# Tablesaw placement



## TheBirdMan (Oct 26, 2011)

I have scrubbed this site for some time looking for information on table placement in the shop. I know a lot depends on what you plan to be doing with your saw. Mostly I am looking for information on *how much room does one need on each side of the saw* for cutting sheet goods (plywood, OSB, particle board, ...).

I plan on buying or making an outfeed table to help handle sheet goods and am looking at something like the Delta 30-302. Of course in addition I will have some portable roller stands on each end as needed.

Here is what I have: Delta Unisaw with a 72" Biesemeyer fence. Fence is always used on right side of blade.
*Biggest Concern*: Where to position table saw for ripping sheets of plywood. Normally I rip plywood down the middle length-wise (now thave two pieces 8' x 23-7/8") than cutting each of these into varing lengths keeping them all the pieces at the width of 23-7/8".


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## Woodenitbenice (Oct 21, 2011)

Maybe I am being a bit thick headed here but it seems like an issue that depends entirely on the size an layout of your shop. Theoretically, considering the table saw setup you have, you don't need any room whatsoever on either side of your table saw to rip sheet goods down the middle lengthwise. Two feet on either side of the blade should still keep you pretty much within the table top. Of course that probably isn't practical for ideal material handling.


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## mondak (Oct 30, 2011)

I work out of a 24×32 shop, and my unisaw, with support a table on the left, an outfeed table and my router built into the right side of my saw table…..and this is located in the center of my space. This works great for me. I can rip or cross cut a sheet of plywood by myself with no fear of it falling. I can also rip a 12' board.
Now…........I may be getting a new shop and I am seriously thinking about moving the right hand side of the saw up against the wall and removing the router portion. I seen this in a freinds shop and it makes sense to me because open space on the right side is useless. It makes it easier to run dust collection and opens up floor space.
Of course, I would then build a stand alone router table.


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## JJohnston (May 22, 2009)

Well, you said it - it depends entirely on what you plan to cut. Here's what I did - it might give you a direction to think in. I wanted to be able to rip a full sheet of plywood lengthwise to any width, and my saw has a 30" rip capacity, so when I drew my machine layout, I drew a rectangular clear zone around the saw 17' long centered lengthwise on the blade - this is the full trip through from infeed side to outfeed with a couple of inches of clearance. The width of the rectangle is 4' to the left of the blade and 30" to the right, for 78". I was then able to locate the saw with the necessary clearance all around.

17' sounds like a lot, but my shop is in a 3 car garage, and the infeed half is where my truck is normally parked.


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## TheBirdMan (Oct 26, 2011)

Bill, so what would kind of space do you like to have on each side of the saw for material handling?


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## TheBirdMan (Oct 26, 2011)

mondak:

What side of your saw is your fence located on? Left or right? I prefer mine being on the right side of the blade.


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## Tennwood (Sep 9, 2009)

Pat

If your are tight on space or have a narrow shop, check out this workshop http://lumberjocks.com/pjaromin/workshop. He has his pretty strategically located against one wall. His shop was also in one of the wood working magazines, can't remember which one. Look at other jocks workshops - that was a great inspiration and assist in setting up my ever evolving shop. Also, if you do a lot of sheet goods, you may want to consider and plywood lifter like the Ezee-Feed Infeed Table. There are others and shop made ones out there too. That will also help dictate the location.


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## Sawkerf (Dec 31, 2009)

I doubt if there is a single correct answer - so much depends on the space you have available and what you do most often.

I have a garage shop that is used exclusively for my shop (we haven't had a car in the garage since '86). I have my saw about 18" inside the door slightly to the right of the center with my workbench/outfeed table deeper inside the garage. Since I have to break down lots of sheet goods, I can back the pickup into the driveway, set up a couple of roller stands, and slide plywood sheets from the truck to the saw. Works like a charm.

I keep my planer about 3' to the left of the saw and can pull lumber off of the truck and into the planer. I'm in the process of building some maple cabinets for a customer, and ran 20, 4/4, S2S, 8' boards on Friday. Off the truck, planed to 3/4" and stacked in under an hour.


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## Woodenitbenice (Oct 21, 2011)

Pat, to be honest I never really thought about it. Maybe that is why my comments were less than useful. I keep my tools on wheels and shift them wherever I need them. Maybe someday I will have the luxury of something similar to a Unisaw and will have to think about this myself. Right now I could not dream of handling a full 4×8 sheet myself. But it did seem like room in front of and behind the Unisaw would be more important than along the sides as long as you had room to get around it when you needed to.


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## richgreer (Dec 25, 2009)

I have a moderately size shop (400 square feet) and I had two objectives for placing my table saw. (1) I do not want to move in on mobile wheels and (2) I want at least 8' of clearance on both the infeed and outfeed sides. I have accomplished both of those objectives.

If possible, I think those are 2 objectives to strive for.


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## mondak (Oct 30, 2011)

Birdman….......I have the 52" beismier (sp) fence, and it is on the right side of the blade. Unless there is confusion, what possible need is there for the open area on the right end of the saw???? None that I can think of when you have limited work space. You still have full use of the saw surface….......and it is out of the way. Of course, you can't place tools on the outfeed end….....but you can't if located any other place.
I hope that made sense.


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