A good reason for left tilt.

[Rick Potter]

There have been a lot of discussions here about whether a table saw should be left tilt or right tilt. I am the first to admit I am a right tilt guy, and have a right tilt Unisaw. There are some good arguments for both.

BUT....one reallllly good reason for buying a left tilt saw is if you may upgrade to a sliding table. When you install the table the best way is to remove the left wing, and shorten the fence rail on that side. This makes it almost impossible to use the fence to the left of the blade, meaning you cannot bevel safely anymore. Don't ask how I know this.

So.....with head hanging, I must admit that if I were buying a new saw, it would be left tilt.

Rick Potter

[Bart Leetch]

There have been a lot of discussions here about whether a table saw should be left tilt or right tilt. I am the first to admit I am a right tilt guy, and have a right tilt Unisaw. There are some good arguments for both.

BUT....one reallllly good reason for buying a left tilt saw is if you may upgrade to a sliding table. When you install the table the best way is to remove the left wing, and shorten the fence rail on that side. This makes it almost impossible to use the fence to the left of the blade, meaning you cannot bevel safely anymore. Don't ask how I know this.

So.....with head hanging, I must admit that if I were buying a new saw, it would be left tilt.

Rick Potter

I read your post but it doesn't make sense why in the world would I want to move the fence to the left side of the blade on a left tilt saw? The blade would then tilt into the fence.

To put a slider on a left tilt cabinet saw it would have to be one with the motor tilting on the right side of the saw, quite a few left tilt saws have the motor on the left. Its either that or you would probably need to use a DeWalt slider which I believe I have seen mounted on a left tilt saw.

Go back & read your post maybe you meant something different. Anyway I'm not sure just what you meant.

[Michael Lutz]

Bart,

I think Rick is trying to say is that he has a right tilt saw which should have the fence moved to the left side of the blade to safely perform a bevel. With a sliding table you can't move the fence to the left side of the blade.

I have a Jessem sliding table on my left tilt saw. The motor is also on the left side of the saw.

Mike

[Jim Becker]

With a slider, you want right tilt since the "good side" is generally on top of the slider. Without a slider, bevels are "safer" with a left-tilt.

The cabinet saw I owed prior to buying my Euro slider was a left tilt and I loved that format for the way I used the saw. Now, with the slider, there are only a few times when I've "missed" having the left tilt and they were only when I needed to do a narrow rip with a bevel using the fence...and I don't use the fence very often at all.

BTW, putting an aftermarket slider on a left tilt saw is often very difficult due to the interference with the motor cover...only a few of them will actually work on that format machine.

[Rich Schneider]

To put a slider on a left tilt cabinet saw it would have to be one with the motor tilting on the right side of the saw, quite a few left tilt saws have the motor on the left. Its either that or you would probably need to use a DeWalt slider which I believe I have seen mounted on a left tilt saw.
.

I have a left tilt saw, with the motor on the left an an Exactor sliding table on the left side...there are a few sliding table systems that don't use a support strut from the left side of the cabinet to the slider...

[Rick Potter]

Bart,

I have had two Excalibur sliders and currently have a Jessem slider. Any of them would work with the motor hanging out the left. My point was that the fence could stay on the right hand side of the blade when ripping narrow bevels, where on my right tilt saw the fence has to be on the left, where the fence rail has been cut.

Jim,

I was talking about ripping narrow boards on a bevel, not panels..I can see where the right tilt would be better for large panels to be beveled, but most of the bevel work I do is ripping 6" or narrower. I have a panel saw I use for the larger stuff.

Sorry for any confusion. Apparently I didn't explain it too well.

Rick Potter

[Karl Brogger]

Right tilt is the only way to go...... for a dedicated dado saw. But that's my opinion. I've use both and right tilts get me twitchy when cutting smaller parts with it tilted.

[Bart Leetch]

Thats ok Rick

I have a 1940 right tilt Unisaw with a Shopfox Biesmeyer style fence. I set the fence a little over 24" to the left for bevel cuts or rips. This still leaves me about 40" to the right which is enough to do just about anything needed like cutting a lower cabinet end.

[Nissim Avrahami]

I would like to disagree with the "Left tilt" concept (otherwise it's boring)...I'm only an amateur but I did not have any problems with right tilt blade.

Most of the table saws here are with right tilt...

Below, are pics, a few different bevel cuts...I exceptionally removed the blade guard for clarity (I'm not joking)...

The use of "Low rip fence" helps to cut very narrow bevels without the blade touching the fence but...I can always use a "narrow strips sled"...

niki

[Rick Potter]

Nissem,

Those are some well thought out jigs. May I ask what the dust collection is for on the last one. I cannot quite figure it out.

Rick Potter

[Dave MacArthur]

I always find myself thinking how incredibly innovative and creative Nissim is when I read his posts. Then I usually feel bad about buying some tool or other that I obviously didn't need, had I been as clever... then I think that at least I know a guy to call if I'm ever in some MacGyver situation where ingenuity and inventiveness would win the day, and don't feel as bad about my purchases heh.

Nice work as always! Thanks for the pics.

[Nissim Avrahami]

Thank you Rick and Dave

Rick
The "Dust collection" is not for...dust collection, it's a vacuum line to hold very thin (and not so thin) strips.

It has a long slot along the sled with small "tubes" (the red lines) that lead to a chamber with the DC connection.

I block with masking tape the "inactive part" (in case of shorter than the sled workpiece) to increase the vacuum pressure. Normally, I use a home vac on "Minimum" power.

Regards
niki

[Chris Parks]

Nikki, have you tried it without blocking the holes? The reason I ask is that vacuum cleaners don't like zero air flow, the motors tend to get very hot and they die from overheating. Otherwise I agree, a very useful idea. What are the keyhole slots for on the end?

[Phil Thien]

Nikki, great tip about using the short fence when ripping bevels w/ a right-tilt fence, you may want to post that at BT3Central, as the BT3K saws are right-tilt, and I've never seen your solution addressed. The BT3K saws have t-slots on the fence and it would be easy to add a short piece of laminated whatever to simulate your short (adjustable) fence.

Thanks for the tip!

[Nissim Avrahami]

Chris
Thank you mate...
You are correct...well, the system is not exactly "vapor tight" there are enough leaks to keep some small flow but, to be on the safe side it's better, as you suggested, to leave some small (3/8"~1/2") uncovered portion.
In any case, the "no flow" time is very short - the time that it takes to cut a 3'~4' strip - and then, you have to remove the "Vacuumed" strip and put the new one.

The keyholes are just an elongated holes for a "pusher"...as I said, I'm using this jig for cutting strips. At the end, I installed "pusher" and to be able to adjust it to the strip thickness, I routed elongated holes for the holding screws. Please have a look at the last pic of the bevel cuts and you'll see the "pusher" in different position.

Phil
Thank you...I'm going to post it for the BT3 mates...hope that SARGE will input his knowledge...

Regards
niki