Ripping on a slider

[Jim Andrew]

The Hammer sales people told me to build an outfeed table, and make it close enough to the slider so I could make a stop to allow the sliding table to move farther back, to give me better access to the blade on my 79" slider. Went with the 79 so I could cut longer pieces, but the 49 does give you better access to the blade. I also kept my Unisaw, and do use it a lot.

[Jim Becker]

is it not more that the small sliders simply dont have the bulky slider support extending out back. I never stood behind one large slider that felt comfortable to me after a lifetime of ripping on cabinet saws

Yes, the smaller/shorter sliders don't have as much bulk behind the blade because that structure (and weight) isn't necessary to balance and support the shorter throw wagon. For a larger slider, it's not really practical to stand behind the blade for any ripping unless, for some strange reason, one is ripping a panel using the fence that's wide enough to permit your body to fit in the space between the blade line and the rip fence. That negates the whole reason for having a slider. For doing narrow rips, you stand parallel to the blade and fence, not behind the cut line like you would with a cabinet saw. This can be uncomfortable at first, but it becomes the "new normal" after a bit and being out of the line of the cut also means you're out of the line for a kickback in most respects. It's a different way of working and yes, it requires getting used to...

[Dan T Jones]

Thank you all for the help. I think the key part I was missing was using the shortened fence as a stop to control width. The videos were great.
Dan

[Mike Wilkins]

I have a short stroke slider (5 feet) and the sliding wagon can be locked in place. I sometimes rip using the rip fence, locking the slider. And I do have an outfeed table bolted to the main table. But ripping this way requires the removal of the short cross-cut fence, which has to be aligned to the blade upon replacement. That is why I still have a conventional table saw that I turn to for ripping. I use a glue line ripping blade that gives me glue-ready edges without firing up the jointer. In my small shop, this is a plus.

[Travis Porter]

I have an 8 1/2 foot slider, and at the moment, I exclusively rip with the fence. I do straight line with the carriage as I find it faster and easier than the jointer, but I just have not made a fritz/franz jig or bought parallel guides. I had never heard of the Fritz/Franz jigs until a couple of months ago.

[lowell holmes]

For those of us that don't have a slider, what is a wagon?

[Travis Porter]

The platform that attaches to the sliding mechanism to support material to be cut, normally crosscut. At least that is what I think it is....

[Jim Becker]

For those of us that don't have a slider, what is a wagon?

That's an excellent question The "slider" part that you place the material on for the cut (sometimes clamped down and sometimes just hand-held) is generally referred to as the 'wagon' on a sliding table saw. The edge of the slider/wagon is somewhat close to the blade and elevated "a proverbial hair" higher than the cast iron table that surrounds the blade so that the material doesn't drag on that surface as you push the material on the wagon through the cut. But it's so close to even that it doesn't affect cutting along the traditional rip fence when you choose to do that.