Tablesaw station reconfiguration?

Re: Tablesaw station reconfiguration?

mark nowicki

For more space, get rid of the table saw.

Re: Tablesaw station reconfiguration?

Barry Irby

I have a tablesaw with a 30" (Maybe 32"?) and have had it for years. I also have a set of rollers for outfeed support. At one point I had a set of homemade rails on the saw that allowed for a 36" rip because I used to make cabinets and needed the capacity. I bought a Beismeyer fence and rail on deep discount and replaced the older rails and fence. Don't make many cabinets anymore and have not really missed the capacity.

I think you will quickly adapt to the new smaller footprint. May require the occasional workaround, but you will make it happen.

OTOH, I recently got a Festool track saw and one of their Multi-function tables. It's a whole different concept of working that does not involve a tablesaw. Something of a mind bender for someone who has had a TS for almost fifty years.

Re: Tablesaw station reconfiguration?

Brian from monument colorado

Replace the outfeed table with outfeed rollers. I have a set that are mounted to the back of the tablesaw and fold down when not in use and up gives me maybe 3-4 feet of supported area.

Re: Tablesaw station reconfiguration?

Ron in Sterling, CT

Hi Tom

I have 21 inches of rip capacity on the right side of the blade and can add an extension for another 6 inches. I have added the extension once in the 53 years I have had the saw. I have 24 inches of added table in front of the saw and I find that acceptable. I would agree that you can reduce your footprint considerably and still have plenty of table top. My 2 cents.

Ron

Re: Tablesaw station reconfiguration?

Derek Cohen (in Perth, Australia)

Tom, in my opinion, if you are not processing full MDF or Ply sheets, then all one needs is 30” to the rip fence and 30” support beyond the blade. The latter can be made up of a small outfeed extension.

My previous tablesaw had a 52” rip fence. The router table was built into this. I now have a short sliding table with a 30” rip fence. I am not missing the extra rip space. And I have more room in my shop.

Regards from Perth

Derek

Re: Tablesaw station reconfiguration?

paul in AZ

Put the saw on a mobile base and use collapsable rollers for outfieed support.

Re: Tablesaw station reconfiguration?

Dick Coers

This is an often asked question. Every time I read it, I assume the person doesn’t really want to cut it since they want to be talked into it being okay. Maybe hinge the tables around it down, use a mobile base, and move it around to make more space.

Re: Tablesaw station reconfiguration?

Tom Norton

More information.

My current "station" is about 5'x7' with cabinets underneath. I could reduce the overall width by 20-22" and keep the cabinets on either side.

The driving force is the idea of building a canoe! And the extra space would be great. And since I am semi-retired and don't do commercial work I don't work with full size plywood in quantity any more.

Re: Tablesaw station reconfiguration?

Jim Dillon

Tom, agree with the others that downsizing your 50 inch rip capacity, given your anticipated needs, would be a move in the right direction. The outfeed side of things can be handled with either an outfeed extension (maybe on hinges) or rollers. I have my router built into my right-side extension table (50-incher), and it has worked well. However, I would favor that approach even in a downsized right-sized extension table as it is very space efficient. Jim

Double Duty

David Yoho

Sounds like reducing the footprint of your current setup should work for the type of projects you will do moving forward.

An idea you might think about for outfeed is something like I've used since starting out. My stand-alone workbench does double duty as a work surface and outfeed table for my cabinet saw. Since a garage floor usually has a little slope to it, I made adjustable feet for the ends of each leg. That way I can level it and set the height to allow stock to smoothly transition off the saw surface. You could even put everything on wheels to make the space even more versatile.

Re: Tablesaw station reconfiguration?

William Duffield

I've never had an outfeed table or a rip fence rail longer than thirty some inches, yet I've build some pretty substantial projects with table saws. Outfeed roller stands have always been sufficient, as have circular saws and saw horses. My current table saw, which weighs almost 800 lb. with the hydraulic mobile base allows me to move it around the cramped shop enough to adapt to cross cutting and ripping. As others have recommended, I now have a Festool tracksaw for breaking down large sheet goods, which is much more convenient and quicker than trying to use the table saw. You can also use the Veritas Panel Platform Kit to make a tracksaw even more convenient, at very little additional expense.

http://www.leevalley.com/us/Wood/page.aspx?cat=1,43455&p=76830

Re: Tablesaw station reconfiguration?

Walt

I don't know how many people here are able to easily and safely cut a 4 X 8 piece on a table saw without help so why the need for a large table? Track saw, saw guide, lots of ways to deal with sheet goods that don't involve a huge table saw setup. It may take a little longer but if time is a consideration - likely a commercial operator - you probably do have a means to handle large sheets.

Re: Tablesaw station reconfiguration?

Tom Norton

I would process a large stack of 3/4" ply and resize for a kitchen. It was quite easy to do.

Re: Tablesaw station reconfiguration?

William Duffield

We built this kitchen from 3/4" 4x8 plywood, solid cherry and figured cherry veneer 16 years ago using two contractors saws with short fences and roller stands.

Yes, what you see is ogee bracket feet, fluted corner columns, fully inset raised panel doors, fully inset drawers with cock bead, and the most stunning granite countertops I've ever seen. (The cornice is not installed because it had not been delivered by the carver yet.) We got word from the owner, who is related to the countertop stone company, that the installation foreman said the cabinets were the most precise installation they had ever seen. They set the granite in, it fit precisely, and no shims were required. 'Nuf said.