Jessem Slidey TS Thing

[Dave Richards]

Has anyone had any experience with the Jessem slding tablesaw thingummy? I was thinking about replacing my Incra 5000 because it gets to be a pain looking for someplace to set it when I'm not using it. Won't happen very soon since I just ordered new tanbark sails for the boat and I'll catch H-E double toothpicks from several creekers if I don't buy that spinny thing soon. :D

Still, is this thing any good?

[Frank Pellow]

Has anyone had any experience with the Jessem slding tablesaw thingummy? I was thinking about replacing my Incra 5000 because it gets to be a pain looking for someplace to set it when I'm not using it. Won't happen very soon since I just ordered new tanbark sails for the boat and I'll catch H-E double toothpicks from several creekers if I don't buy that spinny thing soon. :D

Still, is this thing any good?
I have seen it demonstrated a couple of times and was very impressed. The quality is excellent, it slides verry easily. does not take up a lot oif room, and it appears to be very accurate.

I was very tempted to purchase one at the Toronto woodworking show last Friday, but opted instead for the JessEm mitre gauge (for less than half the price). But, I still have doubts about whether or not I made the correct choice.

[John Miliunas]

Ahhhhh David...You lost or what??? :confused: You've got a perfectly good and useable Incra jig, but you do not have the spinny thing yet!!!:mad: Shouldn't you be posting on the Turner's Forum looking for suggestions on lathes???? Hmmmmmmmmmmm????:confused: :mad: (JK) I've heard the Jessem sliders are real nice but, remember its limitations. It's just not going to be taking the place of a big 'ol slider TS. As a replacement for the Incra, I'd think it would serve you well. :) :cool:

[Gary Herrmann]

Dave, I've got one on my General 650. I used it on a project that required a lot of dados and rabbetts and was very pleased. Set up is a little fussy, but I think thats the case with all sliding tables like this. If you can get one on sale, you'll be even happier.

[Dave Richards]

See! I knew it. Right away, it starts. :D

John, I was thinking that the sliding table would actually help to create space in the shop for a lathe. Yeah, that's it. That's my story. :p

I know the Jessem slider wouldn't replace a "real" sliding tablesaw but I don't have room or the electrons for one of those.

As to the lathe business, I'm stalled a little bit on that because I'm working out the location and how to get 16' or more between centers. I've got an idea but I need to determine how to get everything to fit.

thanks for the info Gary. I'll keep my eyes open.

[Cecil Arnold]

Dave, check Bill Gs web site, he has a Rube Goldburg set up for turning a mast.

[Dave Richards]

Cecil, I saw his set up several years ago. While it worked for him I have my doubts of it working for me. He's like a god when it comes to turning. I bet he could even turn those wee little goblets that fit on a dime with a garden spade as a chisel. :D

[Mark Carlson]

I got one last friday. I havn't installed it yet. I had to go out and get a steel cutting blade for my chop saw so I could perform some surgery on my rails. Maybe tonight..

I agree with you about wanting one to replace a sled. I got tired of putting the sled on and off and then trying to find a place for the sled. What a pain.

~mark

[Gary Herrmann]

Mark, I just used a steel cutting blade on my CS and a file. Turned out nicely.

[Dave Richards]

Mark, I'll be interested to hear how the install goes and what you think of it when you've used it. Fortunately I only need to loosen the bolts on the fence rails and slide them out of the way. (Incra TS-IIIa :) )

[Frank Pellow]

For those wanting to see more, here is link to the product that is being discussed in this thread: http://www.jessem.com/mast_r_slide.htm

[Mike Cutler]

Dave.

I have one installed on my General 50-220 TS. It is a very nice addition to a TS. It is very solid and works as advertised. It sits to the left of the blade, but it can sit to the right if necessary, you might lose some functionality but not much.
It was easy to install, but as others have pointed out you need to modify the rails on the table saw fence to have clearance. It's a little "twidgy"to get it all tuned up, but all the parts are pretty beefy and should stay in tune.
It won't take the place of a big slider, but at 55+ lbs it's solid enough to perform a wide variety of tasks.
The limited experience I've had with mine has been positive. The only downside is that I have an overhead blade guard/dust collection, and the height of the fence requires that the guard be pretty high off the table. I may make a sacrificial fence and attach it to the JessEm to get the guard closer to the table.

[Larry Fox]

I have one on my Unisaw and I love it. I am room constrained so I needed something that had a zero floor footprint and their slider fit the bill. As another poster pointed out, setup takes a bit of time but once it is there, it is there. Accurate, slides smoothly, easily adjustable, well built. Cheap it is NOT but well-built and worth the $$ (IMO). I had various jigs, sleds, etc for doing cross-cuts and was never quite satisfied with the results - they have all been purged from my shop at this point and I am now happy with the results.

[Mark Carlson]

I wanted to try and post a picture (1st time). The Jessem slider is sitting in the box on the outfeed table. The blade guard is a thing called a Sharks Guard. I still need to apply the stickers that make it look like a shark. I'm hoping that the Jessem fence will slide under the guard so I wont have to remove it when I'm cross cutting. My tests indicate that it will so I should be get good dust collection once I install a hose.

Note one other benefit of the Jessem Slider is that I'll be able to have my outfeed table be at the same height as my saw versus having it 3/8in below to allow room for the sled runners (I didnt want to cut groves in the MFT). I have my outfeed on blocks which I have installed when I want a big flat surface and have to remove when using the cross cut sled. I wont miss doing that.

[Mike Cutler]

I thought that I would repost, with a few pics of the JessEm Mast-R-Slide installed, and the one seemingly pitfall I mentioned with my setup.
I have an overhead dust collector/blade guard that is a copy of the one by Gordon Sampson( Gordon's plans and drawings are available in the Badger Pond articles section of the Wood Central website).
With the JessEm fence it causes the guard to have to be up off of the table a bit more than is effective. Tests with the dreaded MDF were still pretty positive for dust collection though.
I've tried to show the relative scale with a 3/4' thick piece of wood.
One more tip fpr anyone considering the JessEm. Garrett Lambert has an excellent article on installation and setup in the Woodcentral website articles. It really is about a thousand percent better than the manual. Must read type of material, seriously.

[Steven J Corpstein]

And I really like it. I too got tired of putting my Incra 5000 on and off. I don't need a big panel sled sitting around or I don't feel the chop saw is necessary.

Cleared up enough room in the garage to fill it back up with a 15" planer when I can afford it. Like Gary said, they are a bit to setup, but extremely accurate once you've done that.

I posted a picture of it in a post here yesterday titled "Got my new toy installed..."

[Paul B. Cresti]

Guys,
Why not install a sacrificial piece of wood (stepped down) to allow a zero clearance crosscut fence plus allow the OH guard to com down further. See the picture of my EFSTS below.

[Frank Pellow]

Thanks for the pictures Mike. About your problen with the dust collection. Does the fence really need to be that close to the blade? Maybe you could back it up a bit so that there is no interference.

[Mike Cutler]

Thanks for the pictures Mike. About your problen with the dust collection. Does the fence really need to be that close to the blade? Maybe you could back it up a bit so that there is no interference.

I'm pretty much certain that it doesn't have to be as close as I have it. If I move it too far away though I may not be able to position the tape correctly. It's still new to me, so I'm attempting to follow the vendors recommendations for operation, but I like Pauls' solution on his ESFTS. I'll have to copy that in some form or fashion. Nice tip Paul, Thank You.

[Tom Peterson]

at the Milwaukee Woodworking Show, Woodcraft had this reduced to $479 for a show special. They had a long line at the ONE checkout register so I passed on it. Rockler sometimes runs a 25% off one item, I happened to be out of town when that hit. When it is on sale, I will probably buyone, but not at $549. Woodcraft said I could come in and try it out on the Unisaw they have in the classroom so I will then know for sure if it is for me.

[Frank Pellow]

at the Milwaukee Woodworking Show, Woodcraft had this reduced to $479 for a show special. They had a long line at the ONE checkout register so I passed on it. Rockler sometimes runs a 25% off one item, I happened to be out of town when that hit. When it is on sale, I will probably buyone, but not at $549. Woodcraft said I could come in and try it out on the Unisaw they have in the classroom so I will then know for sure if it is for me.
I passed up a similar deal at the Toronto Woodworking Show where I was offered it for $529 (Cdn) -which works out to about $463 (US).

[Frank Pellow]

I'm pretty much certain that it doesn't have to be as close as I have it. If I move it too far away though I may not be able to position the tape correctly. It's still new to me, so I'm attempting to follow the vendors recommendations for operation, but I like Pauls' solution on his ESFTS. I'll have to copy that in some form or fashion. Nice tip Paul, Thank You.
You could always purchase on of those sticky tape strips and put on your own scale. By the way that's what I had to do for the JessEm miter gauge that I recently purchased because the darn thing came with an Imperial only scale. No very good :( , particularly for a Canadian company. I stuck a metric scale to the other side.