Moving to the right (not politics)

[Jim C Martin]

Hello All:
Like many of you, I have an extension table on the right of my tablesaw and my miter gauge was set up for the left side. Recently I got to thinking about taking advantage of the extension table by moving my miter to the right. Before doing so, I read a few threads on the pros and cons of moving to the right side. I honestly could not make any sense of the arguments against it so I went ahead and set one up.
Your results may differ but I immediately found it perfectly comfortable to push the miter with my left hand and hold the stock with my right so as to keep both hands well away from the blade. It also seemed perfectly natural to stand to the right of the blade so no kickback would come flying at me. I honestly cannot see any downside other than I might have to put the fence aside more often. Seems very nice to me to have the measured cut part supported.
As of now I only have one miter gauge set up for the right and will test it for a while before moving the others.
Cheers,
Jim

[johnny means]

I never heard any anti-right side miter slot. I've always considered it a situational call. I can't seed any sensible argument for not using both.

[Jim C Martin]

I never heard any anti-right side miter slot. I've always considered it a situational call. I can't seed any sensible argument for not using both.
.
I agree. Here (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?32459-Why-do-you-prefer-the-quot-left-of-the-blade-quot-position-for-a-table-saw-miter-gauge) is the thread I alluded to. Some agree with you and me others voice safety concerns that I can't follow.

[Jim Finn]

My saw has a miter slot on both sides of the blade. I thought they all did.

[Dan Hahr]

The extension table on my saw stays covered up with stuff. Plus, I have much more room to the left for longer boards.

Dan

[Mike Cutler]

Jim

I am post # 8 in the thread you referenced and my saw is still setup today the same way it was then.
I have a JessEm Mast-R-Slide to the left, fence to the right, and still have a miter set up for the right side of the blade. My Tenon Jig though, oddly enough is setup for the left slot on this saw This particular saw uses another saw for the outfield table and that saw is also set for for the miter in the right slot.
One saw is left tilt, the other saw is a right tilt. I don't have any issues.

[Jim C Martin]

Thanks Mike! I liked your post and its good to hear you still like that set up 10 years later.
Cheers,
Jim


Jim

I am post # 8 in the thread you referenced and my saw is still setup today the same way it was then.
I have a JessEm Mast-R-Slide to the left, fence to the right, and still have a miter set up for the right side of the blade. My Tenon Jig though, oddly enough is setup for the left slot on this saw This particular saw uses another saw for the outfield table and that saw is also set for for the miter in the right slot.
One saw is left tilt, the other saw is a right tilt. I don't have any issues.

[Brian W Smith]

We build custom sliders,imagine cutting and milling large slabs....table saw tops,right through the middle.The slider part rides on beautiful old lathe beds.They are so accurate that we can pull the slider off/on in seconds and replace them without any measurable run out.I personally use a mid stroke length,because I'm too old to be wrestling whole sheets.Which is a 1000 times easier on our vert machine.

The point being,once used to using the left side,I find the right to be completely awkward.We still do "box" joints on the right side though.But that's out of laziness to develop better tooling more than anything else.