tablesaws

[THOMAS CLEVELAND]

I am going to get my first "real" table saw, not the bench top type but floor model, now here is the question, left or right tilt, what are the pro's and con's of each??

Cheers, Thomas Cleveland

[Mike]

I just recently switched from a right tilt contractor-style saw to a left tilt cabinet saw. The big advantage of the left tilt is that you can leave the rip fence on the right side of the blade, and the blade tilts away from it. This arrangement prevents you from trapping your cutoff between the blade and fence - a sure recipie for kickback.

With a right tilt saw, you have to move the rip fence to the right of the blade - and then you're working from an unfamiliar position. I always felt uncomfortable making cuts like this.

Any thoughts on what brand/model saws you are considering?

[Mike]

Oops, my last post should have stated that you have to move the rip fence to the LEFT side of the blade.

DOH!!

[RonB]

You might get a lot of opinions on this. Mine is: look at overall quality, price and best package of features. Don't get hung up on tilt.

I have a Griz 1023S which is right tilt. We traveled to SW Missouri a few years ago to help the son trim out his new home. His saw was left tilt and my first thought was "Oops - gonna have to get used to this!". I can honestly say it took all of 30 minutes to forget about the difference. Same amount of time when I got back to my machine after three weeks at his house.

RonB

[Chris Friesen]

Do a google search. This has been discussed before. As has already been said, it's not that big a deal, and usability counts more than tilt direction.

Look at things like where the dust collector outlet is, whether the motor bay door will be accessible, whether it has a riving knife or splitter, quality of fence, etc.

Chris

[SonomaProducts.com]

Congrats.

You'll find left tilt is sold at least 5:1 maybe more over right tilt.

The > I am going to get my first "real" table saw, not the bench top type but

[Lew Hodgett]

IMHO, you are not concentrating on the right thing, namely THE FENCE.

Start with a good fence, jack it up and drive any piece of junk that wants to call itself a table saw and you probably won't be unhappy.

Reverse the situation, good saw, crappy fence, and you will go to your grave an unhappy woodworker.

I had a Unifence, I was not unhappy.

Lew

[C & S]

....The only good reason for a right tilt I have heard is for a left hander but even then it is just a small advantage when it comes to changing blades and adjusting bevel IIRC...

I've had both and I agree the right left thing is not that big of a deal.

I now have a right-tilting cabinet saw.

I am right handed and I can manipulate that nut just fine with my left hand. But, when I do get the blade attached I will not have to adjust the cursor on my fence to account for a different size kerf. Not so with LT.

Also, the dust port and bevel crank are reversed. That's why I went with RT. It put the dust collection on the optimal side of the saw for my shop configuration..

-Steve

[keithw86]

Oh, the dust port is in the rear-center of an RT, rather than the center-rear, like my LT Unisaw? ;-)

[StephenM]

I realize that some saws have rear dust ports. The Jet's send the dust left or right depending on tilt. I'm failry sure everybody (with the notabile exception of the brand new Unisaws) swap their bevel crank based in L/R tilt .

-Steve

[keithw86]

Mine is "brand new", but it isn't the new design (rather, X5) and has the rear port. The rear port makes a whole lot more sense.

[Leon]

Mine is "brand new", but it isn't the new design (rather, X5) and has the rear port. The rear port makes a whole lot more sense.

3

Not more sense in all cases, I use a 15 roller fold down rear extension table that has about 3" floor clearance when folded down. Rear discharge would prevent the extension table to fold down completely.