Slider versus cabinet saw?

[Steve Mathews]

I asked in another thread about comparing a SawStop ICS converted to a slider using either their Sliding Crosscut Table or Large Sliding Table to a more traditional slider often talked about here. After looking at videos of both setups I still don't understand the functional difference. No doubt the European specific sliders are better built but what are the differences after that? Will both function the same?

[Jim Becker]

A true slider has the wagon right up against the blade. An add-on slider for a cabinet saw has about a foot and a half of distance between the edge of the sliding portion of the setup and the blade. The latter doesn't permit using the sliding action as effectively for workpieces that are smaller than the distance between the edge of the sliding add-on and the blade. It's handy for panels, but the fence is hanging a long way off the sliding action and you also cannot stand just to the left of the blade while working on critical cuts. It's just different...not bad, just different.

[Mike Kees]

I have worked with both. Exactly what Jim said.The only thing that was good about the Excalibur was when I had it attached to a Unisaw with right tilt ,it cut bevels in sheet goods with the bevel up. Kind of the same thing as a left tilt saw and the piece between fence and blade.

[Steve Mathews]

Got it. Thanks for the explanation.

[Derek Cohen]

Steve, I had a sliding attachment on my previous table saw, which I used for 20 years ...



This set up excelled at cross-cutting. However, as the slider was a distance from the blade, as Jim has pointed out, the centre of effort was further out, which felt more awkward and was not as solid in the hand.

More importantly, a slider attachment cannot do what a true slider excells at doing, and that is ripping ...



Ripping accuracy is facilitated with a Fritz and Frans (F&F) jig. It does not need to be elaborate (some of us got carried away ).

Regards from Perth

Derek