Sliding Table for the Small Shop

Bear Republic

Steve
Corporate Member
That's some great design and execution skills. For the uninitiated, what's the purpose or benefits of sliding table? I know it enables exact repetitive cuts and functions like a sled. I was lucky and was able to use Phil's during one of his his classes. It handles quite well.
 

Donna Wynne

New User
Donna
Sure beats plunking down $20-30K+ on a Martin or Felder-Format Kappa sliding rig, but he might have a bit of challenge to do panel cutting and long rips on that little portable Dewalt do-it-yourself slider. At least he won't need a Fritz-and-Franz jig for small cross-cuts. But for small work in a small shop, I'd say it's pretty "prima classe" for the home brew enthusiasts.
 

JimD

Jim
Senior User
I think the guy did a really nice job on the sliding table. But I would not want the result to use instead of my sawstop.

My sawstop is my 4th table saw. All the previous versions had content from me, like this guys saw but not nearly as nice. I still have the immediate predicessor, a Ryobi BT3100. It came with a little sliding table i could never get to do consistently quality work. That one looks better. I extended the fence on the Ryboi to get it about 60 inch rip capacity. I built a special mobile base for it with drawers and everything. I built a lot of furniture with it for myself and my kids. But I have been surprised with the increased accuracy I achieve with the SawStop. I've built one chest of drawers so far with it and am finishing up a vanity which has wood on wood drawers like a vanity. I did not use better materials nor have my skills changed. But all the drawers fit fine, slide smoothly, and I did not have to do any trimming. In the end, all my drawers fit and slide smoothly but I had to mess with them before. But now on two projects, not at all.

I think a significant part of it is the top of the SawStop is a lot larger and the rip fence reliably adjusts without the need to use a steel ruler (or tape measure). The BT3100 fence is at least as good as the DeWalt the guy in the video is using but they are both short and I don't think either has great markings. The saw is also much heavier and doesn't move when you put wood on it.

It could just be me but in my experience it is just harder to do good work on the little portable type saws. It can still be done but it takes more effort and maybe more fine tuning of results. But the idea of the sliding table with linear bearings is adaptable to a heavier, larger table saw. I've seen the videos of good craftsmen using $5,000 sliding table saws to do what looks like very good work very quickly. Some even do long rips with the sliding table. But I still am more comfortable doing little crosscuts with my Osborne gauge, bigger ones on my CMS or RAS and big ones with my track saw. I am not trying to criticize or discourage anybody. But I kind of don't see the point, at least for me, in a sliding table. But I was surprised by the SawStop.
 

zapdafish

New User
Steve
interesting drill accessories. I'd be interested in finding out more about them. They appear to be quality items, pretty much anything i've come across that advertises to do the same thing are very unreliable.
 

Raymond

Raymond
Staff member
Corporate Member
Steve (zapadafish), those drill accessories are Bosch Green tools. In Europe, there is Bosch Blue, which is the professional tools and the Bosch Green which are DIY tools. You may be able to purchase those drill accessories online from the UK or other tool sources in Europe.
 

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