both saws but below it. That way you have an approach ramp to each table saw. It won't fix them being out of true even but should keep them from catching.

Something like this. The tables aren't to scale but the valley could be 3/4 mdf or osb with formica on top to make it slick and easy to brush dust out of.
155537

[Scott Driemel]

Oh I see now Derek. (Funny how a drawing makes such a diff! Thanks!). That could work I suppose. Perhaps a little scary going uphill? Maybe the roller or a line of ball rollers would work as suggested? Just enough to elevate the wood that little bit. I'm kinda surprised there's not a real definitive "this is what you do" as it must be an issue for everyone who tries this. I think both suggestions, (the roller & the ramp) are workable. Naturally the fence rails and then the fence itself for each saw extends past the tables by a bit (4") and that will necessitate an 8" gap plus the width of the roller or ramp as well. Man, it gets complicated!

[Derek Gilmer]

Oh I see now Derek. (Funny how a drawing makes such a diff! Thanks!). That could work I suppose. Perhaps a little scary going uphill? Maybe the roller or a line of ball rollers would work as suggested? Just enough to elevate the wood that little bit. I'm kinda surprised there's not a real definitive "this is what you do" as it must be an issue for everyone who tries this. I think both suggestions, (the roller & the ramp) are workable. Naturally the fence rails and then the fence itself for each saw extends past the tables by a bit (4") and that will necessitate an 8" gap plus the width of the roller or ramp as well. Man, it gets complicated!
At least this is one of those nice to have problems :)

[Larry Norton]

It seems to me that Chip's and Scott's ideas would be the safest. But instead of rollers, I would use balls. If the rollers are out the least little bit, they will pull the material away from the fence. You won't have that problem with balls.

[Stuart Gardner]

Your setup would have to be perfect in every way to avoid the hangup problem. But it seems like a way cool thing to do. I saw a picture not too long ago of a setup exactly like you're proposing. I wish I could remember where it was. I'm sure it is on SMC somewhere. My wife said "Why would you need that?" and I said what you're thinking, about the rip blade and cross cut blade or dado blade. AHA!!!!!!!!! I found an e-mail I sent to a friend about the saws. Here's a link to the picture http://i670.photobucket.com/albums/vv62/mikeinkcmo/WW%20tools/Shop%20tools%20and%20Jigs/Jimsoutfeedtable1.jpg

I have no idea who this guy is or even why I found it in the first place. But I love it.

[Scott Driemel]

Nice pic Stuart and thx. So much easier to visualize. Now this bloke has the luxury of having almost 4 feet between his tables. My shop just can't afford that so I'm back to figuring a way back to back, with maybe a foot or so in between max. The "V" idea might work and I like the idea of one roller slightly below the highest table. I think feeding from the lower table if the wood hits the roller it might "bump" a bit but maybe not so much as to affect the cut. Suggestions on the outfeed tables? formica,mdf, melamine, aborite?

[Chad Stucke]

Why not just make them level it's not all that hard to level them up. cut a minor bevel on the edges of the transition table so as not to hang up on the edge. I would go ahead and cut miter slots right away. Or just bolt the cast tops together back to back.
Chad

[Scott Driemel]

Thx Chad. The rear rail on each saw extends out almost 1.5-2" past the cast back of the tops on both saws. No way I see to bolt 'em together. But maybe your right. Try to get them really level, and put a really gradual chamfer on each to allow the boards to ride up (if required from a heavy board or the like if it's pushed down at all). I just don't like the idea of a "bump" while a board is in the blade being cut.

[Dave MacArthur]

Chad above has it right. This is fairly common, I've seen at least 5 threads here at SMC over the years of folks with two saws back to back. In fact, I had part of a thread just 3 weeks ago covering this, talking about running my SawStop and PM66 back to back, or putting my Delta Contractor saw in one wing.

I can't recall who all has the setup, but some SMC searching (I'd use the google SMC option for better keyword control) should give some hits. What I've seen in the past is folks just bolting the saws together, leveling them up and putting a slight 1/8" bevel or so on the tables. Seriously, if you can bolt an extension table onto the saw and level it up, you can do this. You wouldn't be able to make it mobile probably, or you'd get too much flex.

If the cast iron doesn't join back to back, then you can just bolt a spacer sheet in there to the angle iron that runs on the back. Here's two pics of my saws sitting on totally different mobile bases, you can see how close they are already to level. 2nd shot you can see the angle iron on back of saw, mine are already pre-drilled but you could drill some holes and just slap in a 6" wide MDF/formica filler with spacers to level it to the saws. Slap a level across them both and just walk around twisting foot-levelers until good.

Good luck!

[Scott Driemel]

Hey Dave that looks great! I never even thought that the two rear rails (being angle iron) would be perfect to use as a ledge to bolt in a piece of spacer. Again, your pic tells all! Then a bevel on the edges and hopefully that'd be her. Unfortunately I see the system would have worked really slick had I had a left & a right tilt saw. So then the two saws would be directly back to back but this isn't my case. Great food for thought. I did search the threads but not using the "google" search. Thx for the idea!

[Jeff Duncan]

The most common setup I've seen and use in my shop is side by side. The thing I think you missed is that you don't use 2 fence rails, just one rail for both fences. This is a much more practical way of orienting the saws as you don't have to have 1 blade lowered to use the other saw. Allowing you to go back and forth between setups much easier.
My setup is a 12" Wadkin with a 10" Uni sharing a 78" Beis fence rail and also a Excalibur sliding table. The whole setup fits within a 9' wide space and could easily be made smaller if I needed to. In your situation you could easily fit both saws within 1 of your 74" fence rails and still have space left over.
good luck,
JeffD

[glenn bradley]

I'm also with Chad basically. Why not just level them. I do this with my table saw and router table and then bolt them together to create a single work surface. Are the rear rails required for anything other than wing support? If not, build a pocketed bridge between the saws and use it for wing support, connection and transition surface, yes?

[Mike Harrison]

Here is what a good friend did with his 10" and 12/14" Uni's.

http://i670.photobucket.com/albums/vv62/mikeinkcmo/WW%20tools/Jimsoutfeedtable1.jpg