Replies

1. 
   Elcoholic | Dec 28, 2005 10:39pm | #1

   I checked them out at Woodcraft or Rockler recently as I'm contemplating a new kitchen this comming year.  The stroke is less than 48" so it won't be able to crosscut a sheet of ply.  Seems pointless to me.  So with that I lost all interest in it and will stick with my TS fence and sleds.

   John O'Connell - JKO Handcrafted Woodworking

   The more things change ...

   We trained hard, but it seemed that every time we were beginning to form up into teams, we would be reorganized.  I was to learn later in life that we tend to meet any new situation by reorganizing; and a wonderful method it can be for creating the illusion of progress while producing confusion, inefficiency, and demoralization.

   Petronious Arbiter, 210 BC

1. 
   Dunwright | Jan 01, 2006 12:56am | #13

   Several years ago, Woodsmith had plans for a pair of "A" frames that accepted a full sheet, vertically.
   When I had a commission that required 8 sts. of Melamine, I made that set-up.
   It works with a Skillsaw and handles "panel whacking" across the 49 way handily.
   I can look-up the article/Issue # for those interested.Arlington, Texas (The dash in Dallas-Fort Worth)
   Practice...'till you can do it right the first time.

2. 
   QCInspector | Dec 29, 2005 08:52am | #2

   This is a link to an in depth review from a woodworker in Western Canada to a British Forum. Should answer your questions until more info shows up here.

   http://www.ukworkshop.co.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?t=7584

1. 
   joepez | Dec 30, 2005 01:36am | #3

   Thanks for the link.

   Read it through and I'm leaning against it now because I would have to cut the rails shorter on my pm 66, Amoung some other things too!

    

   Thanks again.

   Happy New Year!!

1. 
   QCInspector | Dec 30, 2005 04:27am | #4

   Instead of cutting, if you shift or reposition the rails to the right, you will gain more blade to fence capacity on that side. Plus if you reposition the left table extension to the right side to account for the shifted fence rails there is no need to make a new table insert. (Assuming that your saw has 50" rails.) The only down side to shifting the rails that I can see is that you will need a new scale / tape, and the loss of cutting ability to the left of the blade. That is something that I very rarely use, and if I did, then I'd just clamp a temporary fence to the sliding table. Drilling and possibly tapping some threads is not very hard to do to accommodate the change, but you're the best judge of your needs and abilities. I don't have one and it isn't at the very top of my shopping list. I do see its potential. I took a very fast look at one locally just before Christmas and was impressed with the quality and and execution. My biggest hesitation would be the 3' capacity. I know that to make the stroke longer they would have had to have additional supporting structure for the slider, and that would make retrofitting too complicated, expensive, and limit the use in smaller workshops.

1. 
   joepez | Dec 30, 2005 06:53pm | #5

   I thought about shifting the rails, but my shop is 12 wide x 33 lenghth.  It would make getting around the saw difficult when moving things.  I was willing to live with the 36" crosscut cap, but then to cut or shift the rails on top of the price of the system too, I have decided to continue to wait for the the right product to come along. I have seen the laguna add on slider which has a long stroke but $1400.00 and support legs, which to me are the killer, I like to be able to move saw often!

   (or talk my wife into letting me sell the pm 66 and get a combo with a european slider and riving knife)

   Happy New Year to All !

    

1. 
   QCInspector | Dec 30, 2005 10:08pm | #7

   I understand your shop size dilemma, as I have a similar size shop in my basement. I have my saw on a mobile base and have to rotate it to switch back and forth when ripping and crosscutting long boards or panels.:-)

2. 
   joepez | Dec 31, 2005 02:36am | #9

   Thanks to all that replied for the help. I am gonna wait till the right product comes along (or more shop space for a panel saw.) which ever comes first?

   I certainly don't want to spend $550.00 for a tool, modify my saw, and then it does almost what I want, but not quite. Thats my new year resolution.

   Not buying any tools till I am in the middle of a project and-  (A) cant do it with out, or (B) would make the project much easier and enjoyable.

   Yep, thats my resoulution!!

    

3. 
   jazzdogg | Jan 02, 2006 01:05am | #15

   "I certainly don't want to spend $550.00 for a tool"

   They're on sale right now for $450.00 at the Rockler here in San Diego.-Jazzdogg-

   "Don't ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and go do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive." Gil Bailie

4. 
   joepez | Jan 03, 2006 07:25pm | #17

   I had a coupon for 25% off at Woodcraft, which would have brought it down to $412.00 e-mailed to me just after I decided not to buy it.  I still passed.  Thanks for the tip though.

   New Year, Bigger pile, smaller shovel.

3. 
   MBerger | Dec 30, 2005 08:06pm | #6

   Hey Joe,

   One of our editors took a look at the JessEm sliding table at the AWFS tradeshow in Las Vegas over the summer. We shot a quick video of a prototype of the device. The video is available as a free highlight on our Web site.

   Here's a link: "Better Crosscuts on the Tablesaw"

   (note: viewing other content on http://www.FineWoodworkingNetwork.com requires a subscription.)

   Matt Berger
   Managing Editor
   FineWoodworkingNetwork.com

4. 
   WillGeorge | Dec 30, 2005 11:53pm | #8

   I saw it at my local Woodcraft.. That thing got more ball bearings in it than a tank turret! 'Looked' well made..

   stroke is less than 48".. Just me but getting the sheet started is the key to a nice cut.. Once the blade and splitter has a big sheet it just seems to go in a straight line,,,

   I do not have it anymore because of the room required but I once made a 'slider' out of 1.250 inch Electrical conduit, some bolts, and more than a few Ball Bearings...

   It worked like a charm.. Nothing fancy but the key to making it was locating 'eccentric' shoulder screws to 'set' the bearing clearances..

   I found that the electrical conduit is very true for a cheep pipe and the eccentrics were not really necessary!

1. 
   Manny | Jan 03, 2006 03:19am | #16

   Hi Will,

   WOuld you post a picture (several would be nice) of that set up? Thanks

   Manny

5. 
   Scrit | Dec 31, 2005 03:39am | #10

   Joe

   It looks a bit wimpy to handle an 8 x 4ft 3/4in plywood. With larger sheets there is a temdency for the sheet to bow under its own overhanging weight and even slide off the carraige if not adequately supported, so an undersized slider will possibly be a dangerous accessory to use on full sheets. I use a 3.2metre (10ft) industrial sliding table panel saw at work (Altendorf F45) which has adequate support for 3/4in thick stock but still needs the operator to hand support the outer corner of some of the thinner stock 8 x 4ft sheets I cut (I do use a pneumatic cramp at times instead)  - and the carraige on that saw is MUCH bigger than even the new PM66. Probably better to do the initial break-down on an expendible lattice table top using a hand circular saw before using one of these aftermarket crosscut fences. Another point is balance - I used to have a Wadkin AGSP many years back and that could not balance an 8 x 4 ft sheet on the sliding carraige without wanting to fall over. I therefore had to bolt it to the floor to stop that. That machine was also bigger and heavier than a PM66.

   Scrit

1. 
   joepez | Dec 31, 2005 06:22pm | #11

   Thanks for the post. Yea, I was looking at a slider more to true up edge on ply panels.

   You did mention a couple of industrial saws, whats your experience with using a panel saw to do the break down, and are they accurite enough? Would I be better off looking for a good used panel saw? That would solve breakdown and trueing up in one shot? Im only 35, but I already hate getting 4x8 sheets of material down in the basement and then breaking down!

    

1. 
   Scrit | Dec 31, 2005 07:04pm | #12

   Hi Joe

   I'm on my second Altendorf, this is a 3.2metre (10ft) the last was a 2.5metre (8ft), but I've worked for other people on their panel saws and used wall saws like the Holz-Her and Harwi. First thing is that there are panel saws and there are..... you know what I mean - you get what you pay for, but the Alts I've had (both second-had) both cut consistently to plus or minus under a millimeter edge to edge on an 8ft rip cut and are easy to adjust dead square. To get narrow strips I do have an attachment called a PALIN which is effectively a second fence deployed at the other end of the slider and the standard mitre fence unit is 3 feet long with a throw-over stop and graduated in 1/2 degrees. A good panel saw takes two men to operate efficiently - a saw man and a helper to unload and stack - you can do it alone, it's just not as efficient. I load ours straight off the fork truck as I'm now in my 50s and I find that MDF starts to get a bit heavy after the first 15 or so of the day! The biggest downside is the amount of space they take-up - even if you are just using 8 x 4ft sheets ypou'll need a space at least 12ft wide x 17 to 18feet long to accommodate the machine and with a 1 tonne weight it won't exactly moive round on castors. As to wall saws, I think the only downside to a good wall saw, like the Holz-Her is that they generally don't seem as quite as accurate (they're still pretty good) and you can't do mitre cuts, bevelled edges, etc on them that almost any panel saw can do. The upside is that they are a true one-man operated machine. If I didn't need the angle cuts I'd plump for a wall saw over a panel.

   Scrit

6. 
   corners | Jan 01, 2006 11:08pm | #14

   I like the look of this sliding table. I have no interest or need to cut full sheets - I cut them into suitable pieces with my skillsaw before going to the table saw - but It would be great to have a sliding table to accuratedly size and square the pieces - 36" capacity would be fine by me. As for modifying my existing 52" fence and rails if I had a sucessful sliding table I would consider cutting the rail off giving me about 30 inches on the right - maybe less - the fence would be used mostly for ripping with the rest cut on the sliding table.