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Table saw dimensions

7K views 15 replies 10 participants last post by  Rebelwork 
#1 ·
How much space do you need on both sides of your blade. And how deep cut do you need?
 
#2 ·
Consider the projects you want to build. The important thing is to make sure that the wood is well-supported throughout the cut in front of and behind the blade and on both sides.

-> The wood must stay flat and move perfectly straight through the entire cut. Any raising, twisting, or pinching the wood is very dangerous.

A larger table means that you can cut larger pieces safely. You can supplement your saw with infeed and outfeed tables and side supports as long as they allow the wood to move straight and smooth through the cuts. I use an outfeed table. It folds behind the saw when it is not in use.

If the wood is too large for my table saw, then I use a handheld circular saw on the floor for rough cuts to make smaller pieces that I can safely cut on the table saw.

I do not understand "how deep?" Do you mean how high the blade will go? Do you mean the longest piece to rip cut? Do you mean "lead-in" distance from the front of the table to the blade?

I had a small jobsite table saw. For me, the worst feature was the short "lead-in" distance. It was only 6 inches (15 cm). My current table saw has 10 inches (25 cm) and it makes a big difference for me.
 
#3 ·
Personally, I say leave as much room all the way around the saw as your shop allows.
Need would depend on what kind of projects you make.
If you only make small boxes a 24" fence will be plenty and you can put it near the wall on the right side.
If you work with sheet goods You need at least 8 feet on the back side.
I have a 52" fence on my saw. I don't remember ever using the full capacity of it even tho I've made some large pieces of furniture.
I like to be able to walk around the saw so I don't put it close to the wall on either side. I find the left side of the saw is a perfect place for my joiner.
 
#4 ·
Agree with basically going with a saw that will accommodate the "high average" project size (the biggest project you build with any regularity). My fence gives me a 31" cut to the right of the blade. I have a set of 72" rails and the space for them, but I've never needed that much and prefer to keep the floor space open that would otherwise be encumbered (actually, I can probably count in one hand the number of times I've needed 30" since I bought the saw).

I've got a router table extension on that side and can use they other side of the fence for the router. That gives me about 16" extra inches of table/rail while minimizing the extra footprint of a router/shaper.

The other thing I'd suggest is to get as heavy and powerful a saw as you can afford. It's less about getting a bigger cut and more about stability. Heavier and more powerful saws simply have more mass and absorb more vibration while being less "bothered" by thicker pieces of stock.

Sent from my SM-G930P using Tapatalk
 
#6 ·
I've already bought nice old and really heavy table saw, but it needs lots of upgrades (more about that is in another thread).. That is the reason why I'm asking all this, as I'm planing my upgrades.. I really don't know how big my projects will be, I'm just starting with real wood.. I know that I'll sometimes need to cut particleboards too..
First off all I need to decide about dimensions of my table top, so that is why I'm asking about space on both sides of blade which are usually enough for all of you(and there I ask about space on the table)..
I've asked how deep cut is enough, but there I meant about how high is your blade above your table top.. (sorry, my English is not so good)..

As I've seen by now, all table saws have fence at right side of a blade. Is there some obvious reason for that which I don't know? In my case it could be easier to make more space for fence on left side.. But if there is a reason to have it on the right side, I would do that..
 
#9 ·
I've already bought nice old and really heavy table saw, but it needs lots of upgrades (more about that is in another thread).. That is the reason why I'm asking all this, as I'm planing my upgrades.. I really don't know how big my projects will be, I'm just starting with real wood.. I know that I'll sometimes need to cut particleboards too..
First off all I need to decide about dimensions of my table top, so that is why I'm asking about space on both sides of blade which are usually enough for all of you(and there I ask about space on the table)..
I've asked how deep cut is enough, but there I meant about how high is your blade above your table top.. (sorry, my English is not so good)..

As I've seen by now, all table saws have fence at right side of a blade. Is there some obvious reason for that which I don't know? In my case it could be easier to make more space for fence on left side.. But if there is a reason to have it on the right side, I would do that..

"First off all I need to decide about dimensions of my table top,"


Are you saying that your saw did not come with a table top?


On most saws the fence can be used on either side of the blade. Depends upon your desires. Most right handed people prefer it on the right side.



I do not understand your comment that you can make more space on the left.


George
 
#7 · (Edited)
are you already overthinking the problem? Unless you have a lots of space and plan to do very fine work on larger items, its not so critical. I use a Bosch 4100RT 10" job site saw that gets tucked away under a worktop when not in use. Space is at a premium because both our cars live in the garage at night.
 
#8 ·
Maybe I am overthinking, but I'd like to do it right on my first shot.. I don't have lots of space in my garage, but I don't want my table top to be too small..
I have now not so good 10" blade which needs to be replaced, and it is 67mm over table top.. I'm adding another plywood tabletop over existing one, so I'll loose some blade hight.. I'm thinking to go for a 12" blade to compensate that loss..
 
#11 ·
Maybe I am overthinking, but I'd like to do it right on my first shot.. I don't have lots of space in my garage, but I don't want my table top to be too small..
I have now not so good 10" blade which needs to be replaced, and it is 67mm over table top.. I'm adding another plywood tabletop over existing one, so I'll loose some blade hight.. I'm thinking to go for a 12" blade to compensate that loss..

Now you are not think about this enough. You cannot change a 10" table saw to a 12" by just changing the blade. And you cannot change the size of the table top just by putting a piece of larger plywood on the top.


George
 
#10 · (Edited)
We all ask that question of ourselves. I am not sure anyone can answer it for you. You have a saw, shop, floor space, anticipated projects, storage, snow blowers and lawn tools as well as other tooling to use that floor space.

Anyway, I can cut 36" to the right side of the blade and have one 12" extension to the left. Additionally I have 18" of outfeed that spans 44" from the left side of the saw. It takes up far too much room in my small one car garage DIY shop but, I like my saw setup and am willing to deal with the fact that too much floor space is committed to the saw.

Good luck with your saw setup.
 
#13 ·
My table saw is mounted on a base with wheels. In my previous house I had a long, narrow shop area. I could turn the saw 90 degrees if I needed to cut something that wouldn't fit the way the saw was normally positioned. The front wheels swivel while the back wheels are fixed and do not swivel. The front wheels can be lifted off the ground to lock the base in position. It takes some effort to move and rotate the saw, but it gives you a lot of flexibility if you have a confined area.

I am in no way promoting this item; just showing you for reference.

https://www.grizzly.com/products/Shop-Fox-Heavy-Duty-Mobile-Base/D2057A
 
#15 ·
You need to figure out how large the largest project that you will likely make, and how large a saw table will fit in your workshop before you can decide on the table size. At work we have a Delta 12-14" table saw and it has full plywood sheets surrounding it for table tops, but it's quite common to break down full sheets of plywood and rip long pieces of solid wood there.

In my small home shop I have a 10" Delta right tilt Unisaw with a 52" Unifence, so the right side table end is 56" from the blade. To the left of the saw is one table extension, so it's edge is about 20" from the blade. I have a 3' X 8' out feed table behind the saw. It's 3' front to end because it is hinged to fold down because I sometimes need the floor space for other work. You will need to decide your saw table size based on what you will be making and how much of your shop space can be alloted for your saw tables.

Charley
 
#16 · (Edited)
On a tablesaw for cutting cabinet parts. If you have a 52" cutting capacities on the saw you can push the saw all the way to the right. You need about 9' being you atleast if it's next to a garage door which you can open for longer stock and you need about 5' for an outfeed to hold the 4x6 sheet after it finishes through the blade. You will need to set up a little helper.on the left side of your cutting sheet goods off a 4x8 sheet to support it after the cut.

I can productively cut cabinet parts on this setup...after the parts are al, cut I set the router up using the fence to router all tops aND bottoms in

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