Sawstop sliding table

[cyclopentadiene]

I am eriously considering making the plunge to add the sliding table yo my Sawstop. It is costly at $1199 so I do not want to make a purchase that large and regret it.

Anyone have a review of this add on? If so, what are your thoughts?

 

[chris_goris]

Jeff,
What do you plan to use it for?. Thats how I typically justify large purchases....

 

[tvrgeek]

I hate to steer someone away from out local friendly little forum, but you may get a wider audience over on LumberJocks for this question.

Unfounded viewpoint:
I looked at it in the store. I don't have room, so dismissed it. Production saws have much larger sliding tables. Look at the EU based professional saws. If a production shop and you are dealing with full sheets a lot, probably a big time and safety advantage. Personally, I just am making larger and longer sleds for my new saw.

 

[NOTW]

Not sure about near you but the Klingspor in Raleigh had a SawStop with sliding table on display in their showroom.

 

[JimD]

I have a large sled for my PCS but I do not use it a lot. The cuts I can accurately make with it I can make on my CMS, usually. I have been unsuccessful making accurate cuts with my sled (dual runner, normal design, carefully trued with 5 cut method) on large pieces of solid wood or sheet goods. So for that I use my track saw.

I have not used the SawStop sliding table but I use an old 12 inch saw with a large sliding table, bigger than the SawStop, at church on Mondays and I like it. I am not making anything very demanding there but I think it is making accurate crosscuts on larger pieces of sheet goods. If I had room for one in my shop I would be interested in it but I don't like the $1200 price tag (just as I didn't like the pricetag for the PCS). I think it is a lot easier for a metal sliding table with good bearings to move accurately through the cut than it is for a wooden sled to do so. I've watched some reviews on the SawStop sliding table and it seems at least as well designed and made as the one I use occasionially at church.

But it may also be worthwhile to note that a conventional table saw with a sliding table a foot or so to the left of the blade is not like a European slider with the sliding table right up against the saw blade. Increasing the distance of the slider off to the left is not going to help it's accuracy. But I still think a sliding table a foot away from the blade beats a sled.

 

[cyclopentadiene]

I have an Incra sled which in itself was expensive $300. It works fine but has
1) limited size of 30”
2) small amount of play. If you tighten enough to remove play, it will not push smoothly
3) Sled requires storage and setup
4) must remove gaurd exposing the blade
5) handle is small
6) not as solid and robust as sliding table

I rarely cut large panels and if so typically use my festool track saw

 

[bowman]

Not sure about near you but the Klingspor in Raleigh had a SawStop with sliding table on display in their showroom.

There is a display in Winston store. I don't have it, so I cannot offer any pro/cons about it

 

[tvrgeek]

Someone in the Triangle had one on display as I saw it. Maybe it was Woodcraft.

Might help just to look at full size production tables to get an idea how they work.

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I also saw on some site a square T-track but a set of wheeled runners one could use to make one. Regular machine grade linear bearings are not cheap, but I bet some variety of tracks would suffice. All it takes is the space.