Dimensions of sliding table saw - rip fence

[Michael Koons]

I'm in the process of upgrading my 5'5" MM slider to a 10' slider. Haven't made my choice yet between Martin, Altendorf and Felder. Currently I have a 52" rip fence on my MM and I find that I rarely use the space between 30" and 52" on the rip table of my saw. Right now I have a 11' 5" x 25' space for the new slider. I actually have 17' x 24' space for most of it, but I have one section of the room that's limited to 11' 5".

The reason all of this is important is because the Martin and Altendorf need 11' 9" with a 52" rip fence. (The Felder only needs 11', so I'm good there.) So I'm a few inches short. (Insert joke here.) I can do some things to make this work like position the outrigger along the table, take off the cross cut fence or other things in the rare cases I need the full travel of the slider.

The other thing I could do is order the saw with a 33" rip fence and my problem is solved.

I wanted to know from the slider owners here if you use a shorter or longer rip fence. Does anyone have a 33" rip fence on your slider? Do you ever find you're limited with the shorter dimension?

If anyone has thoughts here, let me know. I guess if worse comes to worse, I can just get the Felder but those Martins and Altendorfs are really nice and I'd hate to rule them out over a few inches of clearance.

As always, Thanks.

Mike

[Jim Becker]

Michael, I actually cut down the right-size table, etc., on my MM S315WS because I really didn't need that capacity for "traditional" ripping and I had a shop space issue I was trying to solve. Having the table support on that side is nice when cross cutting sheets, but otherwise, it's just waisted space a lot of the time and only serves to get the traditional rip fence "out of the way", quite frankly. And yes, my "effective" width for "traditional" ripping with the fence is about the 33" you mention at this point, give or take...I forget without walking out to the shop.

[Mike King]

I virtually never use the rip fence and when I do, it most often is as a bump stop. If I'm ripping something that's 33+ inches wide, it'll almost certainly be on the outrigger table using the stop on the outrigger fence.

Mike

[Warren Lake]

has someone come up with a way to cut it drill internal thread so you can still add it in if ever needed then cut the table to match and hinge it down, rather not cut mine but figure someone tool and die maker thinking person has figure out a way to do this. dont remember what measure is its huge. If i did oversize tops in the pst likely final cut iwth a router and straight edge

[Wes Grass]

I planned that for my kf700, but never got around to it. Left off the half depth extension and sawed the fence rail off flush. Have never had a need for more than the 27" or so it leaves. And with only a 4' slider, full sheets usually wind up attacked by the track saw anyway.

Plan was a tapped hole and a shallow counterbore with a mating boss and stud on the extension. And clock the pieces so the holes for the extension line up.

[Rod Sheridan]

I also have a slider with about 30" rip capacity, I have never needed more than that.

With a slider, if you do, use a parallel ripping attachment or the crosscut fence and a flip stop...............Regards, Rod.

[Brian W Evans]

If you're working with sheet goods a lot, you might need that space. I have a lally column in the way of my saw, about 35" to the right of the blade that prevents me from cutting a sheet of plywood into 4' x 4' (or similar) pieces. This doesn't come up very often but it can be annoying when it does. Given the prices of the saws you're considering, I would say get the smaller rip capacity and buy a track saw. Even the price of a Festool track saw would be almost insignificant by comparison. On the other hand, if you're going to be cutting up sheet goods all day, go with the saw that fits your space.

[Michael Koons]

Thanks all. You've hit my exact considerations. I can only see 2 real challenges with a 33" rip table...

1. Like Brian said... If I need a piece of plywood that has 2 dimensions wider than 33". That's probably very rare. I mostly deal with hardwoods but occasionally do work with sheet goods. When I do, it's rare that a dimension is greater than 33".

2. I use my slider for all my cross cutting as well. So I'd limit myself on the right side of the blade to 33". Only a big deal if I'm cutting a 8' wide board in half. But even then, since the arm holding the blade guard is in back of the table, I should be able to cross cut any board up to 12" wide or so without the blade guard support getting in the way.

[Steve Rozmiarek]

Like Mike said, only need the longer for a bump stop, and as lots of others said, half a sheet of ply is plenty for sheet stock fence width. My Felder is a combo, so I have a short fence anyhow. I would like to have a longer one just for a bump stop when cutting long stock to length. I can work around it by flipping the stock to use the carriage fence stops, but when milling 12' stock, it has to hang out somewhere and having the bulk of the weight on the carriage is smoother. That's the only situation that I wish I had a longer fence, never for sheets.