Another TS Question: Stamped Steel vs. Cast Iron

[Charles Lent]

I like my cast iron side tables over the stamped steel, but also very much don't like the webbed cast iron side tables. I used a friend's saw one time that had the webbed side tables and hated them more than the steel side tables. I pinched my fingers several times between the off cuts and the edge of a hole in the side table when pulling them back toward me. Edges of the work can frequently catch in them too.

Charley

[Josh Kocher]

My saw is cast iron with steel wings and it's fine, I do lots of great builds.

No doubt all cast iron would be better, a bigger saw would be better, a Felder slider would be better yet.

Get the best saw you can get and you'll make it work...

[Curt Harms]

I like my cast iron side tables over the stamped steel, but also very much don't like the webbed cast iron side tables. I used a friend's saw one time that had the webbed side tables and hated them more than the steel side tables. I pinched my fingers several times between the off cuts and the edge of a hole in the side table when pulling them back toward me. Edges of the work can frequently catch in them too.

Charley

Sort of off-topic but plywood will often fit nicely in those webbed recesses. That's what I did when I had an Emerson/Sears contractors saw. To the O.P. if you can get 240 volt power - think a stove or dryer outlet - you might be able to snag a good used cabinet saw for similar $. Cab saws with smaller right hand tables can take less space than a contractors saw.

[Sean Tracey]

There are 4 table saws. Euro Slider, cabinet, contractor, job-site. It seams you are looking at contractor. You can do decent work on a contractor.

Cabinet saws don't have wings. The use a single cast iron table with heavy gussets underneath to support the table and allow it to stay relatively flat after machining. They put cast iron to good use. The other thing cabinet saws have going for them is that the large, single piece table is excellent to mount a quality fence on with the attachment points for the fence being able to be as wide as possible.

Contractors have wings. The center table is where the iron is used effectively. You could make the wings out of iron, but I really think it's a waste of money. You aren't getting the benefit of a single, machined table and that iron weight isn't doing much for the stability of the machine anymore than making wings out of concrete would. Better to put the iron into the center table and trunnions and a beefy arbor assembly.

The wings hang off the side and are going to sag a certain amount. Steel is actually stiffer than iron and it's certainly possible that you may have less sag with a steel wing. The iron is machined which makes it flatter at least before hanging off the side of a center table.

I have a contractor saw and I removed the steel wings and installed a fence with formica router tables on each side instead. I've leveled everything pretty decently and any sag is far enough away or small enough that I get quality cuts. The formica is nice for the amount of work I do and is slick. It is rust free, requires no care, and doesn't mark or stain work.

I like being able to use one expensive fence for table sawing, left side routing for edges and the right side router table, though rarely used works for things that could use a full table of support to the left of the bit.

The whole thing is mobile.

So, I would recommend either a contractor saw with the cheapest wings or a table saw. For me, If I were to get another saw, it would be a slider. I'd keep the contractor I have now.

[Ray Newman]

"Cabinet saws don't have wings."

--Sean Tracey

I am not so sure 'bout that. My 2016 SawStop ICS has 2 cast iron wings. Prior to the SawStop, I ran a circa 1987 Uni-saw that also "sported" 2 cast iron wings. Both of these saws were sold new to me with OEM wing --not as an accessory/add-on or aftermarket.

[Marshall Harrison]

OP gets the award for most researched and thought about table saw ever. Buy a saw and make some sawdust!

I'll gladly accept that award now that my quest is over - https://sawmillcreek.org/showthread....24#post2796824

[Sean Tracey]

"Cabinet saws don't have wings."

--Sean Tracey

I am not so sure 'bout that. My 2016 SawStop ICS has 2 cast iron wings. Prior to the SawStop, I ran a circa 1987 Uni-saw that also "sported" 2 cast iron wings. Both of these saws were sold new to me with OEM wing --not as an accessory/add-on or aftermarket.

I looked at some pictures as well as the Sawstop web site. I was convinced the center table was wider on a table saw. Apparantly, the center table on the contactor and the professional saw is exactly the same width at 20" wide while the Industrial is 24" wide.

So cabinet saws do have wings but they are probably attached way better than my weird 1970's Rockwell Delta contractor. It looks like you get a deeper side flange out of hopefully heavier material.

[lowell holmes]

I have a 15 year old Delta contractor saw that came with the melamine wings and I am totally happy with it.

[Jim Becker]

Sean, you need to add the hybrid saws to your list of general types...they look like cabinet saws, but the trunions are handled more like a contractors' style saw.

[Bruce Wrenn]

I looked at some pictures as well as the Sawstop web site. I was convinced the center table was wider on a table saw. Apparantly, the center table on the contactor and the professional saw is exactly the same width at 20" wide while the Industrial is 24" wide.

So cabinet saws do have wings but they are probably attached way better than my weird 1970's Rockwell Delta contractor. It looks like you get a deeper side flange out of hopefully heavier material.

The CI wings off a Uni are a direct fit onto your Delta contractor's saw. The early Delta contractor saws came with CI wings.

[johnny means]

Stamped, cast, plywood they all work very well as long as they're flat and level and start that way. Just avoid those webbed cast things, they'll chop the tip of your finger off.

[Sid Matheny]

I have a granite top & wings table saw and love it. No worry about any rust if I get a senior moment and set something wet on it.

[Phillip Gregory]

There are 4 table saws. Euro Slider, cabinet, contractor, job-site. It seams you are looking at contractor. You can do decent work on a contractor.

Cabinet saws don't have wings. The use a single cast iron table with heavy gussets underneath to support the table and allow it to stay relatively flat after machining. They put cast iron to good use. The other thing cabinet saws have going for them is that the large, single piece table is excellent to mount a quality fence on with the attachment points for the fence being able to be as wide as possible.

Nope, all of the cabinet saws I have seen have wings/extension tables. The Delta Unisaw, which essentially defined "cabinet saw" has cast iron wings that bolt to the main table, as does the larger 12/14 and all of the clones I've seen with the possible exception of the few Orion saws that had granite tops. My Grizzly Unisaw clone has two cast-iron wings about a foot wide. Some of the real big industrial saws had a single monolithic top, and it's invariably a giant chunk of cast iron.


There are also two other kinds of saws. One is the hybrid saw, which is essentially a contractor saw in an enclosed cabinet, and then the old-school tilt-top saws. The Europeans also didn't invent the sliding tablesaw, American industrial makers such as Oliver made sliding tablesaws when Europe was still a pile of their own rubble in the '40s. The American makers didn't stick with the design as they invented a couple of better specific-usage tools that ended up working better, namely the radial arm saw and the panel saw.

Contractors have wings. The center table is where the iron is used effectively. You could make the wings out of iron, but I really think it's a waste of money. You aren't getting the benefit of a single, machined table and that iron weight isn't doing much for the stability of the machine anymore than making wings out of concrete would. Better to put the iron into the center table and trunnions and a beefy arbor assembly.

Extension wings milled flat with a jointed edge are going to mate up square and result in a flat table top, just as a face planed and edge jointed board is going to butt up nearly imperceptibly to another face planed and edge jointed board. The extra weight or iron wings that weigh 50 pounds apiece does add a lot of vibration dampening ability over sheet steel wings weighing 5 pounds apiece as weight of any kind adds to vibration dampening. Concrete wings would work very well as long as you could reinforce them well enough to keep them from sagging and cracking.. Orion did essentially that with using rock (granite) on their saw tops and wings.

The wings hang off the side and are going to sag a certain amount. Steel is actually stiffer than iron and it's certainly possible that you may have less sag with a steel wing. The iron is machined which makes it flatter at least before hanging off the side of a center table.

Steel is stiffer/stronger than iron but the big difference is that you get a stamped sheet steel casting about 1/16-3/32" thick vs. a ribbed cast iron casting about 3/8" thick. There is simply so much more thickness of the cast iron that there is grossly more resistance to deflection.

[Rod Sheridan]

. The Europeans also didn't invent the sliding tablesaw, American industrial makers such as Oliver made sliding tablesaws when Europe was still a pile of their own rubble in the '40s. The American makers didn't stick with the design as they invented a couple of better specific-usage tools that ended up working better, namely the radial arm saw and the panel saw.

.

Hi Phillip, Wilhelm Altendorf invented the sliding table saw in 1906 in Berlin Germany, it was not an American invention.

regards, Rod.