What is the ideal outfeed table length for a table saw

[andrew radford]

What is the ideal outfeed table length for a table saw

[Doug Garson]

What are the longest pieces you rip? Table should be long enough so that at least half of your longest piece is supported when you finish your cut. Also depends on how much room you have and whether you want some extra work or assembly surface.

[Van Huskey]

For me, it is the longest rips you normally make minus the distance from the back of the blade to the back of the saw top divided by 2. For me I just use a 5' table so rips of near 11' are still balanced, it also allows for using a 5' wide piece of laminate to cover the top of the outfeed table.

[Bill Dufour]

As long as your longest board so about 16' for most folks. Of course you also need that much in front of the blade.
Bill D.
Edit; most folks have to compromise from ideal.

[Rick Potter]

A bit less than 4' seems good to me. It will hold a sheet of ply from tipping after being ripped. For the times I rip long boards (seldom), I add a sawhorse. Mine is 2' wide and 4' long, on wheels so it can be moved back or sideways as needed.

It is not my assembly table, although I have been known to use it that way when needed.

[Von Bickley]

My outfeed / assembly table is 4' X 6.5' and that works good for me.

[Rege Sullivan]

It's probably more about what you have room for than anything. Mine extends 24" and is 48" wide centered on the blade and handles 99% of what I cut. For the remaining 1%, I have a 36"x60" assembly table 24" from the outfeed table beveled at the end set at a height that supports about anything I could feed through the saw.

[Bruce Page]

Being space challenged I built a folding outfeed table for my Unisaw. It’s 40” when extended by 36” wide. Bigger is better of course, and I have never ripped a 16’ long board but this size has worked well for me.

[Matt Day]

Not exactly an easy question to answer, as every situation is different. Mine is about 3’, but i’ll put a Ridgid flip top stand to catch boards longer than about 6’. I don’t have the room to have a 5’ deep outfeed table.

[Warren Lake]

I dont know. sheet stock one thing solid another., my set up was fine for sheet stock more or less, then doing 16 foot facia boards it wasnt so horses with a beam on them or a stand with a piece of masonite on it worked fine. Id say you could have an outfeed table then hinge part of it and just fold it up if and when you need it, or something that ads on like those Aigner accessories but make one from scrap. stuff slides well enough on masonite and doesnt track like it can on rollers that are not aligned perfectly.

[Dave Cav]

Long enough so that whatever you rip doesn't fall off the edge....

OK that wasn't much help. I don't generally rip anything longer than 10 feet, so a little more than five feet from the arbor of my table saw to the edge of the outfeed table would be ideal. In reality it's closer to four feet, which works 99% of the time for me.

[Darcy Warner]

I dont have any, no real need with my SLR or my greenlee with a feeder, I just walk around and grab the piece.

[Paul Girouard]

I have 38” on the outfeed side, I also have a 1 3/8” x. 30” wide x 80” long solid core door I can quickly attach, the near end screws to the underside of the tablesaw table with four screws and I made a simple set of H shaped legs I attach to the door before I attach it to the saw table.
I use it when ripping stock that over 16’ long , IF I have a LOT of 16’ stock to run I’ll attach the long outfeed table , if it’s under five pieces 16’ long, I can gut it thru without the longer table.



397177

[Darcy Warner]

You guys just need a power feeder, no need for anything when having to rip any thing. I don't cut anything on the TS without using the feeder.

[Rick Potter]

I was gonna welcome you to the Creek, since this is your first post, then I noticed you have been here over 5 years.

Belated welcome:), I hope it doesn't take that long for post #2.

[Ole Anderson]

I just can't see the need to rip a 16 footer for a WW project. Sometimes I buy 12' boards, but they usually get cut to no more than 8' before milling A long board, unusable due to bow, can become usable when cut to project length before milling for thickness and width. I have space constraints in my shop, so as long as my outfeed table can balance an 8 footer I am good. Any longer and I use a Ridgid out feed stand.
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[Warren Lake]

On furniture stuff the 16' was broken down after what was coming out was carefully laid out for grain pattern and what it would become, thats normal to break stuff down for jointing and planing ot shortest lengths.

16 foot facia boards stayed 16 foot, becoming facia boards on some homes where I didnt want aluminum. That doesnt happen alot but need to be able to do anything.

have also ripped 16 foot abeco deck boards on site with a carpenter and their usual on site underpowered saw, in that case there were humans on the outfeed side. .

[Art Mann]

I fail to see how a power feeder will negate the need for an outfeed table when ripping a sheet of plywood.

You guys just need a power feeder, no need for anything when having to rip any thing. I don't cut anything on the TS without using the feeder.

[Jim Morgan]

I fail to see how a power feeder will negate the need for an outfeed table when ripping a sheet of plywood.

A power feeder should be heavy & rigid enough to hold the stock down to the table while you walk around to the rear to support it by hand.

[Andrew Seemann]

My 3' x 7' assembly bench is my outfield table. I normally have it configured to use the 3' width as the outfeed, with the distance to the from the saw blade plus the 1' hinged transition to the outfield table, I can do 10' boards, although I rarely need to do more than 9' in most operations. If I need to, I can move the saw and the outfeed table (and the planer and big bandsaw and open the carriage doors) and I can do up to 17' without a helper using the table the longways. I think I have done that once in the last year, and that was for a friend.

Having the outfeed table set up to do 10' max is a much better configuration for the shop as a whole, so that is how I normally have things set up.

[Darcy Warner]

I fail to see how a power feeder will negate the need for an outfeed table when ripping a sheet of plywood.

I don't use plywood for anything.
But it still would hold a sheet down.

[Darcy Warner]

I use 16 to 21 foot material all the time.

No one wants seams in walnut/cherry mouldings in a 15 foot run.

Exterior millwork I want as long as possible.

[Art Mann]

Sounds like an accident waiting to happen!

A power feeder should be heavy & rigid enough to hold the stock down to the table while you walk around to the rear to support it by hand.

[Jim Morgan]

Sounds like an accident waiting to happen!

Art, I am curious to hear more about what you think might happen.

I had had my eye out for a little feeder for a while, mostly so I could safely climb cut on my router table. Shortly after I had a little accident with my unisaw (<10 stitches) last spring, a 1/4 hp feeder came up on CL at a good price, so I jumped on it. I have since used it for ripping regularly.

When I feed material in, I am never in line with the blade, so there is little or no danger of any serious injury from kickback. The feeder straddles the blade and thus functions as a guard; it runs at about 15 rpm, so there is plenty of time to walk around to the back of the table and retrieve everything.

I do have a 2.5' outfeed table and I rarely cut anything over 8', so nothing gets wildly imbalanced. I could imagine that getting a sleeve caught in the feeder could be disastrous, but otherwise this setup seems pretty safe.

[Darcy Warner]

Sounds like an accident waiting to happen!

Accident? Apparently you have never even used a stock feeder, or a chain fed saw?

Stock feeder is about a million times safer than hand feeding.

Start 16 footers, let them get about 1/2 way through, walk around and catch.

Simple.

[Art Mann]

James, if you will re-read the thread, you will see I am talking about ripping a full sheet of plywood on a table saw. The fact that someone who uses one without an outfeed table must run around to the back of the saw to catch the work before it turns the saw over is the risk I am talking about. A power feeder doesn't solve that problem. 3/4 inch plywood cantilevered out 7 feet into thin air could easily turn a saw over. I have been in a lot of cabinet shops with and without power feeders and I have never seen one without an outfeed table that I can remember.

[Darcy Warner]

Not turning over a 1500 pound saw. Lol

Never had to run either

[Robert Engel]

60" past the back of the blade to support 8' long material.

[phil harold]

6'8" is the magical length
funny how it is the same size of a laminate solid core door

[Paul Girouard]

Not turning over a 1500 pound saw. Lol

Never had to run either

You have some extreme tools, so many of your ways of doing things don’t apply to most shops of guys on this forum.
Nothing wrong with that, other than your normal , sort of isn’t really normal,,, except for you.

[Art Mann]

Are you saying everyone needs a 1500 pound table saw in order to eliminate the need for an outfeed table? Are you really trying to convince people that a power feeder is a substitute for an outfeed table? Are you just bragging about your particular setup? Your whole argument just sounds ridiculous to me.


Not turning over a 1500 pound saw. Lol

Never had to run either

[Darcy Warner]

Are you saying everyone needs a 1500 pound table saw in order to eliminate the need for an outfeed table? Are you really trying to convince people that a power feeder is a substitute for an outfeed table? Are you just bragging about your particular setup? Your whole argument just sounds ridiculous to me.

No, but you said a sheet of ply will tip a saw over. Not mine, nor others.

Yes, for the most part I find no need for an outfeed table. Haven't had one since I got rid of my tin box pm66 and got a stock feeder.

Nothing is set in stone, my way works great and I don't need some monstrous collect all table to scoot my 16 foot stock out on or for the occasional sheet of ply I have to rip up.

[Martin Wasner]

If it makes you feel better, all five of our tablesaws have out feed tables. Everything but the rip saw is four foot, cause that's how wide a standard sheet of melamine is. The rip saw out feed is 8' long and 30(ish) inches wide.

Only one tablesaw has a feeder on it excluding the rip saw.