Left vs Right tilt.

[Ray Knight]

I currently use a ryobi contractor saw and will soon upgrade to a 3hp, 220v, 1ph cabinet saw. I see most mfg now offer right tilt and left tilt. What are the issues here? Relative newby asking, thanks for the patience, look forward to understanding this better. Ray Knight

[Ed Falis]

If you do bevel cuts, the left tilt is less likely to trap the workpiece, reducing the possibility of a kickback (though there are workarounds like switching the side on which you have the rip fence and using the relevant safety equipment).

The right tilt doesn't need your fence measurement cursor readjusted when you change to different thickness blades, because you're always measuring to the same blade face and position.

[David Duke]

Ray, Ed pretty much hit the nail on the head with the pros/cons, for me it's just a matter of preference. I had used a left tilt for over 20 yrs, I had a chance to get a RT Unisaw at a great price and jumped on it. I have used this saw for 6 years now and while it is a great saw if/when I ever get another TS it will be a left tilt.

[Rob Diz]

I went through the same proces about two years ago. I ended up with a Left tilt uni. It just struck me as safer - something about the blade tilting toward the fence gave me the "don't make that cut" voice in the back of my head that I always listen to (as opposed to the other voices I ignore ;).

[Nancy Laird]

Ray, there are a number of threads on here which discuss the vices and virtues of left v. right tilt. Just search "left tilt" and you'll come up with a number of them. Here's one: http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=44266&highlight=left+tilt.

LOML wrote one of the replies in this thread, and as he sells machines and tools for a living, he does know whereof he speaks. I'm no advocating for one or the other, but his is a pretty clear explanation of why left tilt came into being.

Good luck on choosing a good one!! There are lots of them out there.

Nancy (93 days)

[Dave Lehnert]

I would get what you are use to. If it helps any, JET said sales for right vs left are 50/50. I use a left tilt.

[Nancy Laird]

It also might help to know that left-tilt saws cost more than right-tilt ones. E.g., the Steel City right tilt is $500 less than the left-tilt.

Nancy (93 days)

[David DeCristoforo]

The "real" issue is not which way the blade tilts but whether it tilts "toward" the fence or "away" from the fence. As has been pointed out, when the blade is tilted toward the fence, the stock is "trapped" between the tilted blade and the fence which is potentially dangerous. However, on many saws, the fence can be mounted in either side of the blade giving you the option. Usually the possible distance from blade to fence is much greater on the right side than on the left. So the width of the stock you would be cutting with the blade tilted is going to be a deciding factor. If you forsee the need to bevel cut wide pieces often, it would be worth the extra cost to get a left tilt saw. But if you generally don't need to bevel stock wider than 12" or so, a right tilt saw would be fine as long as it offers the ability to mount the fence on the left side of the blade.

[Bill Arnold]

As some have pointed out, one can place the fence on either side of the blade depending on what type of cut you're making. However, a consideration here is the "comfort level" of having the fence to the left of the blade rather than the right. The "normal" position of the fence is to the right of the blade. Whether one is right-handed or left-handed, this is the position one becomes accustomed to using the saw. Positioning the fence to the left of the blade can seem awkward for many -- maybe most -- people. Check it for yourself, if you haven't already.

;)

[Fred Craven]

My right tilt table saw is ambidextrous, i.e. the rails can slide all the way to either side. So, I've always done what seemed easiest and safest. Without thinking about it too much, I found that I tend to use my right tilt saw with the fence on the left, even for 90 degree cuts. Oh, and sawing is a bit easier now that my WWII has had it's 50k mile re-sharpening.

[Bill Arnold]

... Without thinking about it too much, I found that I tend to use my right tilt saw with the fence on the left, even for 90 degree cuts. ...Fred,

Are you right- or left-handed?
:)

[glenn bradley]

I currently use a ryobi contractor saw and will soon upgrade to a 3hp, 220v, 1ph cabinet saw. I see most mfg now offer right tilt and left tilt. What are the issues here? Relative newby asking, thanks for the patience, look forward to understanding this better. Ray Knight

Oh good. I came back to check my response and see that I wisely chose to stay out of it this time ;-) Its a preference thing in all reality. Blades are all a bit different and unless I am going to do a lot of cuts with my Frued, I don't reset my cursor even though the cut line will be a little bit different than my WWII. With a dado it is way out (left tilt) but I generally use my dado and then remove it.

[Von Bickley]

Ray,
I presently have a right tilt TS in my shop because it was a gift. I will NEVER have another right tilt. Just my opinion.

Get the left tilt......:) :) :)

[Dave Lehnert]

It also might help to know that left-tilt saws cost more than right-tilt ones. E.g., the Steel City right tilt is $500 less than the left-tilt.

Nancy (93 days)
That reminds me. When I was doing research on a new saw the left tilt did cost more but it had heaver cast-iron castings in the blade/motor support. Why? I have no clue.

[Bob Feeser]

To tell you the truth I was not that familiar with the difference between LT and RT, until I saw the recent episode that played of the NYW. There I discovered, as many have mentioned here that the saw blade tilts into the fence, rather than away from it. That seems to me to be a safety consideration. How do you use a push stick between the fence and the blade, when making 45 degree bevel cuts, unless you are cutting really wide stock?
Although I ran into a total tool junkie who took a 40 foot trailer to his jobs, and on it he had a left tilt, and a right tilt. Must be good for some things. As it usually goes, in loss their is gain. They all gotta be the same until you start to tilt them. :)

[Nissim Avrahami]

As you know, the EU safety regulations are much more strict than the USA ones.

The drawing below is taken from the UK SHE ( the UK OSHA) and if they show it....

Please note that we use low fence....The TS must be supplied with Low fence and High fence that are usually one fence that we just turn 90°

Another point to note is the "Short fence", you can see where the fence ends and the length is adjustable and set according to the blade height...
That is done to prevent Kickback in case some internal stresses are released after the cut and push the work into the blade. the short fence lets the board to expand to the right of the blade and if there is no fence, no pressure on the blade - no kickback....

That (the short fence) and the Riving knife are satisfying the law and no kickback pawls are required.

Some pics of my TS (that is made according to the EU safety regulations) you can see the "Short fence" at "Low" position

Also, note the long push stick that I'm using

Regards
niki

72262722637226472265

[Allen Grimes]

I currently use a ryobi contractor saw and will soon upgrade to a 3hp, 220v, 1ph cabinet saw. I see most mfg now offer right tilt and left tilt. What are the issues here? Relative newby asking, thanks for the patience, look forward to understanding this better. Ray KnightRay I am by no means a table saw expert and as I've said many times, I hate my table saw and frankly just wish I never bought one. But in my opinion, the single biggest mistake I made in choosing my saw was buying a left tilt saw.

I know this goes against what most people say but the truth is there is a safer more efficient way of cutting a bevel on a piece wide board with a right tilt saw by tilting the blade towards the fence and using an auxillary fence to to keep the cutoffs from binding between the blade and the fence. I can try to draw a simple diagram if you don't understand what I mean.

The only negative to this situation is that it would be a 2 step process, but I think that the benefits of having a right tilt table saw outweigh the extra work it would require to do the bevel cuts that you will likely not do very much of in the first place.

I'm not saying that everybody here is wrong, just that you should take the "Left tilt is safer" argument with a grain of salt. But then again, you should take my comments with a grain of salt as well.

[Keith Beck]

One thing I really like about my RT General 350 is that with the blade arbor on the right, the right side of blade will always maintain a set distance from the fence. For example, if I switch from a regular kerf blade to a think kerf or a dado blade, my fence scale will always maintain it's accuracy. With a left tilt, you'd either have to reset your fence scale or manually measure the distance of the fence from the blade.

Keith

[Bob Feeser]

For what it is worth, with an Incra fence, you are provided with 5 slots for tape rules, they provide you with 4, and the option to buy a 5th. You can set one for each of your blades, and a couple for the popular dado widths, like the actual width of 3/4 ply, or 3/4" itself. If you need to cut dados outside of those widths, you can nip a board sample, get out your dial caliper, and measure the distance, then adjust your calculations with a calculater, and cut once again, accurate to within 1/1000th.

Remember when you lock in the Incra it falls within one of those teeth, which is why it gets crazy accurate cuts with no effort. Once you dial in the teeth, you get that kind of accuracy no matter where you are on the tape. I wouldn't even think about making the kind of calculations that I mentioned above, if I didn't have a perfect reference when you lock it into those teeth to start with.

I must admit the hairline on the Beis, and Accu clone does a pretty amazing job of getting it close, before you deal with the tail wagging out on the end, plus any slight bow in the middle. ( Forgive me for getting critical, I know we are talking 64ths here) If you stand directly over the hair line, close one eye, and line up the hairline until both sides of the one below hide behind the one on the top, you can get some crazy accuracy. With the Incra, just get it close, to within 1/32nd on the rule and it falls inside the teeth, when you lock in your setting, drawing your setting into perfection. Wear eyeglasses to get a good setting? Don't need em. :cool:

I know I keep hammering the Incra fence home, but until you truly understand how this thing works, and how easy it is to use to get flawless results, you can understand why Beis advertises accuracy to within 1/64th and Incra to within 1/1000th, and perfect repeatability to exactly where it was before, taking the measurements off the scale. Faster, better, no wasted stock dialing in a setting, no time wasted recapturing settings. You'd think I was an Incra salesman or something. :) I'm not, I just love the fence. Perfect alignment, no bow in the middle of the fence, no slight off angles to leave saw marks in the wood. I go from table saw to finish piece, even one exposed on an outside edge with this setup using the Forrest WWII 40 tooth. Glass smooth surface. I dust it with 220 grit.

Here is a picture of the rules. See that little dial to the right, each one of those lines is 1/1000 of an inch. What a great way to tweak in a setting, instead of unlocking the fence,and bumping it a little. :eek: Sure beats taking out the tape measure, with the floppy end on it, eyeballing the setting, and making a pass. I could see a cartoon with a guy standing in the middle of a huge pile of sample cuts, frustrated, saying, "The heck with those Incra guys, they think they know everything, I can do it the old fashioned way, you'll see, if I keep trying, I will get a cut to within 1/1000th too, so what if it takes me forever to do it, besides, what's wrong with my cuts being off a little bit, who is going to notice?" :D
http://inlinethumb10.webshots.com/11401/2293508770100733997S600x600Q85.jpg

Hey I didn't build the fence, I just bought it. Until you experience, what it is like to effortlessly eyeball a setting, make a cut, then take out a dail caliper and measure the wood, and it is accurate on the dial caliper, and the needle is pointing so close to the perfect top that is is not off by even 1/1000th of an inch. Then the wood bows a little bit, so you take out the big clamp, and straighten it out while you are gluing it up. :D

Nissim, I wanted to add that your European design fence blew me away. I am always impressed with engineering that is done so well, it reduces everything to simplicity. Like instead of a car with bells and whistles, and fireworks going off when you leave the key in the car, BMW simply requires you to lock the car from the outside, using a key instead. That way you know you have a key outside of the car. Your European fence is a great idea, make the fence adjustable, then the workpiece exits, and their is no fence surface to lock in the workpiece to cause a kickback.

Ok Incra it's time to get back to the drawing board, we gotta implement that ability. Wait a minute, the face of the Incra fence has a T-Nut slot on it, so you could build a spacer fence and use it like an offset, the way you do with a spacer when making miter cuts on a miter gauge. You could even use locking nuts, that are the same allen wrench size as the long allen head screw driver bit, that is used when you want to lock your 3rd not usually neccessary to lock outbound side fence lock.

Here I go again, I have to go do some cedar T&G work on the fitness room. Since the boards are already cut to fit, I will have to make splines. Hmm. so do I use a router with a groove bit, or do I install a slim dado setup in the saw? I think the router will give me the featherboard capability that I want, but are the boards all the same width? Or can I keep them tight to the fence manually? Or do I oversize the slot a little bit, to allow for expansiion, and don't worry about it? Hmm..
Ok, I'm getting wordy again. I can't help it, I get excited about this stuff.

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

I prefer that the blade tilt away from the miter fence. I also prefer to stand so the blade is on my right hand side.

[Bobby Nicks]

This comes up every now and then. For about 15 years I used nothing but a left tilt saw and then about 10 years ago I had a chance to buy a new right tilt Unisaw with 52" fence at a very low price. I figured if I don't like the right tilt I can always sell it, well I still have the saw and would never go back to left tilt. Right tilt is the way it should be or at least for me and I use my saw more than most. Have never had any problems cutting bevels on the saw.

Bob

[Fred Craven]

Fred,

Are you right- or left-handed?
:)

Good question, I'm right handed. --go figure. But back when I attempted to play baseball, I bat just as poorly from either side. And I in Judo I usually played (fought) left handed.