Sawstop 36" or 52" table

[John Adank]

I'm going to purchase a new 3hp Sawstop but can't make up my mind between the 36" table or the 52". I would still be able to fit the 52" in my shop and lose a little room but not too bad. I guess I am asking if there is anything I'm not considering when making this decision. I plan on placing the Incra TS fence system but I only have the 32" rails at the moment but could just purchase the longer rails for the 52" if I need to. I used my Powermatic contractor saw with the 32" capacity for two years with no real issues as far as needing more rip capacity but sometimes it's nice to have a little more if needed. Only $100 more to go for the 52. I'm starting to answer my own post here. Anyway, if anyone has any other suggestions, please comment.

thank you,
john

[mreza Salav]

I went from a 32" saw to a SS with 52" and I'm glad I did (although the space is a bit tight). I have used a few times but it's certainly good to have that capacity when you need it.
Plus, that space gives you place to put/sort all the pieces you want to cut (or after a cut), it's a second assembly table when I need it.
I've also added a drawer beneath to store all the blades and saw accessories.

[Mike Henderson]

If you can fit a 52", go for it. You'll be glad you did.

If you go for a 32" and want a bit more cutting room, you can move the rail over (you may have to drill new holes), which will give you little or no room to put the fence on the left side of the blade. I did that because I never put my fence on the left side of the blade. You also have to have some support for the fence to the far right, which means you may have to build an extension wing. The ruler is probably glued to the rail with sticky tape so you can remove it and replace it after you've moved the rail.

Mike

[Cary Falk]

If you have the room, go with the 52". All that real estate to te right makes a great place to pile stuff.:D

[Kyle Iwamoto]

Another vote for 52. If you got room, no issues. I don't have room, and I'm still glad I have it. I routed a router plate in the wing, so that saves me some space, since I don't need a router table. And as many have already stated, it is a great place to put your cut pieces, and layout etc. It does serve as my work bench, since I have no room for a real workbench.

[Carl Beckett]

I personally like the shorter fence. Too often that extension is full of stuff, and not that often I 'need' the extra capacity, so prefer having the extra floor space

[Mark Ashmeade]

Go for the 52, and put it on wheels. I built a mobile base for mine that covers the whole footprint, not just the saw base. Next step is to put a cabinet & router vacuum box between the base & the table.

[John Adank]

Can you guys post some pictures of your 52" saw setups?

[Victor Robinson]

I have the 36" (and Incra TS-LS), and though I've never needed a larger fence capacity (I use a tracksaw for large plywood pieces), I agree that extra work surface is nice if you can afford the space.

[mreza Salav]

Can you guys post some pictures of your 52" saw setups?

Here are a few not so great picture of mine with a sled and a set of drawers under it:

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[Carl Beckett]

Hey Mreza, what size is that drawer with the incra miter init? Someone here is asking......

[mreza Salav]

Overall 24"(D)x24"(W)x25"(H). The top two drawers are 6" (the box is about 23"Dx21.5"Wx5"H) and the bottom drawer is about 12" height.

[Larry Frank]

I have the PCS with the 36" rails and I have the Industrial mobile base. Even though my shop is good sized, I did not want to take up that much real estate with the longer rails. In addition, the main use for me for longer rails would be to put full sheets of plywood. I can not anymore lift a full sheet of 3/4" plywood by myself up on the saw table. Given that, I went with the shorter rails and am able to move the entire saw out of the way when another project needs a lot of space. I break down my plywood using a track saw which I find is much easier on my back and gives an excellent cut.

[Mark Ashmeade]

Here's my setup. Note I didn't stain the base under where the cabinet will go. I also included a shot of what I did to get the DC connected.

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[Shawn Pixley]

I have the 36" and have never needed wider. But I don't work much with plywood.

[Ron Sayers]

I think it is important to analyze the work that you do. I just recently bought the 3hp SS with the ts-ls fence. When I was making the decision, I realized that I had never come up against the 30" limit on my contractors saw in the projects that I do, so I went for the space/cost savings. +1 on using a track saw for breaking down sheet goods. Lastly, if your work habits change, you have the option to slide the incra rails over, taking away some of the left side cutting capacity, to increase the right side capacity.

[Matt Meiser]

I had a 30" on a previous saw and regularly wished for more. I set my current Unifence up for 48 and have never used that much. Go figure. The main reason is that I've gone to doing all my sheet goods cutting with the Festool system (saw, rails, and MFT). Still, for the difference I'd get the 52. You can always cut it down but adding more is harder, or at least more expensive.

[Jim O'Dell]

Not a SS owner, but I went with the longer rails on my Grizzly, AND moved the rails to the right. I now have 65" rip to the right of the blade, 0" to the left. And I love it! Yeah, used more for staging cuts than for cutting anything that wide, but I have used it a couple times. Here's a pic: 247039 I've got about 28" of walking space to the left of the saw, and about that to the right if the mobile router table is in use, a little more if not. Ditto on those that said if you have the room go for it. Jim.

[Rian de Bruyn]

ask my wife -bigger is better !!!!!!!!!!!
HAHAHAHAHA
only joking i would go for the 52"

[Jim Stewart]

If you cut plywood get the 52" if not the 36". I have a 36" and have never regretted it. Jim

[brian c miller]

I have the TS-LS system. I think that the 32" rails are actually 72" long. You can off set them to the fence side and gain some capacity... I want to say up to 49" but I'd have to check. You give up being abe to rip to the left of the blade if you do this.

The other thing to think about if you'll have to love doing math. THe basic setup is that you extend the fence to read 30" then move the base as far right as possible and reclamp the base. Now all of your measurments are +30" on the scale.




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Also, remeber that you'll need about 30" extra inches on the fence side to clear the postioner that stick out past the rails on the TSLS system. That means for the 52" system, you'll need 92" for the rails and another 30" to clear the posistioner.

That's a LOT of room.

[John Adank]

Is that the 32" rail system in the photo? Are you saying if I move the rails over to the right on the 32, you have to add plus 30" to your measurement? I know if you order the 92" rails you also need a new measuring tape to coincide with the longer rails. This tape would replace your current tape you had with the 32" rails. Is this what you are talking about when having to add 30" to you final measurements?

[brian c miller]

There are two rail lengths available: The 32" (810mm)-capacity TS-LS is based on a 72" Rail length, and the 52" (1320mm)-capacity system uses 92" Rails. Both systems use the same LS32 Positioner, and quick-release knobs allow the positioner's base assembly to be shifted further from the saw blade on the 52" system's longer rails to achieve the greater capacitt. The TS Rail Support Legs are standard equipment on the 52" System

In the standard set you get 14" (350mm) of ripping capacity to the left of the blade and you get 32" (810mm)-capacity to the right of the saw blade. I sent Mark over at Incra a few emails and decided for what I needed I could just off-set the railsto gain right side capacity and give up left side capacity.

Both systems use the same LS32 Positioner, and quick-release knobs allow the positioner's base assembly to be shifted further from the saw blade on the 52" system's longer rails to achieve the greater capacity. I downloaded the "EXTENDED CAPACITY INSTRUCTIONS" from Incra and set the right hand side up just like it was a 52" system. You can see the bolts on the far right hand side of the rails. You loosen the 4 knobs on the carrier and slide the whole thing over... that part works pretty well.

The "math" come into play b/c of how the sliding scale works. You only get 32"-0" on the main scale so you either have to use a weird arragment of the plastic scales. I think the insctuctions call for you to use part of scale that reads to 64" and cut it off at around the 53" mark in and slide it into the short slot, then overlap the 48"-32" scale and 32"-16" scale into the same slot. Then try to line everything up so that it's +20" inches... set the plastic 50 to the steel 30, then plastic 40 to steel 20, etc...

I had some problems getting the plastic scales to stay in place so I went with the +XX" setup. It's pretty easy to remember & I made a little cheat sheet to remind me. IMHO, the system should have allowed for 2 magenitic scales that can be neatly overlapped.

http://www.incra.com/images/rtf_lspositioner_detail1_zoom.jpg

In this arragment I have enough capacity to crosscut a full sheet of plywood (somewhere between 48" and 51") but I rarely use it. Most of the time, I move the carriage to gain capacity on the routher table.

[brian c miller]

Also, note that the legs are pretty wide.... more so than most mobile bases.

The table on a unie is about 27" deep and the legs end up being something like 35" on center.

[John Adank]

Ok, so you have the 32" system with the 72" rails correct? If I move the rails over to th right to gain more rip capacity to the right of the blade, I will throw off my measurements and end up having to add to whatever the positioner is reading correct? If I leave it has is, I will only have about 29" of rip capacity to the right of the blade. I'm thinking I would not need the additional Incra support legs because I will already have the support legs on the 36" Sawstop anyway. Do I have this correct?

thanks, you've been a big help in pointing out some issues

[brian c miller]

Yes, 32" systems have 72" rails. In the standard setup you get 14" capacity to the left, 32" to the right. I off set mine to have 0" left, almost 50" right.

BOTH the factory and Offset systems require you to either read multiple scales or add to the scale.
www.incra.com/manuals/ts-ls_52extended_capacity_instructions.pdf (http://www.incra.com/manuals/ts-ls_52extended_capacity_instructions.pdf)

I am not sure how the SawStop system works, but with the incra system the weight of the fence, tables, routers, etc is suspended from the rails.

When you move the positioner to max capacity you have the weight hung out about 7 feet (the end of the posisitioner is about 3" longer) and this can lead to the rails deflecting. I would highly recomend getting the legs.

[Randy Gillard]

52 if you got the room. 36 if you don't. Pretty simple really. I got the 36 'cause I don't have the room.

[Jim Neeley]

First, I purchased a 52" cabinet saw so you know where I ended up.

The biggest advantage, for me, of the extra rip capacity is the ability to use the rip fence beyond the middle of a 4'x8' sheet of plywood. Part of my use of the saw is to cut sheet goods to size and this capacity lets me make my first cut my final cut, if desired.

If someone else addressed this and I missed it, I apologize.

Just my $0.02.. YMMV.

Jim in Alaska

[brian c miller]

I think you'll be suprised at how much space the 52" incra system takes up.... fully extended it's somewhere around 10-11 feet wide.

[John Adank]

Yeah, I'm going to have to go with the 36". I just wish I could get more rip capacity out of the Incra fence. The 52" table would require 92" rails which is just going to be too much. Well, if the Incr fence doesn't work for me I can always sell it and put the original T-glide fence back on. I was able to get by with the standard contractor fence before. Looks like I will need to buy a Festool track saw for the larger plywood cuts. Darn, I have to buy another new tool again.

[brian c miller]

Here's 2 images I sketched out quick to show you what I mean.

Standard Layout:
Saw Capacity Left = 14"
Saw Capacity Right = 32"
Router Capacity Right = 10"
Overall lenght = 102"

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Offset Layout:
Saw Capacity Left = 0"
Saw Capacity Right = 49"
Router Capacity Right = 20"
Overall lenght = 110"
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I've also thought about going to the track saw for large sheets... I think that's a great example of when to bring to tool to the work (unless you've got an 8" slider).

[John Adank]

Thank you for the diagram, that helps a lot. I almost bought a sliding panel saw but I would have had to really change things around. I would have had to put the saw in the garage and everything else in the basement shop. Not an ideal situation so I scrapped the idea and bought the Sawstop. Thanks for pointing out the length to the right thatthe positioner takes up. I never even gave that a thought. I was only looking at the length of the rails. I knew if I posted here I would find out some things I hadn't considered. Thanks again, John

[Tim Janssen]

I bought the SawStop 36" version and later installed the Grizzly slider. In the process of installing the slider, moved the fence tube to the right and that now gives me about 50" of rip capacity.

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[John Adank]

Is that an accessory you can purchase or did you remove it from another saw?

[Tim Janssen]

Is that an accessory you can purchase or did you remove it from another saw?

Grizzly sells that unit: http://www.grizzly.com/products/Sliding-Table-Attachment/T10223
Regards,

Tim

[John Adank]

Yes, I just looked it up. How well does that work. The one thing I immediately noticed is how far the blade is away from the slider. On a regular sliding panel saw the blade is pretty close to the sliding table. It appears that you would be kind of limited in the width when ripping with the slider.

[Tim Janssen]

I don't use the slider for ripping. I use the saw in the normal way you would rip, i.o.w. using the fence. Using the slider would limit the length of material you could rip. I use the slider for cross-cutting. The distance to the blade is indeed a drawback sometimes. The alternative is a European style saw like a Hammer B3.
However I had the SawStop and this was a way of getting myself a slider at a reasonable cost.
Cheers,

Tim