Left side of rail on table saw - cut it off?

[David LaRue]

I have a small shop, and I keep bumping into the left side rail on my table saw. I was thinking of cutting it off even with the left side cast iron wing. I can 't remember when the last time I used the fence on the left side. So before I lop it off and regret it. Any thoughts on why I should leave it?

Dave

http://home.comcast.net/~mywoodshop/assets/images/Powermatic-66-200.jpg

[Jim DeLaney]

I have a small shop, and I keep bumping into the left side rail on my table saw. I was thinking of cutting it off even with the left side cast iron wing. I can 't remember when the last time I used the fence on the left side. So before I lop it off and regret it. Any thoughts on why I should leave it?

The easiest (and maybe best) way to do it is to just unbolt the tube (where if fastens to the angle iron base) and slide it over to the right by one hole spacing (on the bottom of the tube) - about ten inches, as I recall. Then remove the measuring tape on the tube and replace it with a longer one. You've just gained ten inches of cut to the right of the blade.

I did this with my 26" Shop Fox, and now have a 36" right, 0" left fence. Like you, I never cut to the left of the blade - no need to on a left tilt saw (like your Powermatic).

[Bill Esposito]

Dave,

As soon as you cut it off you have need for it. I second Jim's suggestion.

[Scott Neblung]

What if you were to simply add another extension to that existing one?

I had the exact same problem with my Unisaw, and just decided I would like the extra 8" of support and added another leaf to it. I too was tired of catchin my hip on it, so I added that leaf, then added a 1" x 27" length of walnut strip to cushion any future hip smacks.....plus it looks good too !

8" cast iron extension on ebay was a steal....

Just a thought ,
Scott

[Jim Becker]

Must be something in the water, Dave! Since I had to rearrange my shop to better accommodate the MiniMax "aircraft carrier", I also find myself catching my hip on that little bit of tube more often than I would like. While I would prefer to move the whole thing over as suggested, I wouldn't really realize more than about 2" of additional cut width due to my Excalibur guard mount at the end of the extension table. Therefore, it is quite likely that the ol' SawsAll will be put to use whacking that tube flush with the cast iron wing in the very recent future.

[Terre Hooks]

I cut off about 8" of the square tube on my Xacta fence. I did it with a Lennox hacksaw and it took all of 4 minutes. I did climb up on top of the saw and kneel down on the saw top, though. just take a square, mark a straight line, and saw away. Take a flat file to the rough edges and some 220 sandpaper and you're good to go.

I would hate to think how bad that tube would hurt my upper thigh when I ran into it full blast in a hurry one day.

[Tyler Howell]

Alright let’s have no more of this “cutting off “ talk. There are some of us out here crying for more fence capacity. Just move it over and to the right, or wear hip pads.
Enough said!
Tyler
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