I am in the market for a new contractors table saw. Just wanted some pros & cons for right tilt or left tilt. Looking at a Grizzly G0444Z or Delta
36-680. The old Craftsman I have is a left tilt so that's what I'm used to.Do I have a spreadsheet for you. I've just spent the better part of a week research all the different saws on the market and I'm not sure if that made it easier or harder to make the decision. A duanting process to say the least.
I just had a run in with my right tilt saw this weekend and now I realize why everyone wants the left variety. I was trying to put a 45 on a 6" by 8' strip of wood for a project I'm working on. Didn't have it supported enough on the outfeed side and it tipped up and got caught on the blade. Luckily it was real long or I would have been eating it.
That being said, I didn't even check until the after I decided on the
36-682XL which way it leaned. I don't make enough 45's to care.Good Luck with your search.
Chuck
I've found that for most uses the tilt direction doesn't matter as the fence can be moved to either side of the blade... I suppose if I tied to make an bevel cut on stock too wide for the left side of the table it would be an issue but that hasn't happened to me yet.
John
This subject has been beat to death over the past few years. Do a Google search and you'll more than enough opinions to last a while.
Yeeeee Haaaa..
It's been a long time since I have rubber stamped this reply.
In all seriousness, after having heard all the reasons, here are a few less important but may help sway you.
;~) The single most asked question in this group that I paste this rubber stamp answer to.
Both saws will make all the same cuts. Some easier on the left tilt, some easier on the right tilt. Strictly personal preference. But if you need to be steered one way or the other,
Advantages:
Are you right handed?
Get the left tilt.
If considering a cabinet saw, with wide 50" rip capacity.
The Left tilt will most often afford you the most storage room under the right table extension. The RIGHT tilt has an access door in that location that will demand room to open. The left tilt allows you to have access to the motor and or the insides of the cabinet from the more open left side of the saw with out having to crawl under the right extension table. Very nice if you ever happen to drop the arbor nut inside the cabinet. If you are considering getting a replacement saw and considering going to the opposite tilt this time consider that the miter slots may not be the same distance from the blade when comparing a left to right tilt saw. This may or may not be of concern but something to consider.
I keep seeing this reply in allot of WW forums. My RIGHT tilt GO444Z has the bevel wheel on the right side.
Pyro22
If you're used to left tilt, stick with it.
Thanks Leon for the info....Some of us have not been here since the beginning of time & appreciate real info instead of the "Do a Google Search" answers.
JJS
Le> Yeeeee Haaaa..
================= Have not read any of the replies yet...BUT in General
Flip a coin...or take whichever one the dealer has in stock...
Honest I own both ...and use both...
The only times that I will intentionally walk past one saw to use the other is in the case of ripping a 45 degree bevel..In which case I will use my left tilt... If I have a few Dados to cut I will always use my right tilt...
If you are used to a left tilt ....buy another left tilt...
Bob Griffiths
===========My 15 year old Right Tilt Jet Cabinet saw JCS # ??? also has the bevel wheel located on the right side of the saw..
Bob Griffiths
There will always be exceptions to the rule.
As does my right-tilt Delta 36-630
Like some said, do a google on it (did you know that google.com has a NG section?).
Well, I would say (MAYBE safely speak for "everyone"??) that it does matter. The thing about having to move the fence isn't that easy as talking. Yes, the safety issue would support left tilt. , there's TS that has BOTH tilts ;)
Chuck
Hmmm, let's see. To move the fence to the left of the blade: Lower the blade all the way, slide the fence to the left of the throat plate, raise the blade, tilt the blade to the desired angle... Takes about as much time to do as it took to type this. Course you'd have to be able to work through a multi-step process to pull this off. ;-)
John
John Grossbohlin wrote: : Hmmm, let's see. To move the fence to the left of the blade: Lower the blade : all the way, slide the fence to the left of the throat plate, raise the : blade, tilt the blade to the desired angle... Takes about as much time to do : as it took to type this. Course you'd have to be able to work through a : multi-step process to pull this off. ;-)
That's the hard way. Easy way: pick the fence up, move to the left, put it down. Takes 1.245 seconds. If you have a Biesemeyer-syle fence, of course.
-- Andy Barss
================ With my Right Tilt Saw...and my Biesmeyer Fence..
I just lift the fence up move it to the other side of the blade and put it back down on the table... (about 1/3 or the time it took to type the above...)
No need to get the blade involved at all...
I admit that I do not do this very often ..but I did need to buy a right to left stick on measuring tape to attach to the fence rail to the left of the blade... Big Fricken deal...
Bob Griffiths
That's exactly how I handle the situation on me Delta contractors saw with Bies Fence. Even put down the left measuring tape.
It gets very little use, BTW.
For poster CNT's sake, and knowing that not all fences are easily lifted off, I went with the lowering the blade approach in my original response--my Jet cabinet saw's Xacta (Commercial) fence lifts right off. Like others though I've seldom found the need to do so! ;-)
John
My Biesemeyer (on a PM66) will only give me about a 2" wide cut on the left side of the blade and 50" on the right. It seems like that is a significant advantage to being able to use the fence on the right side of the blade. Do you weld an extension on the Biesemeyer tube to allow it to clamp on farther left? In any event the available width of cut will be significantly less on the narrow side of the saw table, not more than about 8" even if the Bies tube went all the way to the end of the saw table.
Roger
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