Thread: Tablesaw fence - Left or right

If you are right handed then it shouldn't feel weird at all. You push with the right hand and hold the timber against the fence with the left, standing on the left side of the blade so you don't get hit if there's any kick back. It's the opposite to the Triton way and you'll get used to it.
You can put the fence on the other side but it isn't the best way. My TS has lots more room for the fence to slide out on the right allowing for much wider boards, than it does on the left.

AS Gumby said, Leave the fence on the right. I know that it is opposit eto the Triton, But you have to remember that IF you have the sliding extension table IT is attached on th eleft of the machine.

It does feel different at first , but perserverance pays off. and besides now You have a "REAL" saw the Triton is a thing of the past

I am not sure if there is an "industry standard" as to which side the fence should be on, from memory you could set the triton up to be either left or right sided

Originally Posted by Gumby

I
You can put the fence on the other side but it isn't the best way. My TS has lots more room for the fence to slide out on the right allowing for much wider boards, than it does on the left.

I haven't checked to be sure, but I think the guides for the fence can be fitted to the other side of the saw so that the wide boards can be placed on the left side, I know the switch can be put on the right side as I've done that with my machine as I'm used to having the switch on the right. I'll check on the guides tomorrow and report back. I have been thinking of changing mine to the left as my old saw did wider cuts to the left.

Ross

There are all sorts of arguments about which way the blade should tilt and other weird stuff but.
Mostly real saws the fence is used most times to the right of the blade. sometimes to the left but mostly to the right.
Its all determined by which way the blade tilts.
Triton blades don't tilt so you can do what you please. If I remember correctly there were several ways of assembling a triton.

It will all became fine soon
cheers

Originally Posted by soundman

There are all sorts of arguments about which way the blade should tilt and other weird stuff but.
Mostly real saws the fence is used most times to the right of the blade. sometimes to the left but mostly to the right.
Its all determined by which way the blade tilts.
Triton blades don't tilt so you can do what you please. If I remember correctly there were several ways of assembling a triton.

It will all became fine soon
cheers

If he bought one of your bases, he could just spin it around


(It's been a long night, think I'll retire with a good book.......the Carba-tec cattledog :eek: )

If you try putting the tape on the left side of the blade, it will be upside down.

Fence goes on the right unless you are doing a cut with the blade tilted, in which case you want the offcut to be on the downhill side of the blade, so because the blade tilts to the right, you want the fence on the left of the blade. You'll have to set the fence the old fashioned way (with a steel rule or tape measure) but then you need to do that anyway when the blade is angled because you can't rely on setting it from the tape.

Originally Posted by Gumby

If you are right handed then it shouldn't feel weird at all. You push with the right hand and hold the timber against the fence with the left, standing on the left side of the blade so you don't get hit if there's any kick back. It's the opposite to the Triton way and you'll get used to it.
You can put the fence on the other side but it isn't the best way. My TS has lots more room for the fence to slide out on the right allowing for much wider boards, than it does on the left.

I bought recently (2 months ago) a TSC-10HB. Prior to that I also had a triton and it feels weird. according to Gumby's post, it seems that you are standing on the left side of the blade while pushing with the right hand and holding the piece with the left hand.
Standing on the left side of the blade, is it the way everybody who owns a TSC10HB works?
I mean, with the triton, I used to stand on the same side than the fence, since after reading about the kickback on the internet, I thought kickback was likely to occur on the other side (right in the case of the triton)
Also I stood on the left because the push stick was mounted on the fence and the demo showed that the use was standing on this side.
Now with the TSC10HB, I stand on the right side slightly off the fence but with enough room to use a home made push stick that is mounted on the fence (same sort of principle than the triton)
so could anybody tell me where I should stand?
thanks
Eric

so could anybody tell me where I should stand?

Anywhere but directly behind the blade.

For me, it depends on what I'm cutting. For wide rips, I stand between the blade and the fence, for narrow rips I stand to the left of the blade.

if standing on the left of the blade and the fence is on the right, when you start pushing the piece, everything is ok but when you reach the end of the piece and you still need to push with your push stick, don't you have to lean over the blade to push the piece so that it passes the blade?
if the saw guard is on it is probably ok but if you are ripping wide boards which can not be done in one pass because it is wider than the depth cut, you don't use the guard (although you can you used it for the second pass).
in that case you might lean over a blade that is not protected

If it's a very narrow rip then I would be using a push stick that is a rectangular piece of wood with a notch out of the bottom. I would be pushing this with my right hand, standing to the left of the blade. I would orient myself so that my hand was directly above the push stick and not over the blade. My elbow would be over the blade but up in the air, not near enough to come into contact. I would find it very difficult, and probably dangerous, to use the push stick with my left hand if I was to stand to the right.

For the situation you talk about, double pass ripping, I would stand to the right of the fence and feed with my hands, or maybe with a push shoe - but only on a board that is wider than it is thick. I use the bandsaw for resawing so I never do this anyway.

Thanks everyone,

Perhaps I need to have a few beers before I start so that everything is fuzzy and not as noticably weird! (joke)


I will just keep on trying and get used to it.


cheers

dazzler

Originally Posted by dazzler

Hi All



So ive set mine up this way and it feels weird:confused:. On the triton I always worked with the fence on the left. I am right handed.


cheers

dazzler

Dazzy old mate, now that you have a real saw you'll discover a lot of things that are different between the Triton and the real saw, not only the fence position but definately the accuracy and cut quality.

Stand on the left for standard ripping etc like all clever TSC-10HB do! Stay out of the line of fire for incase you get a kick back which can be very scary and painful

Hi everyone,

As I suspected the tsc-10hb can be set up for left or right handed, so if you find it more comfortable to work left handed or as some have said they are used to working the same side as the triton, the saw can be set up that way.
What is more important is that you feel comfortable using the saw, If you are working in a way that makes you feel arkward there is more chance of an accident.
For the non-believers photo included

If used that way, then the correct position is to stand on the right of the blade, feed with left hand, hold timber against the fence with the right. Why do this if you are right handed ?

Dazzler will be convinced by Monday or Tuesday, depending on the mail.