Twin Tablesaw Setups

Two cabinetmakers describe (with pictures) how they set up left-tilt and right-tilt Delta Unisaws shoulder to shoulder in the shop, for versatile cutting ability in a tight footprint. July 12, 2012

Question

We have a 10" left tilt Delta unisaw at the center of our custom woodshop. It has a full outfeed table and a side table out to 50" to quickly and easily cut 4x8 sheet goods. I also happen to have a 10" right tilt Delta unisaw in my basement home workshop. I’m looking to finish my basement, so the tools have to go somewhere else. We don’t have enough room in the shop for another tablesaw station, but after some further consideration, we do appear to have plenty of room in the same station to add the second saw.

It started as a joke, but I can't see a downside to the idea. We’re thinking of putting it to the right of the first saw so that it sits where the side table now is. They use identical fences so both saws would be attached to the same fence rail. The heights and the table sizes are the same; they are just mirror images of each other.

Does anyone have a setup like this? Would you be willing to share a photo or some thoughts? Space is at a premium for us, so I’m very interested in seeing how the common table space is used, including the space between the saw cabinets beneath the table top.

Forum Responses

(Cabinetmaking Forum)

From contributor U:

I don't have a setup like this but I have seen it once before. They were turned opposite to one another and one guy completed the sheet goods and the other guy completed the hardwood components. It was a neat setup and they didn't get in each other’s way because they were on opposite sides of each other. I hope I'm communicating that well? I thought about adding another to dedicate to dados but couldn't justify the space for it.



Contributor M - they do share a fence rail, but have separate fences each tuned to its own saw. It's a 78" Beis fence rail which leaves enough room to work on both usually without having to remove a fence. Of course there are times when the work is too big and you'll have to remove a fence - for instance crosscutting over 48". Just for scale there's just under 4' from blade to blade. Not as much as I wanted, but it's a tight fit!

