Ripping on a sliding table saw

[Gary Curtis]

What a great opportunity for a writer here. There is no published literature on European (Style) Format Sliding Tablesaws. Nothing. I spoke and emailed Kelly Mehler about that fact when I was considering buying one.

Even after taking the class at Felder, I had it wrong about ripping with the "shoe". When a person is trying to evaluate his tablesaw needs and features of various brands, he or she needs a lot of photos and charts and descriptive text about procedures and equipment to really know what's up. Something in print and certainly more than what could described on a website or in a forum, although both are helpful.

Now that many of the Chinese machinery-makers have sliding tablesaws available, the topic will certainly become more common. Largely because these machines sell for $4K of more less than the European models.

Pardon my mistake about ripping.

Gary Curtis

[Peter Quinn]

I seem to recall Felder and a few others (Griggio maybe?) selling a jig that adds a second mini outrigger with a parallel fence at the back end of the carriage which works in conjunction with the main outrigger to essentially create a fence arrangement via two points of contact for ripping repetitive long thin widths using the carriage. Several clamps were involved also, and some sort of fancy system for insuring the two separate devices, one fore and one aft, created a plane parallel to the blade. I think the rear out rigger had a small fence and the cross cut stop on the main out rigger acted as the other end of the fence. I also seem the recall thinking a good cabinet saw would be a cheaper and more effective solution for ripping than said contraption. I use several sliders at work but have never ripped on one, doesn't seem like it would be much fun.

Looked something like this?

[Mark Bolton]

I have been thinking about fabricating that very rear fence/stop. Provided it wasnt very long it could simply ride in the slider T slot. A micro adjustable stop on that rear fence/stop would allow you to rip easily.

I had thought if you could make the stop on the rear fence a flip stop that swung completely out of the way, it would allow you to straightline with the slider and then rip without removing/installing the rear fence.

Mark

[Steve Jenkins]

The one pictured is similar to what I have for my saw and it does flip out of the way so you can straight line then rip to width but if you use the shoe for straightlining it has to be removed before you can use the flip stop on the crosscut fence to set the width. I generally straightline all the stock then set up and rip to width. my stop attaches with an eccentric lever to hold it in place so it can be removed and replaced or moved easily.

[Paul B. Cresti]

Not sure if you guys remember but the simple little jig I came up with allows for very easy ripping using the slider. It drops over the crosscut fence when needed and then comes off just as easy. The benefit I found is that since most of us have both the main crosscut fence + the smaller miter/crosscut fence for our saws, this set up allows one to rip and crosscut without changing anything. I like to equate this jig to using a meat slicer for deli meats

[Steve Rozmiarek]

Not sure if you guys remember but the simple little jig I came up with allows for very easy ripping using the slider. It drops over the crosscut fence when needed and then comes off just as easy. The benefit I found is that since most of us have both the main crosscut fence + the smaller miter/crosscut fence for our saws, this set up allows one to rip and crosscut without changing anything. I like to equate this jig to using a meat slicer for deli meats

Paul, I have gotten a pile of useful ideas from your posts on sliders, thanks for putting your ideas here.

[Jim Becker]

I seem to recall Felder and a few others (Griggio maybe?) selling a jig that adds a second mini outrigger with a parallel fence at the back end of the carriage which works in conjunction with the main outrigger to essentially create a fence arrangement via two points of contact for ripping repetitive long thin widths using the carriage. Several clamps were involved also, and some sort of fancy system for insuring the two separate devices, one fore and one aft, created a plane parallel to the blade. I think the rear out rigger had a small fence and the cross cut stop on the main out rigger acted as the other end of the fence. I also seem the recall thinking a good cabinet saw would be a cheaper and more effective solution for ripping than said contraption. I use several sliders at work but have never ripped on one, doesn't seem like it would be much fun.

Looked something like this?

That's exactly what my shop-built jig does...it provides a second reference point. The workpiece is butted up against it and the the stop on the regular crosscut fence (at the same width measurement) and then the workpiece is fixed to the wagon with clamps. You can't go quite as fast as you can with a traditional rip fence, but you get a totally glue-up ready (or final sand/hand plane ready) edge right off the saw.

[Peter Quinn]

Truth be told my vision on the subject is probably skewed by my experience at work, where we have three straight line rip saws, five cabinet saws (all with power feed available) and two sliders in the shop. In this case ripping on the slider is verging on ridiculous. Just not the best tool for the job. And when each cabinet saw is parked next to a 12"-20" jointer, the rip/joint/glue sequence goes quite swiftly.

In my home shop I have only a cabinet saw and would trade it in a heart beat for a slider, and would certainly be willing to suffer any minor learning curve or inconvenience relative to ripping. In an ideal world it is nice to have a cabinet saw for some things and a slider for most things, but if you have to choose one, for me the easy choice would be a slider. I've been thinking about getting one in the next few years, and my silly wife seems to think I should SELL my cabinet saw at that time! I keep asking her "Do you think I can find a buyer that will pay for it but be willing to leave it in my shop?"

[David DeCristoforo]

"I've been thinking about getting one in the next few years, and my silly wife seems to think I should SELL my cabinet saw at that time!"

Well, Peter, you are painting yourself into a corner by taking the position that you "... would certainly be willing to suffer any minor learning curve or inconvenience relative to ripping." If you don't want to end up with a "one saw" shop, you need to abandon this line of thinking at once. You need to focus the conversation on how useful the slider will be but at the same time stress the fact that, for the most part, ripping on a slider is awkward, cumbersome and inefficient. You might even go so far as to imply that it could be unsafe because of the less that ideal stance one must take. If she counters with some of the arguments contained in this thread, you can point out that in almost every case, safe ripping on a slider requires some form of additional clamping and positioning contraption. The goal here is to make her understand that these machines are not necessarily interchangeable and should certainly not be considered mutually exclusive in any way and that you really do need both.

[John Fliegel]

When I first got my Minimax slider, I found myself going back to my standard table saw all of the time for ripping. Trying to rip on a sliding table saw using the rip fence is cumbersome at best and dangerous for narrow pieces. I found a simple but effective solution at solo woodworker.com. Simply use a squared up piece of 3/4" plywood as a secondary fence. I'm using a 19" x 24" rectangle. I put the 19" edge along the outrigger fence and the stock to be cut along the long edge. To set the width of the cut just add the desired width of the rip to the fixed length (19" in my case) of the plywood and set the flip stop at that total length. Push the plywood against the flop stop and the outrigger fence, clamp in position, then push the stock to be cut against the plywood. I can make safe, accurate and clean (ready for joining) rips every time. I use my slider clamps at the front and back of the piece to be cut, but you could add some toggle clamps to the edge of the plywood adjacent to the stock to be cut. After learning this simple trick, I'll never use my table saw again and I end up with much more accurate and cleaner cut than I ever got with my table saw.

[Bill Neely]

I have the same setup more or less with an upright flange on the end of the ply so I can clamp it directly to the crosscut fence. I did add the Bessey quick adjust toggle clamps and it was helpful.

[John Fliegel]

That's a good idea to clamp it to the crosscut fence.

[David Kumm]

Go to the thread on Euro sliders and look at the Fritz and Franz video referenced there. Dave

[Bill Neely]

I saw that video, fantastic idea.