Ultimate Table saw/Cabinet saw

[Michael Ballent]

Charlie,
I am surprised how low that monster is... That or you are one tall fellow Nice looking machine, and you are right about purchasing such a beast, if you add up all the large tools a typical woodworker has you are pretty close the cost of a Euro Combo Machine (ECM) but it must really hurt to cut that check for a ECM.

[Charlie Plesums]

Charlie,
I am surprised how low that monster is... That or you are one tall fellow Nice looking machine, and you are right about purchasing such a beast, if you add up all the large tools a typical woodworker has you are pretty close the cost of a Euro Combo Machine (ECM) but it must really hurt to cut that check for a ECM.

The table height is about 36 inches, so I guess I must be tall (actually a fraction under 6'4"). Couple more gee-whiz statistics...

• the outrigger fence extends to 10 1/2 feet (any other saw you know have a miter gauge that wide?)
• If I cut a rectangle with a perimeter of, for example, 8 feet and suspect an error of more than .01 inches in that 8 feet of cutting, it is time to recalibrate the machine. I haven't had to redo the setup in the 8 months I have had the machine (the last time I checked, the error was about .0001 inches).
• I routinely crank in 0.5 degrees on the blade when cutting pieces that slip into a space, so it slips in easily but has an extra tight fit at the surface (the digital readout makes that trivial).
• I routinely trim my cuts by the thickness of a business card.
• And that 5 foot long reinforced piece of aluminum held in place with a cast iron bracket on a steel fence, sticking up on the left side of the picture, is merely the jointer fence.

If you are looking at the 5 function European combos, there are several models that I call the Yugos (they are inexpensive and get you there just as fast as any, but may need more tinkering), the Chevy ($11,000 MiniMax that Fine Woodworking rated best), the Cadillac (The $18,000 MiniMax), The BMW (The $25,000 Felder with Austrian engineering), and the Rolls Royce (The extra heavy $35,000 Knapp from Laguna).

Yes, it sure hurt whenever I spend any money (I'm cheap ), but buying the MiniMax didn't hurt as much as buying a car or computer or camera that will have no value in a few years.

[John Stevens]

If I cut a rectangle with a perimeter of, for example, 8 feet and suspect an error of more than .01 inches in that 8 feet of cutting, it is time to recalibrate the machine.

Charlie, what kind of square or other instrument do you use to calibrate your fence?

[Sam Blasco]

You didn't say just how limited your space was,

Or how clean... Man, Charley, looks like a whole new shop than when I was there a few weeks ago. Did you tidy the place up just for that picture?

Chris, once you learn to just keep making left turns you'll never go back.

[Charlie Plesums]

Charlie, what kind of square or other instrument do you use to calibrate your fence?

As Sam said, keep turning left. More specifically, start with a sheet of anything... I usually grab a hunk of MDF. Cut one edge straight using the slider (so the right side is cut). Turn the sheet left, so cut 1 is against the fence, and make cut 2. Turn left again for cut 3, again for cut 4. Theoretically you have a perfect rectangle. So turn one more time and make a fifth cut, removing a thin strip.

Break the strip you just cut off in half and compare the thickness of the leading end with the thickness of the trailing end. If everything is perfect, the two ends of the strip will be exactly the same thickness. If not, it takes a fair amount of Scotch or equivalent to figure out how much you have to adjust the fence to get it right. (Hint... if you were cutting a square, start by moving the fence, at the outer edge of the cut square, 1/4 the error.)

[Charlie Plesums]

Or how clean... Man, Charley, looks like a whole new shop than when I was there a few weeks ago. Did you tidy the place up just for that picture?

Aw c'mon, Erik took that picture a month after I got the machine (no heat or AC - note the long sleeves). And you saw the shop while I was in the middle of a project with hundreds of boards, 252 mortises (and corresponding tenons cut in 5 foot long boards), and I had been sanding (with a belt sander and ROS) all those pieces. I don't have the neatest shop in the world, but I do clean it up occasionally.

When my $1000 worth of Lyptus for the next project arrives Monday, I won't have any trouble finding it ... it will be near the machines, not on a cart a long ways away like the 8/4 lyptus I saw in your shop (zing) (gotcha)

[Paul B. Cresti]

Aw c'mon, Erik took that picture a month after I got the machine (no heat or AC - note the long sleeves). And you saw the shop while I was in the middle of a project with hundreds of boards, 252 mortises (and corresponding tenons cut in 5 foot long boards), and I had been sanding (with a belt sander and ROS) all those pieces. I don't have the neatest shop in the world, but I do clean it up occasionally.

When my $1000 worth of Lyptus for the next project arrives Monday, I won't have any trouble finding it ... it will be near the machines, not on a cart a long ways away like the 8/4 lyptus I saw in your shop (zing) (gotcha)

Charlie,
Take it easy on him! You know all he does these days is sit at his desk and eat doughnuts anyway. I surprised he even knows how to power up a machine still

BY the way I got your info thanks I really appreciate it. I use to have a iron I "borrowed" from my mother way back in college. I used it to melt the wax to wax my skis when I use to race in college I just have to go and find it