Bruce Seidner
11-13-2011, 1:21 PM
If one is designing a non mobile saw table that will have the Excalibur SLT-60P beast hanging off the side, how wide would you want it given the the conflicting desire to maximize its usefulness for plywood sheet goods and the limitations of a garage workshop.
http://www.general.ca/site_excalibur/e_produits/50-SLT60e.html
The working width of the slider is listed as 40" but it has a 60" fence that can extend to 101" and to my cave man mentality the difference between ripping and crosscutting is moot on plywood where a cut is a cut is a cut regardless of orientation.
The minimum width of the main table saw is 20" and it can extend right from there. I was originally planning on a 60" top because the guide for my Vega Pro 50 fence is a a 60" long crazy thick tube. This made sense before I was essentially given the Excalibur by a kindly fellow on Craig's list. So it is back to the drawing board. Ignore my previous inane ramblings about the mobile cabinets because that is not going to work with this Excalibur unit. It removes quickly but takes quite a bit of tweaking to get level and true. Once set it is not a trivial matter to reset it.
So given the capacity of the Excalibur it essentially becomes the new table. My newbie question is what size should the saw table be for general use. Will there be situations where the limit of a rip fence so close to the blade off to the right will be a serious limitation if most of the working action is on the sliding table? In this case I am looking to stay at 20" or go wider to be still practical in the typical work of making a kitchen cabinet out of plywood, book shelves and the stuff one usually cuts sheet goods to make for around the house projects. I have never had need to rip anything wider than a 12" piece of real tree wood. I don't have the experience to anticipate the consequences of table width in this fact pattern. I don't expect a consensus so much as what has worked for people.
http://www.general.ca/site_excalibur/e_produits/50-SLT60e.html
The working width of the slider is listed as 40" but it has a 60" fence that can extend to 101" and to my cave man mentality the difference between ripping and crosscutting is moot on plywood where a cut is a cut is a cut regardless of orientation.
The minimum width of the main table saw is 20" and it can extend right from there. I was originally planning on a 60" top because the guide for my Vega Pro 50 fence is a a 60" long crazy thick tube. This made sense before I was essentially given the Excalibur by a kindly fellow on Craig's list. So it is back to the drawing board. Ignore my previous inane ramblings about the mobile cabinets because that is not going to work with this Excalibur unit. It removes quickly but takes quite a bit of tweaking to get level and true. Once set it is not a trivial matter to reset it.
So given the capacity of the Excalibur it essentially becomes the new table. My newbie question is what size should the saw table be for general use. Will there be situations where the limit of a rip fence so close to the blade off to the right will be a serious limitation if most of the working action is on the sliding table? In this case I am looking to stay at 20" or go wider to be still practical in the typical work of making a kitchen cabinet out of plywood, book shelves and the stuff one usually cuts sheet goods to make for around the house projects. I have never had need to rip anything wider than a 12" piece of real tree wood. I don't have the experience to anticipate the consequences of table width in this fact pattern. I don't expect a consensus so much as what has worked for people.