Sliding tables for table-saws...

[Phil Winn]

More questions....
1. Any thoughts on the Jessem 7500 and the Laguna Pro Sliding Table?
www.jessem.com/mast_r_slide.htm (http://www.jessem.com/mast_r_slide.htm)
www.lagunatools.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=48 (http://www.lagunatools.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=48)
2. Have any SMC members use either with a SawStop TS?
3. What kind of woodworker would benefit the most from a sliding table...
meaning, someone who uses many 4x8 sheet goods, or mass-produces...or...?
4. I build a large variety of pieces-a desk, then a blanket chest, a bookcase, then a small box and a nice pen to go with it. I use primarily solid woods-with at times hardwood-plywood backs & shelves.
5. The Jessem is $550.00 or so, while the Laguna is $1245.00...I could purchase a handful of nice hand-planes...or donate the $$ to a good cause....or even purchase a digital camera to take pictures so I could post....
Thanks,
Phil

[Gary Curtis]

I saw the Jessem unit on Thursday here in California. At the store where I purchased a General 350 Sliding Table Saw.

I didn't catch the number on it, but it was certainly the new device being shown in the magazine.

It has 5 packs of 6-bearing sets, for a total of 30 bearings. It looked like the Abrams Tank --- without the gun. Weighed a ton. The only drawback I could see is the lack of an outrigger for support. That limits the work capacity.

So, while it is vastly superior to a crosscut sled, you couldn't handle a 4x8 sheet of plywood.

I've seen a few Lagunas, but I can't recall details about the sliding table. If it is like the Robland, lacking an outrigger, capacity and stability would be my concerns.

Have you thought about an Exactor or Excalibur?

Gary Curtis
Los Angeles

[CPeter James]

I have the smaller Exactor. It will crosscut 36" (a door). A bigger one would have been nice, but space problems prevailed. For whole sheets of stock, I have a cutting table made up of 2x4s made into a frame. That and a straight edge and my PC saw with a good blade does the trick to get it down to a size that I can handle in the PM66 and sliding table. I looked at an older Delta slider today on a Unisaw. Still worked pretty good after many years of had use. Whatever you get, make sure that it can be made to stand alone and not on the floor, unless you have a concrete floor. I set the legs of my Exactor on some angle iron outriggers extened from the PM66 cabinet.

CPeter

[Roy Wall]

Phil,

I found a website that states the following:

"Table saws with a four-hole extension wing mounting pattern require drilling two additional holes."

I think our SS wing bolt pattern is three........??

Here's the site....

http://tool-corral.com/shopsite_sc/store/html/page116.html

which has a pretty good narration on the Jessem.

I like what I see....as I have limited space and don't envy a bigger table that requires leg support and such. Looks like a good system! I may call my local woodcraft and see if they have one set up.....


Dan Forman started a thread on this Jessem recently....a search should show it.

[Gary Curtis]

Phil,

If you don't want the legs sticking down, here's what $900 will buy you from General. Enough capacity for a 48" crosscut. You can stack 5 or 6 sheets temporarily on the sliding table and not topple the thing.

To be honest, I haven't taken delivery of my saw to test it out. There may be surprises for me. But it's an option. And it will bolt to most cabinet saws so long as the left tilt on the arbor doesn't interfere.

Look around before you buy. Jet makes a very similar slider. Again, no spindly legs to trip you.

Look here at this thread for a photo of the General.

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=26285

Gary Curtis

[Dan Forman]

Just got the new Popular Woodworking today, and the JessEm MastRSlide
sliding table was picked as one of the top tools of 2005. They really really like it, FWIW. "Our search for the perfect sliding table ended this year with the JessEm..."

And here is an update---They have fixed the problem which did not allow it to be used on a left tilt Unisaw.

Still haven't pulled the trigger, but leaning in that direction.

Dan

[James Biddle]

Anyone know if the fence on the Jessum needs to be recalibrated to 90 degrees after being put back on after removing it for a rip cut? How easy is the fence to remove? Are there any positive stops for miter cuts (45, etc.)?

[Gary Curtis]

James, when I saw the Jessum at my dealer, he told he got only one "advanced issue." That's because he is a sort of big gun in the wood tool industry. No one else has got them. That will change in a few weeks.

Jessum is nowhere near the point of shipping this product. So, few folks have seen the instruction manual, and certainly no one has used it enough to know if the 90-degree setting must be re-calibrated.

I had my hands on the thing, but it was just a pile of scattered parts sitting on top of a 14" TS. Right out of the carton, unassembled.

The fence was better than the one that comes with my General slider. The latter is 2 inches tall. But it is 40" long. The Jessum was extruded aluminum. A box with reinforcing webbing inside, about 4-5 inches tall, with multiple T-slots on all sides. Red. Even tough it was short (maybe 18", it was pretty stout and heavy.

Worth waiting for, I'd say.

Gary Curtis

[Dan Forman]

One of the things Pop WW liked about it was that it needed NO recalibration after replacing the fence. The fence is 24" long, and extends to 48" with a flip stop. It removes easily, don't know about mitering stops, but I would assume it does. They are shipping now. You could call and ask them any other questions. There are several reviews in progress, try to get your hands on either the Nov or Dec Pop WW to see one.

Dan

[Les Spencer]

Have you given the EZ Smart or Festool systems a look? Sure saves a lot of lifting and you get finish cuts for less money.

[James Biddle]

I've got a Festool and have heard great things about the EZ Smart too. But, there are a lot of times I want to make one or two quick, accurate cuts without hauling out the Festool (I'm space challenged). Since I can't store my cabinet saw, I'm looking for alternatives. I made a cutoff sled for my last saw: if worked great, but didn't make the other cuts I needed. Now that I have a new saw and found that my homemade sled doesn't work on the new saw, I'm looking for different alternatives. I was set to pull the trigger on a Dubby or a SmartMiter, but the Jessem interests me. I'm hoping to see these choices at the Detroit WW show in a few weeks.

[will mcmanus]

I own the Laguna Sliding table along with their table saw, and it is quite nice. It is a 50" format slider and is built very well. It does not have the ability to have an outrigger so if you are doing alot of sheets you might want something with a little more support. I love the laguna table though, overall i think it is built very well, is rides very close to the blade (at least on my saw) , it is a ball bearing system which means you wont develop slop as time goes by, and you can crosscut a standard panel need be the case. For smaller sliders, its a good one

Hope this Helps

[Rick Lizek]

I see no reason why an outrigger could not be added to the Laguna slider. Seems to me they fell short of finishing the saw without one. Look at other sliders for ideas on an outrigger. If the iutrigger is done right a mobile base would still work on that saw as well.

[Gary Curtis]

If you are interested in this technology, provide useful info on the Outrigger for a slider. I can Xerox a few pages showing the parts diagram and installation of same. I just took delivery last week on the General Sliding Table.

According to the text, the cost of this option ($900+) is mostly in the outrigger itself. Apparently, the Outrigger arm has to be precision machined. Though I haven't seen a Delta, the outrigger on the Jet Slider looks very close to the General arrangement. Big, expensive Outrigger arm.

Incidentally, my friend bought a Robland sliding table, and then bolted it onto his Inca 12" TS. No outrigger, but he has no regrets about the lack of an outrigger support. Laguna and Robland sell their sliders alone. The people at Laguna said the installation amounts to drilling a few holes in the end of the saw top.

Send requests for Xerox of plans to:

Gary Curtis extiger@comcast.net

Include your email and land address. I have not been too successful scanning in documents and then attaching to emails. Expect paper.


gc:p

[Rick Lizek]

http://www.minimax-usa.com/stablesaws.html
See here for examples of outrigger tables and arms. Two basic types of arm are typically used...Hinged or Sliding. Nothing too complicated that can't be with off the shelf stuff. Not sure what Gary is referring to as being precision machined on an outrigger but I've been using and fixing sliders for years.

[Gary Curtis]

A photo of the General Slider can be seen near the end of this thread. Poor photo. I'm sorry. http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=26285

I'll describe it. A long steel arm pivots back and forth. The top of the arm supports a machined bar or rod, cradled by upper/lower bearing sets mounted to the pivot arm.

The rod has a vertical support strut attached to the table riding some 18" inches above the bar.

The Jet assembly, judging from photos, looks the same.

The better European sliders have the pivot arm. But instead of bar above it, the arm contains a smaller sliding arm that telescopes out of it. Supported by a sturdier bearing assembly, this inner arm is then attached to a vertical strut, and thence to the table itself.

I would guess you could buy parts and fabricate the outrigger, attaching it to a table of different manufacture.

That's why I offered the parts diagram.

Gary