how can I get a short stroke slider or Sawstop in my shop

[Thomas Crawford]

Hey all - looking for some ideas on where I can fit something like a Hammer K3 48x48 or Sawstop in here (still deciding). I definitely have the space to have it on casters and roll stuff around but ideally I'm not moving it more than pulling it out a foot or two from a wall.

The obvious issue is the desk and weightlifting cage but I don't have room for those anywhere in the house. I work from home once or twice a week.

My initial idea is to put it where the A3-41 is, and then move the A3-41 to where the SCMS is. Long rips I could still do on the bandsaw which I've been doing for a decade now.

I like where the bench is but I'm not married to the location. I think I have enough 230V spread around I don't really have a limitation.

The shop is 18x26 wall to wall, here's pics:

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[Erik Loza]

Hey Tommy, hope you are well. I don’t really see a real-world space difference between a 48x48 K3 and a SS. Agree that relocating the A3 and then moving the saw into its spot is probably your best option. I believe Felder-Carrollton usually has a K3 in that configuration on tne showroom floor. Worth a drive to take some measurements in person?

Erik

[Phillip Mitchell]

I couldn’t say exactly how to do it very confidently without either being in your shop or seeing a plan view with dimensions and all obstacles, machines, etc. I can say that I have a short stroke slider in the same basic size shop that has more obstacles and less open space than what I can see in your photos.

I do typically keep the outrigger, crosscut fence and auxiliary table put away / hanging up when not in use or at least during the milling / rougher stages of a project as it just sticks out too much and is difficult to work around in an already tight space.

I would vote short stroke slider over Sawstop, personally. I would find a spot where you can have a wall to your right the distance of the max capacity of the rip fence and with enough forward to backward room at least the stroke of the slider or ideally enough for 8’ rips on both sides of the blade.

[glenn bradley]

I can offer a couple of observations and steps I took that have served me well. YMMV.
1. The compound miter saw takes up a lot of room and offers little benefit.
2. I changed my workout routine to activities that give me the result I want without the weight machine / rack.

[Michael Burnside]

I'd start with deciding which one you want and see if it will work. For my shop I had no budget or space constraints, but I build a lot of custom hardwood furniture, so I decided a SawStop was best for my decision. Very happy with this decision and love my setup. I don't do a lot of panel cuts but between the slider on the SawStop and my workbench with Dashboard PWS components, I can deal with 4x8 sheets, straight line rips, etc. if I need. If you feel SawStop is your route, I'm happy to measure my setup for you.

[Jim Becker]

I'm with Erik...there's not much difference in the foot print of a short stroke slider and a North American style cabinet saw like the SawStop. I've owned both...'had the SS in my temporary gara-shop while the building was going up and am back to the slider in the new shop. (which I MUCH prefer in SO many ways) Now mine is an SCM/Minimax SC3C, but the effective footprint is similar to the Felder/Hammer short stroke sliders. One thing I was very careful about when positioning tools in my new shop is infeed/outfeed direction and height. By paying attention to that, you can fit things to be able to take advantage of all the features of various tools without having to move them around.

[Kevin Jenness]

Draw out your floor plan and make cardstock scale models of everything movable, then shuffle them around until you find a workable layout. As Jim said, pay close attention to stock feed paths and machine heights in terms of clearance and stock support. You may come up with a completely new plan. Sometimes orienting machines off-axis to the shop's centerline will gain an advantage.

[Thomas Crawford]

I would like to get rid of the SCMS, the cart I built for it works great but takes up a ton of room. Its my least favorite tool from a safety and precision factor.

Almost everything I do is hardwoods and I have a festool tracksaw so I really want something that will replace the SCMS for most uses and give me a cleaner cut than the bandsaw. I would only work with smaller pieces of sheet goods after I broke them down.

[Michael Burnside]

I would like to get rid of the SCMS, the cart I built for it works great but takes up a ton of room. Its my least favorite tool from a safety and precision factor.

Almost everything I do is hardwoods and I have a festool tracksaw so I really want something that will replace the SCMS for most uses and give me a cleaner cut than the bandsaw. I would only work with smaller pieces of sheet goods after I broke them down.

Yea I have the Kapex and while I love it, I'll grab my Carvex 80% of the time. The Kapex sits atop a corner of a raiseable workbench where I store the 6-foot wing underneath. That way, if I need to batch out a bunch of stuff, it is my go-to tool, but otherwise it takes up "free" space.

[Thomas Crawford]

I'll see if I can dig up the sketchup model of my shop I made 5 years ago

[Michael Burnside]

I mean 18x26 is "huge" by most accounts. If you want a slider, you'll be able to find room IMHO. If you want a SawStop or other type of cabinet saw (Harvey, Powermatic, etc.) they all should fit if you can fit a slider. Just looking at the pictures it seems like the center has some workable area. You're not just stuck with right angles either. My cabinet saw is at an angle because in the off chance I rip long hardwood or a panel, it will just miss my 4'x8' workbench. I loath having my outfeed and workbench being the same thing, but a lot of people make that work incredibly well in space half as large as what you've got.

[Aaron Inami]

I had a large 12" SCMS. It was freakin heavy at 60 lbs and hard to lift/carry around. After I got my slider, I sold the miter saw and have been able to do most everything on the slider (with an angled crosscut fence). The only thing you would need a miter saw for is doing the larger crown moldings where you need to lay it at an angle to get a good miter cut. If I had to to that again, I would just get a smaller 10" non-sliding miter saw (weighs only about 24 lbs).

[Thomas Crawford]

I think I'll start a thread in general since I feel like I'm going to turn this into a slider Q&A

[Thomas Crawford]

I mean 18x26 is "huge" by most accounts. If you want a slider, you'll be able to find room IMHO. If you want a SawStop or other type of cabinet saw (Harvey, Powermatic, etc.) they all should fit if you can fit a slider. Just looking at the pictures it seems like the center has some workable area. You're not just stuck with right angles either. My cabinet saw is at an angle because in the off chance I rip long hardwood or a panel, it will just miss my 4'x8' workbench. I loath having my outfeed and workbench being the same thing, but a lot of people make that work incredibly well in space half as large as what you've got.

thanks, its good to be reminded that its a relatively large space and I'll definitely figure out something that works.

[Carl Beckett]

I would go with the slider.

Would take everything out and put the slider in, then make sure it clears for everything you want to do (sheet goods for the most part, but sometimes I cross cut a long board).

Then I would put stuff back in around it to where it fit.

I have a similar shop size and it is quite workable.