Sliding Panel Saw Solution Sought

[Bill Adamsen]

People have raised this "issue" in past threads, I'm simply looking for solutions (jigs, OEM) that people may be using or have developed. On my saw, when I rip or square-up high aspect ratio pieces (long and narrow) it can be challenging to get parallel sides. Yes I could switch to the rip fence, but then I'd be removing that for every new wider panel. What I currently do is simply calculate all my cuts on a job, and transfer the "parallel" markings to a piece of tape near the handle of the carriage. It would be great to have another short fence just below the carriage height with a flip stop for the same - but more exacting and convenient - purpose.

The photo illustrates this condition with a piece of plywood (outlined with magenta line) set on the sliding table in a position as though ready to cut. Note the far end is nestled up against the stop .. which is too narrow to confidently define a square reference. If I wanted to rip this accurately, I would need to measure both ends from a reference point to get a consistent rip - moving the free end either to the right or left (as the magenta arrow shows) to achieve that parallel cut.

Thanks for your ideas!

Guards removed for illustrative purposes only.

PanelSaw.jpg

[Loren Woirhaye]

I've seen an Incra type table saw fence and positioner mounted on the carriage.

[Robyn Horton]

just some thinking out of the box here .... can you install some kind of laser above the saw that could shoot the beams down onto your work piece in two directions for reference lines ? kind of like a drill press laser system

[Rod Sheridan]

Bill, doesn't your saw manufacturer offer a parallel ripping device for the sliding table?

They are a couple of extrusions that mount at right angles to the sliding table, and have a stop.

You set them both at the same dimension and they hold the work parallel to the blade.

Obviously you could also set them to rip tapers..........Regards, Rod.

[Steve Rozmiarek]

Cant tell what brand of saw you have, but here is Felders solution on my machine. Its stupidly expensive, and could be pretty easily copied by an ingenuitive person. You just set the two scales the same for parallel.

[Bill Adamsen]

Steve: that Felder attachment is right in alignment with what I was thinking. I'll look at Felder's web-site to get more details. I was about to make a home-built jig that would mount to the "insertable table extension" and this gives some ideas.

Robyn: love the idea of a laser mounted to the front stop that would shoot the full length of the carriage for any length work. Need to look into solutions. That would be a nice feature that would always align automatically with the front stop.

Rod: the mfg (Knapp) - to my knowledge - calls what I would refer to as the rip fence, the "parallel saw fence" ... and I have not seen an accessory (which due to Mfg.'s status, would be hard to get anyway).

[Bill Adamsen]

So grabbed an unused accessory fence with stops on it and "taped" it up in position for illustrative purposes. Would mount to the "insertable table extension" with an intermediary piece to allow micro adjustment and allow fixing a tape measure right to left that would allow replicating the main stops with the "accessory" stops. The stops could be useful for presetting known "rips." The "block" would allow "rips" narrower than the carriage table width ... since the stops themselves couldn't move that far to the right. With the stops dropped, the surface is flush, allowing mounting an uncut full sheet.

SawFenceSolution.jpg

[Sam Babbage]

I can't quite tell from the picture but if your saw has a round bar for the rip fence you can slide the extruded section forward and "flip" the fence backwards so that it is below the level of the table. Much faster than taking it on and off.

[marty shultz]

+1 on the parallel guides on the Felder. I know a machinist who is making aftermarket parallel guides for various sliders. His are better than the Felder's (imho) and cost 35% less. His name is Brian and here's his email blamb11@cox.net.

[Mark Wooden]

It seems to me that the second extension fence, while very nice, would get in the way of sizing sheet stock all the time. I'd just slide the slider fence out of the way and use the rip fence for anything under 12" or so. Less complicated and quicker I think.

[Erik Loza]

Erik Loza
Minimax USA

[Bill Adamsen]

Erik:

How easily does that remove?

[Ralph Butts]

Erik is that an LS XX positioner?

[johnny means]

Not to hijack, but whats the benefit of mounting a J/P on the side of a saw? Seems like it just gets in the way.

[Steve Rozmiarek]

Not to hijack, but whats the benefit of mounting a J/P on the side of a saw? Seems like it just gets in the way.

It's for space savings. My machine is a full 8' plus slider, in a small two car garage. For right now at least. There is not much room for a big j/p in there unless its in the center of the room, so the combo makes sense. It makes you think a project through a little more maybe, but that has the side benefit of speeding up work flow. No complaints from me.

Bill, sounds like you have some good ideas, curious to see what you come up with.