John Gornall
11-17-2006, 4:42 PM
Rethinking my tablesaw setup.
I have a typical Unisaw with 50 inch Unifence.
I find it interesting to hear people say they wish they had more “Rip” capacity and want a 50 inch fence. Seems to me when the fence is out at 30, 40, or 50 inches you are more likely to be cross cutting than ripping.
Someday it would be fun to have a board more than 40 inches wide that needed ripping but not likely.
Now if I rip a sheet of plywood down the middle to make 2 pieces 24” and I then want to crosscut them into 3 - 32 inch pieces I set the fence at 32” and cut. But then I have 2 problems, first, I am relying on the plywood being square which it often isn’t, and second this is a cut vulnerable to kickback.
So, it seems like a good idea to add a slider for cross cutting to make sure the piece is square and have a safer cut. I also believe this is a better setup than any miter gauge for cutting solid wood. I have bought a Jessem Mast-R-Slide.
After I install the slider just how much fence capacity do I need? I think 30 inches is plenty. I can rip plywood to any size down it’s length. I’m sure I won’t have any solid wood wider than 30”
So my plan is to cut the Unifence rail from 83” to 53” and move it to the right of the slider which gives me 30”fence capacity.
I will cut down the Uniguard to suit.
The left table extension will be moved to the right of the right extension table and I will only need a 12” table board.
The Jessem slider when installed and slid to the rear of the saw sticks out 13 inches so I’ll make a permanent outfeed table 13” x 48” and then add a 30” drop down outfeed table.
This leaves me with a compact saw setup about 60”x 56” with a lot of capability, both crosscut and rip.
I’ll rework the mobile base and it’ll be far easier to move around.
Am I missing anything?
I have a typical Unisaw with 50 inch Unifence.
I find it interesting to hear people say they wish they had more “Rip” capacity and want a 50 inch fence. Seems to me when the fence is out at 30, 40, or 50 inches you are more likely to be cross cutting than ripping.
Someday it would be fun to have a board more than 40 inches wide that needed ripping but not likely.
Now if I rip a sheet of plywood down the middle to make 2 pieces 24” and I then want to crosscut them into 3 - 32 inch pieces I set the fence at 32” and cut. But then I have 2 problems, first, I am relying on the plywood being square which it often isn’t, and second this is a cut vulnerable to kickback.
So, it seems like a good idea to add a slider for cross cutting to make sure the piece is square and have a safer cut. I also believe this is a better setup than any miter gauge for cutting solid wood. I have bought a Jessem Mast-R-Slide.
After I install the slider just how much fence capacity do I need? I think 30 inches is plenty. I can rip plywood to any size down it’s length. I’m sure I won’t have any solid wood wider than 30”
So my plan is to cut the Unifence rail from 83” to 53” and move it to the right of the slider which gives me 30”fence capacity.
I will cut down the Uniguard to suit.
The left table extension will be moved to the right of the right extension table and I will only need a 12” table board.
The Jessem slider when installed and slid to the rear of the saw sticks out 13 inches so I’ll make a permanent outfeed table 13” x 48” and then add a 30” drop down outfeed table.
This leaves me with a compact saw setup about 60”x 56” with a lot of capability, both crosscut and rip.
I’ll rework the mobile base and it’ll be far easier to move around.
Am I missing anything?