May take a look at a Laguna Fusion slider - what do I need to know?

[Mike Manning]

I may be looking at a Laguna Fusion sliding table saw. I'm not familar with sliders at all. Not sure I've even got room for it in my 3rd car garage aka my shop. Beyond the usual, noisy bearings, broken trunnions (?), what should I be looking at?

Thanks, Mike

[Ted Derryberry]

What's sliding about the Fusion table saws? They look like standard cabinet saws to me.

[Mike Manning]

What's sliding about the Fusion table saws? They look like standard cabinet saws to me.

Yeah, I'm seeing that at the Laguna website but this definitely has a sliding table to the left. And that's how it is being advertised. Are there aftermarket sliding tables?

[Derek Cohen]

Mike, post a link to the tablesaw you are considering. A slider ala the Hammer K3 I have is vastly different in design and use to a cabinet tablesaw with a sliding table as an accessory. The true slider has a long table which runs very close to the saw blade.The sliding table accessory is a short table that runs quite far (12-18") from the saw blade. The true slider may be used for rip cuts, while the accessory sliding table can only do cross cuts.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Mike Manning]

Mike, post a link to the tablesaw you are considering. A slider ala the Hammer K3 I have is vastly different in design and use to a cabinet tablesaw with a sliding table as an accessory. The true slider has a long table which runs very close to the saw blade.The sliding table accessory is a short table that runs quite far (12-18") from the saw blade. The true slider may be used for rip cuts, while the accessory sliding table can only do cross cuts.

Regards from Perth

Derek

Upon close reading of the ad he does advertise it as table saw with a sliding cross cut table. Here are a couple of pics from the ad.

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[Ted Derryberry]

That looks like a lot of stuff that can go wrong for very little benefit IMO.

[Frankie Hunt]

It has a DeWalt sliding table on it. I have one on my Unisaw. I like it because it doesn't stick out on the front, keeping the original footprint of the saw, (well.. its a few inches wider than the original wing) These have been discontinued and are no longer available.

The negatives are:
It has a limited range compared to a true slider. (not a problem for me)
The slider is not near the blade, it is just a wing that replaces a wing in the saw, unlike a true slider. (not a problem for me)

I like mine as it is big enough but does not take up any extra space.
I use it all the time and consider it a very worthwhile addition to a regular table saw.
Once I got it, I did away with my crosscut sled which I found very cumbersome.

377498

[Rod Sheridan]

It has a DeWalt sliding table on it. I have one on my Unisaw. I like it because it doesnt stick out on the front, keeping the original footprint of the saw, (well its a few inches wider than the original wing)

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Indeed Frankie, having the table not stick out front is a benefit of smaller sliders.

As others have indicated on this one you lose many of the benefits of a true slider due to the large distance between the sliding table and the blade.

A small Euro slider like mine will crosscut a sheet of plywood, and the slider doesn't stick out the front.....Rod.

[Frankie Hunt]

A small Euro slider like mine will crosscut a sheet of plywood, and the slider doesn't stick out the front.....Rod.

If I were in the market for a new saw today, I would strongly look at that K3 for sure.

[Mike Manning]

Thanks for the feedback guys! I've not heard back from the seller but given it's not a true slider I'm not interested.

[Bill Adamsen]

This approach was very common in decades past on some of the really high quality American and European tablesaws. For instance the Tannewitz XJS (S stands for slider) as well as almost every competitive machine (Greenlee, Whitney, Oliver) was offered (not standard) with a slider built into the cast iron top. The Wadkin (PK) and Robinson too. Today, they are considered highly desirable collectors items. They were really focused on precision cross-cutting, dadoing and tenoning of hardwood where the slider was considered to provide superior registration to using a fence. In some ways they are similar to today's shaper tenoning slider. Clearly today's euro slider has more capability and possibly a better bearing system. But that functionality should be considered as useful for what it is.