Dumb/Nubie TS questions

[Richard Kagen]

I am slowly building my shop and skills from the unfortunate postion of never having any friends or family with any woodworking experience, so I am very happy to have found SMC.

Question #1, I have a new right hand tilt Delta TS. I keep the rip fence (Beisemyer which is awsome!!!) to the right of the blade (WWII which is even awsome-er) and ripping is great. If I want to rip a bevel cut, why would I not move the fence to the left of the blade and then have a "tilt away from fence, left tilt" thing going on. There must be a reason as so much time, $ and energy goes into left tilt saws.

#2 Attaching things to the Beisemyer fence. I had a great set up for board buddies, tall fence down feather boards. etc on my old Jet fence. I drilled two holes in the top of the fence and inserted a peice of oak with embedded "T" nuts inside the extrusion, attaching the oak to the inside top with foam tape. This allowed me to attach anything I wanted with a couple of cap screws. Before I take the drill to my shiny new Beisemyer (ouch) and repeat this set up, any other ideas? Anyone try the GripTite (http://www.grip-tite.com/sub%20fence%20clamp.html) clamps? I question how well these would work for hold downs, would they slip up?

#3 I tend to be making lots of big things (14' x 8' set of built in book cases last year and a built in alcove desk now) using sheet goods, I plan on building a panel cut off sled with a front fence so I can easily cross cut panels wider than the front of my table. I also need an outfeed table. For the outfeed table, my thoughts were to build a standalone table on wheels, say 38" deep x 40" wide and align/attach it to the back of my saw when I need it. I was thinking about a flip top, so it could server multiple purposes. Any thoughts before I start tinkering?

[Jim Becker]

1) Yes, you can certainly move the fence to the left for a bevel rip...just pay attention since it's an "unfamiliar" position that reverses the roles of each hand for most folks as well as where you stand.

2) Absolutely. I use this same "Tolpin" type arrangement on my X-Acta fence on a Jet saw to attach accessories, including a board-buddy type device.

3) A flip top on an outfeed table is certainly viable, but you'll need to build a stronger frame since the top, itself will not provide as much rigidity to the assembly. I'm not sure it's worth doing that, however. How about just recessing the top slightly so you can use a 1/4" hardboard "topper" that can be disposed of and replaced should it get, um...yucky. (Technical term.... :) )

[Kristian Wild]

As per #1, just remember that if you're one of the people who run the fence smidgen of a degree off of paralell from the blade that you'll have to adjust it every time you switch to the left side and back again. Although I am not a fan of the Unifence I use every day, I find it quicker to adjust than the Bies. for such operations.

Kris

[scott spencer]

Re: #2: That's a fairly common setup, but you might try mounting it using 3-4 good size neodymium (rare earth) magnets. They're incredibly strong and could eliminate the need to drill your fence.

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y203/hewood/sawparts/auxfence.jpg

[glenn bradley]

#1 The Beis is dual cursor so moving from left to right of the blade is of no consequence. Try each and see which you prefer. I get nervous when I have a 'captured' board but some folks shrug this off.

#2 Scott's got it.

#3 I built a rolling work table full of drawers that 'just happened' to be 3/8" lower than my table saw to clear the miter sliders. I move it into postition as required.