raising a tile saw table or lowering the arm?

[Steve]

I've got an MK Tile Saw with an over table arm - kind of like a radial arm saw, but fixed height and position. It came with a 7" blade. I want to put a 6" lapidary blade on it. I use it to slice art glass billets sometimes. The 6" lapidary blade is thinner and cleaner. BUT, the arm and table are fixed for 7". I can build an "overtable"

- but in doing so I'll lose the use of the fence, which while not exactly a precision instrument, is good enough and easier to use than manually clamping a straight edge at both ends. Alternatively, I could lower the arm (reposition the point at which the arm is screwed to the table body), but that looks problematic as well. BTW, the saw is a wet saw - so any mods need to keep that in mind.

Anyone run into this before and have any bright ideas or comments?

Thanks

[Bill Wallace]

Just an idea but build a one inch thick table with a fence on it that sits against the existing fence. You will lose the width of cut by the fence thckness but you could use a 1/2" fence an minimize it

Side view would look like this. _ | |_____________ |_______________|

[bwbwell]

ON the MK it is hard to lower the blade. Instead you could either add the

1" to the top of the sled or raise the rails that the sled slides on. Riight now the brass side rails are bolted to your base. Have a welding shop make some risers and bolt the riser to the old hole and then bolt the rails to the new hole that is 1" higher.. I think that would be the best solution to allow you to keep using the metal sled. Only problem I could see would be the drain tray would be further from the cut so more water would be splashed out the back.

You also might want to consider switching to a plunge cut rail saw. They are more accurate, can cut 28 to 30"+ on the diagonal and you can put a contour profile on marble or a bevel without the awkward tilting of the tile. Just don't get the MK rail saw - it's only $800 but it is way too heavy. Try a Rubi. I love mine. Great saws but they start at 1200. Braxton Braggs also has a rail saw that starts at only $750.