Thanks for the explanation in the comments below on the fence gizmo when rip sawing sheet. Using the rip fence for long cuts makes for more accurate cuts, as you stated. I have struggled with this, after seeing this video it is much more clear to me, thank you for your great explanation. Paul
The point in space block on the crosscut fence is a great idea! I've been struggling with long rips, wishing I could use the slider to help. Now I can! Thanks!
I recently bought my own sliding saw, it's an oldie but you have to start somewhere right? I'm learning tons of new stuff through this video since I have no prior experience with a sliding table saw, so thank you very much for sharing!
You can do the same thing without it if you work really hard to keep the feed pressure all on the rip fence, but it helps you focus on one fence at a time -- in this case -- the focus is on the rip fence, and that "point" in space helps keep the crosscut fence from trying to take over, which would pull the panel away from the rip fence, as its tendency is to try and "square up" the panels edge, and since the slider and the rip fence diverge from each other slightly (both are set with some toe out away from the back of the blade).
Were you only using plywood because it was a vanity as opposed to a particle core? I am not a fan of Plywood in cabinets. But then again you did have a lot of cross bracing. What i do is edge band all edges to protect from water damage. To those i have confused, particle core is much more stable than plywood.
I guess I'm a little stuck in my ways. I simply don't like working with particle board or melamine, especially in humid, wetter areas like kitchens and bathrooms. Since I put my boxes together with staples and screws, quality plywood has a much better bite, is structurally superior to particle cores, does not swell and become brittle in 5 years, and it isn't as heavy to lift! In the production world particle core rules. It's much cheaper, has a more consistent thickness, and with CNC nesting and using dowel construction, things goe together much faster.
Does your crosscut fence have the digital read outs? If so, do you find those to stay accurate for you over time? Does your saw have imperial s or metric measurements on both the crosscut and rip fence scales? Thx
Bi-lingual tape reads. But the focus on Imperial. The digital readouts on my crosscut fence are my design/modification with components from Siko Products (mag tape and two readouts).
With these sliders being such versatile machines, where you can cross cut and rip various materials, which blade brand/model are you running as your everyday blade? Thx
I see you prefer to true up the 4’ side of a sheet first rather than strait line rip the long 8’ side first, any particular reason? Maybe it’s just a “6 of one and half dozen of the other” kind of thing. Is your siding table surface sitting dead flush with the fixed tables of your saw or is it sitting just proud of the fixed surfaces? Thanks Sam
@Sam Your videos have played a significant part in helping me decide on a Minimax CU410e (can't go for the Elite S as can't get 3 phase in my workshop). I'd like to have an overhead guard for safety and dust extraction reasons, but the SCM / Minimax one isn't an option on the elite only on the elite S for some reason. In your experience / travels have you come across any aftermarket or ingenious solutions for this? I'm UK based for what it's worth.
Hi Andy. Welcome to the club! Your sales rep must be mistaken about the ES overhead blade guard. It is not an option on the Elite S, either. It would get in the way of the jointer/planer operation. I devised one that rotated out of the way using the mortiser attachment as a base, but it proved awkward, so I went to suspending one from the ceiling, like you see in my videos. There are some aftermarket solutions you could try. Shark Guard comes to mind, but it is a riving knife based system, as is mine, and you need to use their riving knife which is not as robust as the OEM riving knife, and I think has caused some set up problems for some. But I bet you could modify it to work on your original riving knife. The Elite S comes with the Suva Pro Guard system. I liked it okay, but didn't like that that the piece had to bump into it everytime as it rode over all cuts. I did use it's riving knife and connector when I modified one I had made years prior from plans on an old Badger Pond thread. I really like what I have come up with after 20 years of trial and error -- ha! Maybe I should do a video just on that.
@@SamBlasco Thanks for this. I'd love to see a video on what arrangement you now have. I'll watch some of your other videos again focussing on the overhead guard / dust extraction. As matter of interest do you run the Tersa knives or Xylent spiral / helical cutter block in your planer/thicknesser?
@@andybrook-dobson726 I've been a Tersa fan since the 1990s. First experience was in a production shop I was an employee of before I opened my own business in 1997. I'm sure you will find strong opinions for both, and the spiral heads are all the rage right now as the latest tech. I've worked with both, and can tell you both systems work very well. I simply prefer the versatility and finish quality you can achieve with Tersa when you mate the right knife to the species you're running. I'm a one project at a time shop and I think Tersa offers more possibilities to an artisan shop, and a keener edge. If I was running in a production world then the Xylent system might hold a smaller edge.
@@SamBlasco I'd love to hear more about what different knives you use and how you match them to the species you are working with. Not heard anyone mention this. Wasn't even aware of different types of knives. Also, re your overhead system, does this still give you manoeuvrability of your universal machine or does it make it more planted?
I appreciate that spiral / helical heads are a fairly recent development, however I find it intriguing that it is all a lot of the youtuber woodworkers talk about and there's absolutely no mention of Tersa knives.
Hi Sam, great video. I'm still not 100% understanding the purpose of that "little gizmo" piece again. The plywood couldn't just push against the crosscut fence as your sliding the rip through?
It could, but you would need to pay more attention to the rip fence. I explain it a little in the video. Rip fence toes out from the back of the blade about .015". The slider toes out about .006". This is normal, and set that way for safety. Therefore, they diverge from each other. If you have a square piece against the rip fence then the crosscut fence will try to "square it up", which would pull it off of the rip fence some, they would fight each other. That little gizmo just gives me a point in space to push the slider while I focus on keeping the board tight to the rip fence. I could also just use the rip fence as a point in space and focus on the crosscut fence. However, my experience tells me that if my crosscut fence is square, say, .008" in 4' (a reasonably realistic true in the real world) it would translate to about a 64th in 8', and then compound the error with successive rips using the slider alone. Probably okay for most cabinet projects, but I still think the best way to get successive parallel rips, the rip fence is more reliable, and with the slider taking all the weight and assisting with the travel you can be much more accurate and efficient than any cabinet saw setup. For smaller panels, I have no problem doing all cuts on the slider, left of the blade, I just keep making left turns.
Sam Blasco beautifully said, I fully understand now. Thank you very much. I’m trying to fast track gathering as much info on these types of saws. You have been very valuable to me while doing this, thank you again. I need to speed production up in my shop without compromising quality. These saws look to be the answer! In fact, it might make the quality even better! I’m just trying to figure out which brand. There are so many. You bring up two huge points for me, one is, you can use American tooling and that your brand of saw offers single phase 220v. These are selling points for me. I was just quoted $37,030 for the T 60 C Martin, their basic entry model, I about fell over! LOL. They become more affordable with other brands from what I’ve heard. The Felder K700 professional also looks to be a pretty good one, any thoughts? Haven’t found out about the power set up with those. And I don’t think they have the 5/8” arbor. May I ask, what state are you in? I love your videos on your saw, hope to keep seeing them.
It is a fairly arbitrary constant, and will be different for different woodworkers. For me, my machine is somewhere under .01" over an 8' span. Since I only use my naked eye and a tape measure (rather than more serious measuring devices) I couldn't really say for sure. I figure if my eye can't see it it will be good enough for woodwork. In my 3 cut test video I try to illustrate this.
