Manhandling 4*8' sheets onto a slider

[mark mcfarlane]

How much space do I need around a slider to get a 4*8 sheet up on the carriage? My current plan has a 3 foot aisle around the slider, plus space for the 4*8.

For example. in the pic below the green 'rug' is 16' * 12', allowing for 8 feet to the left of the blade, and a 3 foot aisle, so that's 12 feet to the left of the blade until I hit some base cabinets. The blue 'block' in the bottom left corner of the first pic is a vertical stack of plywood (sheet good storage area).

Am I gong to be able to tip a 4*8 sheet up on the slider with this much space?

top slider.jpgslider plan.jpg

[Yonak Hawkins]

mark, one thing to keep in mind : If you're pressed for space to the side of the saw, you only need 4'+ beside the blade to cut a sheet laterally but you need a full 8'+ fore and aft when cutting long ways.

[Mike Heidrick]

I'd be a bull in a china shop working there with a 4X8 sheet.

[mark mcfarlane]

To clarify the diagram, as it was drawn in the first post, there is 11' of room to the left of the blade, infeed and outfeed. And >10' to the right of the blade.

Thanks for the feedback.

Here's an improved version with the 8.5' slider/combo rotated 180 degrees. Now I have 13' to the left of the blade, 7.4' to the right of the blade. If I had to, I could move the assembly table / bench to get >13' to the left of the blade. The top of the assembly table is 4'*8', for reference.rotated slider 3D.jpgflipped slider.jpg

This new design makes more sense: Back-up the truck, slide sheet goods onto assembly table, then slide them over to the slider,...

[Garth Almgren]

This new design makes more sense: Back-up the truck, slide sheet goods onto assembly table, then slide them over to the slider,...

Agreed, that looks like a much better workflow to me.

[Andy Giddings]

Mark, looks good for the infeed of 4x8 sheets but if you are going to be doing a lot of sheet work in the future, what about the out feed? 4x8 3/4 ply can still be a pain to maneuver when its been cut, specially if you are doing 8ft long cuts . Does your combi already have sufficient out feed support for the offcut? Is your assembly table mobile as that could double as out feed support or some other mobile table could be used

[mark mcfarlane]

Good point Andy. The Minimax Classic slider should support a full 8*4 sheet to the left of the blade, but I'll need to build some outfeed support for the right side of the blade. The shop isn't built yet, I can easily make a little rolling table to act as the right-of-blade outfeed support, and just park it along the wall near the bottom of the floor plan. I'm thinking maybe two 2' * 5' tables on wheels for the outfeed.

I don't plan to work much with sheet goods after the new addition is built out (shop cabinets, kitchen cabinets, bath cabinets),... That should take me a couple years

[Sam Murdoch]

Perfect situation for a track saw. Buy a good one and sell it when you are done with the cabinet work.
Save your back too in the meantime.

[Jerome Stanek]

You could build a vacuum lift

[Jim Becker]

Mark, if you have the 8'6" slider wagon, you'll need approximately 19' end-to-end for full 8' sheet ripping cuts. At least that's what I've measured with my S315SW slider. For crosscutting, you'll always want the "longer" piece to be on the outrigger as that minimizes support requirements on the right side of the cutline. I actually took advantage of that and "cut down" the fence side of things so I could move my slider farther away from my J/P and make using the outrigger easier in my particular shop environment.

If you look at this photo (a little skewed as it's a pano), the back of the wagon comes nearly all the way back to where I'm standing in this shot relative to the wall and extends forward almost to my bench at the far end.

[mark mcfarlane]

Perfect situation for a track saw. Buy a good one and sell it when you are done with the cabinet work.
Save your back too in the meantime.

Thanks Sam. I own a TS55 already and it will certainly be used for the first batch of cabinets that I'll build before the shop is built. After the shop is in place I'll use the slider, then I'll know which workflow I prefer .

[mark mcfarlane]

You could build a vacuum lift

What's a vacuum lift?

[mark mcfarlane]

Mark, if you have the 8'6" slider wagon, you'll need approximately 19' end-to-end for full 8' sheet ripping cuts. At least that's what I've measured with my S315SW slider. For crosscutting, you'll always want the "longer" piece to be on the outrigger as that minimizes support requirements on the right side of the cutline. I actually took advantage of that and "cut down" the fence side of things so I could move my slider farther away from my J/P and make using the outrigger easier in my particular shop environment.

...

The green 'rug' shows the 19' throw of the slider. (actually it's 18' * 12') but the extra 6 inches on each end shouldn't be a problem. rotated slider 3D.jpg

[Steven Wayne]

I actually took advantage of that and "cut down" the fence side of things so I could move my slider farther away from my J/P and make using the outrigger easier in my particular shop environment.

Jim, can you elaborate on this? Did you shorten the width of the right side table and fence rack?

[Kevin Nathanson]

My solution:

panel_handler2.png

And to answer your next question: You don't want to know. Look for one at an auction; that's how I got mine.

K