Hi everyone --

I've never used a sliding table saw, but will be getting one in the next year. I've read a lot and been in touch with at least one equipment vendor, and am designing a new shop layout.

I hardly use sheet goods, except perhaps for some jigs/fixtures, and in that case, I'd be using smaller pieces. My interest in a slider is related to safety, accuracy, and repeatability.

Since I'll be handling lumber 99% of the time, I wanted to ask members with more experience than I, what approach they take for ripping lumber on the slider. Some say that when dealing with long pieces and/or requiring pieces that match exactly, that the original fence is preferred. There is also the issue of binding when using the original fence.

Others state that the original fence can flex, get sawdust near it, etc., and so that the fence is not that accurate, and they prefer either shop-made or 3rd party parallel fences, i.e. on the sliding portion of the saw. Then there is the question of how you get that first straight edge if you're only using a parallel fence.

I think the original fence will have a wider ripping capacity than add-on parallel fences, but that's probably not an issue for me, since you can still get out to 24" to 26" with a parallel fence from a vendor such as Lamb.


Thanks in advance --