Where did 52" rails come from??

[Jeremy Parkins]

I am new to woodworking though not to Tablesaws etc. I have just done more handyman type work with them.

I acquired a SawStop with 52" rails and was wondering where 52" came from? Maybe because they are 7 foot and easy to ship?

I can see 30" being limiting because 36" seems to be a common measurement in cabinet building. However I have a small shop and thinking of cutting my rails down to 40" as this will knock a foot off the saw that I could really use in my small shop and still be able to do 36" cuts. (LOML says cabints are in my future).

I was just wondering if the 52" is a magic number that I am missing.

Thanks,
Jeremy

[Richard Wolf]

It is so you can get to the center of a sheet of ply.

Richard

[Scott Loven]

It will be 52 inches to the right of your saw blade so you can get the fence over far enough to cut a sheet of plywood in half. You may be able to sell the rails or exchange them.

[Karl Brogger]

Unless you have to, you'll regret cutting them down.

[Jeremy Parkins]

I don't have to .... I have just been toying with the idea.

JP

[Don Bullock]

Jeremy, congratulations on your SawStop.

[Jeremy Parkins]

Don-

Thanks, It is a nice piece of equipment. As soon as I figure out the rails I need to make an extension table to put my router it.

JP

[Sonny Edmonds]

The 52" rails allow the FENCE to give you 48" between it and the side of your blade.
Any less and you could not get the 48" of clearance there.

Myself, I don't wield full sheets anymore, wore out my lower spine, compressed disc's. Hurts like hell to do heavy lifting. :mad:
So I just break a sheet down on the ground with some 2X stock and my skill saw. Half sheets I can handle still.

If you don't have it, build a side table between those rails. I have two router stations in my side table and my main one has a Bench-dog Pro lift in it. It Shares the out feed of the table saw that way.
In the past I put another TS between those rails, and had dedicated ripping and crosscutting TS's.
But anymore, one TS suffices for my needs.

If you don't want the 52", trade to someone who has shorties.
(And be ready to kick yourself down the road.) :rolleyes:

[Greg Cole]

I have 96" rails on mine. I'd be hard pressed to cut them!
Granted I don't often use the full capacity, but 'tis better to have and not need than the opposite.
I also need to add that I have a router table on the left side and moved the CI extension to the right, so the TS work station for me is a large one.

[Howard Acheson]

You fence needs to be able to slide past 48" to be able to saw to the center of a 48" wide panel. The extra 4" of "track" is needed for the fence head to slide on.

[Mike Wilkins]

I have the 52" rails on my Unisaw, but have never had the need to use the full capacity. Mine just fills up with junk, magazines, lumber, etc. I feel it is just plain dangerous and unwieldy to move a full sheet of plywood or MDF across a table saw. If I do, I just get the folks at the big box store to cut it for me, making it more manageable. Those things are heavy.
But like you, I hesitate to cut mine down to shorten the capacity. It could affect resale value. I have plans to get a sliding tablesaw in the future, negating the need for a lot of capacity to the right of the blade. And if you don't already have one, the Festool guided saws are great for breaking down a full sheet of ply. You can even use a normal circular saw with a guide rail to get a sheet down to smaller rough size, and then use the tablesaw to get the finished cut.

[Frank Drew]

Capacity is something you don't notice until you need it. Within reason, I wouldn't lessen the capability of any tool.