52" rails

[Dan Trostle]

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON Jan-28-01 AT 11:44AM (CDT)[/font][p][font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON Jan-28-01 AT 11:43*AM (CDT)[/font]

I am buying a table saw in the next few months, hopefully one that will last for the rest of my woodworking years. For those of you with the long fence rails, are the leg supports at the end for supporting the rails when you're ripping a full sheet of plywood, or do the long rails sag if they're not supported? I have the beginnings of a garage shop now, so I'm thinking of waiting to buy the longer rails until I get a bigger place. Any thoughts on this?

[Lou_williams]

With most saws and 52 inch rails, if you don't have legs or some support out at the end the saws center of gravity is not stable and it will tip over. The rails and the solid top between them are heavy. Some have built supports from the bottom of a mobile base at an angle, some use simple legs. I built a cabinet that has lots of storage and got rid of the simple sheet metal legs on my saw. Also gives me a place to mount rear extensions. My whole cabinet is on wheels for easy movement.

The rails on any fence you would want to buy won't sag. They are vay to stiff and heavy.

Hope that helps.

[Larry Norton]

I have the 52in Biesmeyer fence and you have to build or buy a table that goes between them with legs at the outboard end.

[Sonny Edmonds]

I have a 52" Biesmyer I put on my Dad's old 10" Craftsman TS. It's GREAT!
I also was given a 10" Delta contractors saw in need of a lot of tlc. Then one day I looked at the opening between the rails of the Bies and WA-LA!
The Delta was 27" wide as well as the Craftsman. So the two are married and the Delta is a 1 1/2 HP disk sander with a nice fence as well as the missing table. I made a big drawer in the space between them for my TS tools and odds and ends.
You can see it at http://home.earthlink.net/~sonnypie/
I still wonder if I'll ever need the 52" capacity, but I have it if I ever do.
Sonny

[Dan Trostle]

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON Jan-30-01 AT 08:49AM (CDT)[/font][p]Thanks for the replies, everyone. Sonny, I read your site notes and I think I'm going to wire a subpanel in my garage, but I'm going to hire someone to do it. Good info, though. The link to your double duty saw table is broken.

[John Jacobson]

Lou,

I just purchased the JET contractor saw with 52" rails and have decided I am going to build a mobile base rather than buy one. (Unfortunately, all my money went into the saw with the upgraded fence). I would live to hear what you built yours out of, and any tips you can give me before I start on mine. It sounds to me like you built exactly what I am planning on building.

thanks

john

[Lou_williams]

I built a big box out of 1 1/8 sub floor plywood I had in the shop. At the left side There is a shelf made out of the same stuff to hold the saw without the factory sheet metal legs. The right edge supports the Fence tubes. Between the saw and the edge I have shelves for tool storage. Then I have wheels with breaks mounted on the 4 corners.

I am planning on some major redesign right now and will be working on it sometime this year. I didn't put a top on the box and I have regretted it a lot. I added a real table with drawers that extend out the back. On the drawers are rollers that help give ime a very long rear extension.

[John Jacobson]

Hmmmm. What about sagging? Did you frame out the box with 2x4's? I was thinking of getting some angle iron or maybe some steel plates about 2" wide or so for reinforcing the bottom. I am starting to think that maybe I'm in overkill mode.

john

[Lou_williams]

For my saw I have a Biesemeyer Fence. The rails for that would not sag if you put a car on the middle of the rail. The basic attachment is two angle irons 2 inch by 3 inch 5/16 thick steel. Attached to the front angle Iron is a square steel tube that is 2 inch by 3 inch 1/8 inch thick. They won't sag or bend or do anything like that. What they do is add a ton of mass to the right side of the saw.

[Lou_williams]

If you are talking about saging on the bottom of the box. I found that 1 1/8 ply to be very stable. The major weight of the saw is over the left end and that is right over two of the wheels. Had the thing for about 15 years and can't see a sag in the bottom.