Table Saw + Sliding Table

[david blakelock]

I am finishing up my new shop and I get to buy some new tools for the shop. The one decision that I have made is to buy a Sawstop PCS. I thought about the ICS, but I am having a hard time justifying the additional expense. I am also thinking of adding a sliding table to the saw as I work alone and end up doing a lot of work with plywood. I figure this would make things easier and safer. I am looking at the Exaktor EX60 sliding table.
So a couple of questions, has anyone used the Exaktor table and have any comments about it. Or just comments about sliding tables in general, are they worth the cost for the accuracy and ease of cutting large pieces of stock? The other question is it worth spending the extra money for the Sawstop ICS? Is the larger table and 2 extra HP worth the cost? I currently have a 2HP Sears Craftsman contractor saw so anything would be a large improvement over that. Although I have to say with a new blade I haven't had any real problems sawing even hard maple as long as I don't try and push it to fast.
Any thoughts/comments/prespective would be greatly appreciate.

Thanks!!

David

[Erik Christensen]

I have a robland saw with factory slider. it is somewhere between the after-market add ons & a real euro slider. it does some things well but large sheet goods is not one of them. I doubt anything short of a felder would let you solo dimension a full sheet 3/4" ply accurately and most importantly - safely.

I use a track saw to cut sheet goods - set up saw horses, back up pickup, slide sheets to cutting table & dimension. I cut to final size with the track saw unless i am doing solid edge banding & I consistently get accuracy to 1/32" or less.

that is what works for me - YMMV.

[Steve Griffin]

My Excallibur slider handles 48" sheetgoods with no problem. Accuracy is about 1/64 or 1/32 over a full 48", and of course proportionately better for more common cross cuts of 22".

As far as your decision making, I personally apply a very high priority to a sliding table. It's more important than horsepower, more important than a sliding miter saw, more important than a safety feature that allows you to put hotdogs in the spinning blade. In other words, if you cut sheet goods or like the idea of cutting wood table tops to size in 1 minute, or if you like to put dados in your cabinet parts, don't hesitate for a second to get a slider.

-STeve

[david blakelock]

Erik, thanks for the input and comments. I have a Festool track saw and use it all the time for cutting down large sheets of plywood. It works great and the accuracy is really good as you noted. So I might continue to do that to get the sheets down to a managable size. Like you said there is probably not a safe way to do it otherwise by yourself. So if I continue to do that is a aftermarket slider still a good investment?

[david blakelock]

Steve, appreciate your comments. I am thinking the same way. I like the idea of a sliding table for all the reasons you noted. I looked at the Excaliber as well. Do you have any thoughts on the various options or was there a particular reason you went with the Excaliber?

Thanks!!!

David

[Jonathan Spool]

David,
I too work alone, and don't like struggling with full size panels. I store sheet goods on edge, and easily pull them over to my Milwaukee panel saw where I cut them down to size. I have it tweaked to cut within 1/64 for a 48" cut. Whn I want better cuts or more acuracy, I cut oversize, and recut on the Sawstop. Works great for me, and I don't have to man handle and flip sheets around the shop.

[Peter Aeschliman]

I just installed a used excalibur sliding table on my Sawstop PCS.

It's the smaller model, but it cross cuts about 49". I haven't used much yet, since I just installed it on Sunday.

But no matter what, I'll continue to break sheet goods down with a circular saw before putting anything on a table saw. To me, the benefit of a slider isn't necessarily the ability to put full 4x8 sheets through the table saw. That just seems like a huge pain. Negotiating a heavy sheet of plywood onto a table saw (sliding or not) is not fun.

In my opinion, the benefit of a slider is being able to take pieces that you've rough cut with your circular saw and square them up easily.

Made a " poor man's panel saw" that I use to quickly cut full sheets down. It's basically a grid of 1x4's that's about 9' long and 5' tall. It hangs on the wall on hinges and it's on the wall right next to the garage door of my shop. When I need to cut sheets down, I simply put the sheet on this grid, clamp on a straight edge and use my circular saw to cut it down.

The biggest pain about using a circular saw on sheet goods is clearing out floorspace, getting out the sawhorses, plywood backer, etc. There's very little setup time in my arrangement. Just put the plywood on the grid, clamp on the straightedge, and cut. Then move the smaller plywood pieces over to the TS and square them up on the TS.

Anyway, bottom line, I'm really happy with the excalibur. I definitely would buy the PCS and put the savings (compared to the cost of the ICS) toward a slider accessory.

[david blakelock]

Peter, you hit on the other reason that I was looking at a sliding table and that is squaring off the stock after you rough cut it either on a circular saw or a SCMS.

Peter & Jonathan - you both mentioned panel saws. That was the other thing I was looking at. I have the room it is just a matter of either finding a good used one or building one. I have seen plans on various website where you can build one and it looks pretty straight forward.

I do totally agree that trying to run a full size piece of plywood through a table saw by yourself is just asking for trouble.

So it looks like a Sawstop PCS, a sliding table (either Excaliber or Exaktor) and either continue to use my Festool track saw or build/buy a panel saw.

Now just need the shop to be finished so I can start buying some new toys... err tools.

Thanks!!

[Frank Drew]

As far as your decision making, I personally apply a very high priority to a sliding table.

What Steve said; everything's better with a sliding table saw :D.

But I've never used a track saw; I'd never even heard of them before joining this board.

[Gary Curtis]

:)What Erik says is correct. You would need a 10-foot slider to deal with 4x8 plywood sheets. I know. I sold my General sliding table saw when it was just two years old.

I bought it for plywood, and couldn't do it. Now I have a cabinet saw and use a Festool Plunge Saw & Rail for big sheets of lumber. A woodworker has two choices:

a) Wrestle a 50lb sheet of plywood onto the top of a machine - or
b) Maneuver a 6lb saw over the top of the wood.

As someone wrote here, a Slider is great for doing lots of crosscuts. But it really is out of place for anything less than production scale work. And too expensive. Just be sure your 'tool lust' glands aren't overpowering your common sense. Match the equipment to demands of your work.

[Bob Wingard]

I installed the Exactor SLT60 a few years ago, and was pretty satisfied with the resultant cuts .. HOWEVER .. a few weeks ago, I dialed everything in with an indicator, and now, the results are FANTASTIC. It takes a little time, but it CAN be done, and it is worth the small effort.

[david blakelock]

:)What Erik says is correct. You would need a 10-foot slider to deal with 4x8 plywood sheets. I know. I sold my General sliding table saw when it was just two years old.

I bought it for plywood, and couldn't do it. Now I have a cabinet saw and use a Festool Plunge Saw & Rail for big sheets of lumber. A woodworker has two choices:

a) Wrestle a 50lb sheet of plywood onto the top of a machine - or
b) Maneuver a 6lb saw over the top of the wood.

As someone wrote here, a Slider is great for doing lots of crosscuts. But it really is out of place for anything less than production scale work. And too expensive. Just be sure your 'tool lust' glands aren't overpowering your common sense. Match the equipment to demands of your work.

Gary, I hear you about the "tool lust" glands. It is hard to temper the urge to buy more than you need with common sense. I also appreciate the comments regarding wrestling a 50lb sheet of plywood. That is why I bought the Festool track saw and I love it. I still like the idea of a sliding table for the accuracy of doing cross cuts and other cuts instead of using my SCMS. I am still working through all of those decisions when you go from a cramped garage workshop to a real space. So many things to think of and decide on. But that is also a lot of fun.

I love this site and all of the help that people provide.

Thanks!!!

David

[david blakelock]

I installed the Exactor SLT60 a few years ago, and was pretty satisfied with the resultant cuts .. HOWEVER .. a few weeks ago, I dialed everything in with an indicator, and now, the results are FANTASTIC. It takes a little time, but it CAN be done, and it is worth the small effort.

Bob, that is the same model I was looking at. Appreciate your comments. It seems like a very well made product and to your point, by spending some time to "dial it in" you can get fantastic results.

[Paul DeCarlo]

I would go for the most powerful saw I could afford. I've used a SawStop 5hp ICS at work since 2006, what a beast. We are looking at adding another one to replace an old Delta. The new one will be 3 phase 7.5 hp.
There is something about a saw that NEVER bogs down that makes every operation so fluid and accurate-hard to explain.
Let us all know about the slider when you put it through it's paces! A great idea for a SawStop.
-Paul

[Gary Curtis]

David, great that you brought up the issue of space. Unless you have room to park an 'aircraft carrier' in your shop, don't consider a sliding table.

I got so tired of walking from the 'operator position' on the left, way around past the extension table on the right to simply retrieve offcuts on the backside of the machine. It was a full 11'-4" from side to side.

Before I bought mine, I used to go over to watch the workers at a plywood yard operated their huge Altendorf Slider. (in machine lingo, a German Altendorf is a Ferrari, while a Martin is LLamborghini). I wanted to see how the darn thing works, and you can grasp that from pictures in a woodworking magazine. One day, I went there and the machine was gone. In its place was a 14-inch Canadian-made General.

I asked the owner about this. He said the workers were complaining endlessly about the ergonomics on the Altendorf. They would plow through a stack of 3/4 sheets in a flash. But then gathering the broken down sheets was drudgery. These machines are attractive and excellently engineered. But first one has to consider the physical scope of operating them.

[Greg Portland]

You may also want to consider looking at used Euro slider machines. Once you add up the cost of a PCS, sliding table, etc. you are in that ballpark & the euro machine will have a better sliding mechanism.

Also, you should be cutting to final dimensions with the Festool saw, there is no reason to only do a rough cut and then redo that on the table saw.

[Neil Brooks]

Thought slightly dated, I liked Phil Bumbalough's (http://benchmark.20m.com/articles/SurveyOfSlidingTables/surveyofslidingtables.html) take on the various commercially-available options.

Good luck !

[Frank Drew]

Not all sliding table saws are huge; mine, an Ulmia, was more like a normal 12" table saw with a very good original equipment sliding table. I could crosscut to 54" and rip with the fence to maybe 36", but also manipulate small, furniture scale material very easily. Not a Martin or an Altendorf, but I didn't have to process sheet goods all day every day.

It was an upgrade from a 12" Powermatic and was expensive, no question, but you would have had to pry my cold, dead fingers..... :D.

[Dave Verstraete]

David
I love the combination of sliding table and SawStop.:)

[Cary Falk]

I have a JessEm Mast-R-Slide. It is smaller than what you are looking at but I love it. I should have done it sooner.

[John P Clark]

with a sawstop ICS 5 hp around $3,000, and the sliding table another $900, why not consider a Hammer K3 with a 78" sliding table and a scoring blade. Felder has them on sale and it is a great saw, with all of the features you want designed into it. I have on and it is a great saw, 4.5 hp, good dust collection, scoring blade, and sliding table. Should last the rest of my life and a very accurate saw

[Rod Sheridan]

with a sawstop ICS 5 hp around $3,000, and the sliding table another $900, why not consider a Hammer K3 with a 78" sliding table and a scoring blade. Felder has them on sale and it is a great saw, with all of the features you want designed into it. I have on and it is a great saw, 4.5 hp, good dust collection, scoring blade, and sliding table. Should last the rest of my life and a very accurate saw

My thoughts exactly.

I'm also a Hammer owner, I have a B3 winner.

I sold a General 650 to make space for the B3, I wouldn't go back to a cabinet saw period.

The B3/K3 have the blade at the edge of the slider, and you can have a scoring saw included.

The Excalibur is nice, however the Euro machines are an entire step up from cabinet saw based designs.

The price is extremely attractive as well.

Regards, Rod.

[Neil Brooks]

I"d never spent the eight minutes to watch the Felder vid of the B3, but ... just did.

Wow :eek:

Absolute beast of a machine, from the looks of it.

Engineers who clearly put their feet up, and thought a great deal about the day-to-day processes involved in woodworking, before they started with the mouse clicks.

Rod ? In all seriousness ... any downsides, that you've been able to identify ?

[Gary Curtis]

The original poster stated that his plan was to work a lot with plywood. That would eventually mean cutting lengths of 96". Add to that the diameter of the blade and you would have to have a 9-foot table minimum.

Unless all the cuts would be crosscuts.

[david blakelock]

Lot's of great thoughts & comments. I also just watched the video on the Hammer K3 saw. Incredible. And it looks like it is on sale which is even better. I never thought I could afford one nor spent much time looking at them. But it does seem to do everything anyone could want to do. Plus you get German engineering which is tough to beat. Based on the pricing on the website it is about the same price of a Sawstop PCS and a sliding table. Even if it is a little more, if it lasts forever and does what you need then it would be worth it.

So to Neil's question are there any downsides to the Hammer K3 saw? Or anything to look out for? I am going to try and call them tomorrow and see about the sale and what sort of other deals they might have.

Thanks again for all the comments, that is what makes this site so great.

David

[Van Huskey]

My thoughts exactly.

I'm also a Hammer owner, I have a B3 winner.

I sold a General 650 to make space for the B3, I wouldn't go back to a cabinet saw period.

The B3/K3 have the blade at the edge of the slider, and you can have a scoring saw included.

The Excalibur is nice, however the Euro machines are an entire step up from cabinet saw based designs.

The price is extremely attractive as well.

Regards, Rod.

I will make it a third, IF you desire a slider and are starting from scratch get the real thing, period. Adding a sliding table to an existing saw makes sense monetarily in some cases, making a cabinet/slider hybrid from scratch begs the question is it wise. You miss some of the best features of a true slider and still spend all the money of the less expensive ones like the Hammer which is still "on sale" I think.

[Peter Aeschliman]

David,

Don't forget what you're paying for with the Sawstop: a brake that will save your fingers if you have an accident.

A slider is safe when you're cutting plywood... but a cabinet saw isn't unsafe when you're cutting plywood either because your hands are nowhere near the blade. The most dangerous cuts are rip cuts. The Hammer is a great machine I'm sure... but rip cuts are just as dangerous on that saw as they are on any other non-brake equipped saw.

Said differently, if you truly want an apples-to-apples comparison, look at a cabinet saw that doesn't have brake (for example, Jet for $1,800) and your sliding table (call it $900). Total cost of $2,700. Compare that to the Hammer, and you have yourself a more fair comparison. Neither have safety brakes on them. Clearly the Hammer would outperform the Jet, but it will cost a lot more than $2,700.

Not at all trying to talk you out of it... I think the Hammer is an amazing saw, and the brake is obviously not a necessity. Most professional woodworkers go their entire careers without a serious accident at the TS. But I assume you were originally looking at Sawstop because of the safety feature.

[Erik Christensen]

if you want to safely cut large plywood panels dead square here is what I use - a festool track saw on a large custom work bench.

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=143694

safer, easier, faster & even more accurate than my robland slider when talking about long/large panels

not that a slider is a bad thing - who would ever say a new tool is not cool :D

but it has its uses - I have a 12 Delta RAS for cross cuts in long parts up to 14", bigger than that I use my bench

the slider is great for things like gang cutting dado's - making the ribs for a torsion box is so easy when you can clap all the ribs together, clamp them to the slider and just cut away.

[Rod Sheridan]

I"d never spent the eight minutes to watch the Felder vid of the B3, but ... just did.

Wow :eek:

Absolute beast of a machine, from the looks of it.

Engineers who clearly put their feet up, and thought a great deal about the day-to-day processes involved in woodworking, before they started with the mouse clicks.

Rod ? In all seriousness ... any downsides, that you've been able to identify ?

Not yet, I've used all the features including the shaper, power feeder and scoring saw and remain extremely pleased with the machine.

Last week I made some cabinets for the laundry room out of melamine coated PB. Using the scoring saw I couldn't tell which side was the "good" side of the cut pieces.

The only thing I might want is a start push button located next to the stop button for the shaper.

The B3 has a stop/start PB station near the selector switch for functions such as saw, shaper forward, shaper reverse.

It would be nice to have a start button in front of the shaper instead of on the side, however at least it has a stop button.

May add one some year when I have an excess of time:D.

Regards, Rod.

[Rod Sheridan]

The original poster stated that his plan was to work a lot with plywood. That would eventually mean cutting lengths of 96". Add to that the diameter of the blade and you would have to have a 9-foot table minimum.

Unless all the cuts would be crosscuts.

Perhaps, however the machine will rip an infinite length using the rip fence, just like a cabinet saw.

If you would infrequently want to straight line rip a 96" piece you can still do it using the Hammer accessory for that task, you make a sled that runs in the groove on the slider.

There's a video of it on the Hammer site.

I bought the smaller slider for space reasons, and I evaluated how often I would straight line rip a long piece, very seldom. It's more important to me that I can cross cut a sheet of ply with the slider, something that a cabinet saw can't do without an extremely large sled.

Of course it all depends upon what you want to do.........Rod.

[John P Clark]

The only problem with this saw is that it is made to order, you have to wait to get it. You cannot go down and buy one from Felder, you order it and it is made with the options that you select. I ordered mine in May and it came in August. But that said, it is a great saw and I am really happy with it and I got what I wanted on the saw, and it was made for me.

[david blakelock]

Just got off the phone with Carl and put down a deposit on a K3 Winner with the comfort package. The price was about 50% off and he threw in a few extra blades. I can't believe I just did this. It is supposed to be delivered in Dec. as it was already being built. Holy cow, a real table saw. I am going from a 20 year old Sears Craftsmen 2HP contractor saw to this. Not sure I will know what do to with a real saw.

Thanks to everyone for all the comments, thoughts, ideas, etc. This site is incredible and I love how everyone is so willing to share ideas and thoughts.

Now I just need to explain to my wife that I just bought my own Xmas present...

I will post pictures as soon as my new baby arrives.

David

[david blakelock]

if you want to safely cut large plywood panels dead square here is what I use - a festool track saw on a large custom work bench.

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=143694

safer, easier, faster & even more accurate than my robland slider when talking about long/large panels

not that a slider is a bad thing - who would ever say a new tool is not cool :D

but it has its uses - I have a 12 Delta RAS for cross cuts in long parts up to 14", bigger than that I use my bench


the slider is great for things like gang cutting dado's - making the ribs for a torsion box is so easy when you can clap all the ribs together, clamp them to the slider and just cut away.

Erik, that is a great bench. Thanks for sharing the pictures. I am thinking of adding something like this to my to do list for the new shop. If I have any questions can I send you a PM?

Thanks!

David

[Peter Aeschliman]

congratulations!

[Kevin Stockwell]

Congrats!

I ALMOST went the same route, but couldn't pull the trigger. I actually got more interested in the EZ-One from Eurekazone. Made more sense to move the little saw over the wood vs. wood over the saw. Still not sure, but close. I enjoy seeing other's journeys through the same process.

[david blakelock]

Thanks guys! I still can't believe that I pulled the trigger, but the price was pretty good and after reading all of the posts on this site about the Hammer and slider saws I just couldn't resist. Now comes the hard part, waiting for the new toy.. err tool to arrive. By the way, Carl at Felder is a great source of information and very easy to deal with.

As soon as the new baby arrives I will post pictures of the arrival, set up and it's new home. Now I need to come up with a name for the new addition to the family. I am sure my 5 year old daughter will come up with an appropriate name....

[Neil Brooks]

Congrats !!!

Looking forward to the pics, the blog of the setup, and your review !

Mission creep is a beautiful thing, isn't it ? ;)

[mreza Salav]

Congratulations! It looks you have bought a great saw.
May I ask how much was the total? I have looked up their site but really don't like the fact that you have to register/sign up before they even show you a price...

[david blakelock]

Congrats !!!

Looking forward to the pics, the blog of the setup, and your review !

Mission creep is a beautiful thing, isn't it ? ;)


Yes mission creep is a wonderful thing. Started out on one path and went a total different direction. But the one message that kept coming through was to buy a saw that would last forever even if it was more than I wanted to spend. But once I added up the cost of a top quality cabinet saw (Sawstop, Delta, etc.) and a sliding table it wasn't that much more. In fact it wasn't that much more than just a top end cabinet saw. At least that is my story and I am sticking to it....

[david blakelock]

Congratulations! It looks you have bought a great saw.
May I ask how much was the total? I have looked up their site but really don't like the fact that you have to register/sign up before they even show you a price...

Mreza, it was almost 50% off list price, they have some configurations that they have on sale. If you are at all interested I would call Carl as these sales are starting to go away. Something about the Euro vs. the dollar. Not sure if it is proper to put out what I actually paid as I am relatively new on this site and don't want to do anything to ruffle any feathers, if that makes sense. Maybe if you PM me I can give you some more information.

David

[Steve Griffin]

congrats David!

By the way, I don't find working with full sheets too much of a problem as others have expressed here. First of all, 95% of the time I rip first--it's only the occasion circumstance where material waste requires a crosscut first.

Secondly, it just takes little practice to come up with good techniques. I like to store all sheet goods near the saw in vertical racks (on the their 4' end). Once in the rack, I drag it towards the saw, tilt one edge down onto the saw and then pivot down to horizontal for a rip or crosscut. Once the sheet is in the shop, I never need to lift it without some of it's weight resting on the the saw or floor.

-Steve

[Rod Sheridan]

David, the first few times you go to use it, you'll be certain you made the wrong decision.

It's a bit of a learning curve going to a slider.

I occasionally find myself stopping and thinking about how to do something since it's a slider, not a cabinet saw. Once you figure it out it all makes sense.

You won't regret buying the K3, great machine..........Congratulations.

P.S. What options did you order?

[david blakelock]

David, the first few times you go to use it, you'll be certain you made the wrong decision.

It's a bit of a learning curve going to a slider.

I occasionally find myself stopping and thinking about how to do something since it's a slider, not a cabinet saw. Once you figure it out it all makes sense.

You won't regret buying the K3, great machine..........Congratulations.

P.S. What options did you order?

Rod, thanks for the insight. Your comments and inputs were a great help in steering me in this direction. I am sure I will have lot's of questions once I get it set up. I must say again that Carl from Felder was great. He has one at his house and he walked me thru several examples.

So what did I get? They have standard configurations of the most popular models on sale. So Carl sent me a spreadsheet with 4 different models, from the most basic to the top K3 Winner. I was going to go with the basic K3 Hammer (which by the way is cheaper than a top of the line cabinet saw), but ended up with the K3 Winner with the comfort package. So that has the scoring blade, dado set up, the largest outrigger table, pretty much all of the standard options. I can pull the actual numbers if you like. The only thing that I didn't get was the mobility option. He is also adding a couple of extra blades and an extension table into the deal. Like I said it was almost 50% off standard list. Pretty good deal I think. The best part is that they had one already being shipped so it will be here in December...

David

[Rod Sheridan]

Thanks David, sounds like my machine, except I have the shorter slider (49 inch???).

I made my own mobility kit with a length of 5/8" cold rolled round and a couple of roller bearing steel wheels.

I was wondering how you received such fast delivery, now I know.

That price was a steal, far better than the Canadian prices.......Rod.

[John Coloccia]

You know, it's funny. I read the OP where you were wondering if the SS ICS was worth it, and that you want a sliding table, and the first thought that popped into my mind was, "Why doesn't he just get a Euro slider?". And here you are :)

[Steve Rowe]

Congratulations David. Carl is an excellent sales representative for Felder, a fantastic source of information, a straight shooter, and also a member of this forum. Hopefully, he won't get a big head from these accolades:D.

[david blakelock]

John - I know what you mean. I had looked at the euro slider saws and thought they were to expensive and I was used to the tradtional cabinet saws. I think it was Rod who pointed out that it takes some time to get used to using a slider. But with the prices that they are offering I just couldn't resist.

Steve - yea I kind of thought Carl was a member of this forum. He is a great guy and did me a solid today.

[Dave MacArthur]

CONGRATULATIONS!
David, I have to say, you are like the Ninja of SMC-- sensory input creating instantaneous correct decisions and bypassing all "uhm, what if..." higher brain functions, bam! Bam! Aaaauuooooh! And I mean that in a complementary manner ;)

Like John C, I read your opening post--YESTERDAY!-- and thought, "Here's a fellow who would like a Euro slider":

Yesterday, 11:14 AM
Table Saw + Sliding Table

I am finishing up my new shop and I get to buy some new tools for the shop. The one decision that I have made is to buy a Sawstop PCS. I thought about the ICS, but I am having a hard time justifying the additional expense.

24 hours later, K3Winner owner. Man, I am totally impressed with your ability to pull the trigger! I'd be thinking about this next year, I'm sure!

[Van Huskey]

CONGRATULATIONS!
David, I have to say, you are like the Ninja of SMC--

As always Dave, I love your posts. What is the opposite of a SMC Ninja? Whatever it is I am surely one!


Congarts on the saw David, I bet you never regret it.

[Mark Rakestraw]

I'm going through the same decision process as David. I currently have an old Bridgewood cab saw with a Jessem Mast-R-Slide. It is pretty slick, but doesn't offer enough support for larger plywood panels. I'm not looking for a full-sized slider, don't have the room or the inclination to hump full sheets onto the saw before breaking them down a bit. I was also thinking about an Exactor, but after reading the many comments in this thread I'm now leaning towards a slider also. It sounds like David has made a good choice going with the Felder through Carl. I will definitely call him also. But I'm wondering if anyone has experience with the G0623X slider by Grizzly? Alternatively maybe someone who is experience with sliders of other brands could look at the Grizzly specs and comment on the good or bad?
thanks,
Mark

[C Scott McDonald]

David, I purchased a Hammer Winner this spring and got it a couple months ago. You wont be disappointed. Like you I went from a 15 year old Delta contractor saw to the Hammer. It is a joy to use. Couple things get the Dust collector fitting that converts it from 120mm on the machine to 4" pipe. Well worth the few bucks.

I got one with the short slider to use as a conventional cabinet saw with the crosscut benefits of a euro slider. Life is good.

Felders support after purchase is excellent as well.

Also, I got Forrest Dado King drilled for it and it is the amazing. Expensive but worth it.

[david blakelock]

Dave, love your post. I will wear the badge of Ninja of the SMC with honor:D. It was an interesting 24 hours. Hard to believe that I started out in one direction and ended up going a totally different way. That said I am very pleased with my choice and can't wait to get the saw up and running. I would not have gotten to this point if it wasn't for all the comments/thoughts/suggestions from all of the great folks on this board. That and the fact they are having an incredible sale on the saws. Now I just have to come up with an explanation to the wife when a large box (or boxes) show up in a couple of weeks. Thank goodness she is understanding...

David

[david blakelock]

David, I purchased a Hammer Winner this spring and got it a couple months ago. You wont be disappointed. Like you I went from a 15 year old Delta contractor saw to the Hammer. It is a joy to use. Couple things get the Dust collector fitting that converts it from 120mm on the machine to 4" pipe. Well worth the few bucks.

I got one with the short slider to use as a conventional cabinet saw with the crosscut benefits of a euro slider. Life is good.

Felders support after purchase is excellent as well.

Also, I got Forrest Dado King drilled for it and it is the amazing. Expensive but worth it.

Scott, where can I get the dust collector fitting? Can I get that from Felder? My other concern is where to get the blades. Can you just get them from Forrest or do you have to do something special?

Thanks,

David

[david blakelock]

I'm going through the same decision process as David. I currently have an old Bridgewood cab saw with a Jessem Mast-R-Slide. It is pretty slick, but doesn't offer enough support for larger plywood panels. I'm not looking for a full-sized slider, don't have the room or the inclination to hump full sheets onto the saw before breaking them down a bit. I was also thinking about an Exactor, but after reading the many comments in this thread I'm now leaning towards a slider also. It sounds like David has made a good choice going with the Felder through Carl. I will definitely call him also. But I'm wondering if anyone has experience with the G0623X slider by Grizzly? Alternatively maybe someone who is experience with sliders of other brands could look at the Grizzly specs and comment on the good or bad?
thanks,
Mark

Mark, I can't comment on t he Grizzly slider but it looks very similar to the K3 Hammer. I took a look at the specs and they seem very similar. The main reason that I went with the K3 was the incredible sale that they have going on. Having said that, the Grizzly is still cheaper than the K3 even at the sale price. I would have to think that the K3 is a bit better made than the Grizzly, but I have no experience or first hand knowledge of that. I have a few Grizzly tools and I think they are great value and the customer service is great. So don't want to start a Grizzly bashing session. For me it was the right decision. I would talk to Carl, even if you don't end up buying from him he is a great resource with plenty of information and first hand experience. Once I get the saw I will post pictures and detail the set up and user experience. Also once I have it up and running I would be happy to talk to anyone that is trying to make the same decision and share my experiences.

David

[C Scott McDonald]

David,

You can buy the fitting from Felder. They will just add it to your order no problem. It is only a few bucks and makes a nice easy way to connect to it.

Forrest sells the Dado King all ready to go for the Hammer/Felder. Felder uses the same pins and arbor. You will see why the pins are there the first time you turn it off. The electric brake stops the blade fast! Still makes me jump on occasion.

Not sure what blades they included but I got 10" with mine. Not sure why but the Felder blades have the worst whistle to them. I am talking ear numbing. They cut OK though. I have since got some 12"" Tenyru blades locally and have been happy with those. Tenyru makes blades all ready drilled for the Felder so it is easy. I am sure there are others out there.

Scott