[d@armfg]

Has anyone tried to build a CNC table saw for short run production jobs? I haven't had time to put pen to paper but I have a few ideas on how to get it accomplished. Looking to build a machine for ripping and dado joints.

Thanks

[ger21]

Bolt a power feed to your table saw.
If you want a CNC saw, then you'd want to build a beam saw, where the blade and motor are on a carriage and move under the table. A "U" shaped beam on top holds the sheets still while the blade travels inside the beam.

[wizard]

If you want to rip get a saw designed for that. That is assuming that you have the volume to justify a rip saw. I just have a hard time seeing any value added to a ripping operation via CNC.

Has anyone tried to build a CNC table saw for short run production jobs? I haven't had time to put pen to paper but I have a few ideas on how to get it accomplished. Looking to build a machine for ripping and dado joints.

Thanks

The funny thing here is that I have spun a few CNC table saw ideas around in my head, mostly to do things like box joints. Automation would certainly help with something like a box joint, other joints and maybe even dovetails. Mostly my ideas have revolved around a sliding table type saw with an additional axis to slew the product at a right angle to the sliding table. An industrial sliding table saw would be fairly easy to convert in my estimation.

Building something like this would require a bit of safety engineering to even consider starting the project. With todays low cost CNC hardware I do believe that there would be a good payoff for somebody working full time in the industry. The bad part here is that the saw would end up being dedicated to certain uses as setup and change over would be time consuming.

[LeeWay]

A full size router takes the place of a table saw really.
One mill shop I worked in had a nice gang rip saw. Set the blades to any width of strips you wanted and simply feed the raw lumber in it. It would do straight rips at various widths if wanted.
We mainly used it with only one blade though to true up a raw edge to have something to ride a table saw rip fence correctly.

As for chop saws, I don't think they get any quicker than the air actuated type where the guard comes down and holds the stock while the blade busts up from underneath. It happens in a fraction of a second.

I have a hard time thinking that anything cnc would produce any faster output than those two machine.

[nlancaster]

only disadvantage of cnc router vs saw. kerf is much bigger on cnc router. 2-4x the typical saw kerf. but the speed at wich you can mak eparts is so high on a cnc router to make up for marginally higher waste you get form it.

[LeeWay]

Right. The waste is one down side, but not having to do the actual manual labor is a plus. Machine loading and unloading is the only real work needed on a full size router.
This is assuming he is using sheet goods.

If he is using raw lumber, then waste is a bigger factor as well as the time it would take to load and locate smaller parts.

I have worked at a few cabinet shops and I gotta say that a guy that knows what he is doing on a table saw can really blast through some material.
I remember cutting up a truck load of melamine for use as video display units in a rental store. I was finished quite a bit sooner than the Boss expected.

We also did dado cuts using a radial arm saw. It had a nice fence with multiple stops and made quick work of dado's.

[jcoats]

I could see mounting a circular saw to a 'larger bed' CNC machine. Rip 2x stock for thinner needs, or even cutting dado's and crosscuts if there was a LOT to do.

I have a project where it would be convenient to have lots of things cut with angles (like for geodesic dome parts).

[nlancaster]

I can see a few areas where a CNC saw attachement might be useful to a CNC router. But to make really good use of it you would need a 5-axis machine like this.

[wizard]

I can see a few areas where a CNC saw attachement might be useful to a CNC router. But to make really good use of it you would need a 5-axis machine like this.

I seem to remember one of the spindle manufactures, possibly one from Germany, offering a heads to support saw blades on their spindles. I can't imagine this being safe unless the head is geared down or fixed to a spindle with limited RPMs. The thought of a common saw blade trying to spin at 20'000 RPM is unnerving. In this case I believe the head did a right angle (it has been some time).

In any even back to the table saw. I could see some advantage to having a fence CNC controlled on a conventional table saw to make rapid changes in width. Then again a linear digital scale would probably be just as quick if it where zeroed out correctly.

In the end I still come back to the idea that the only place CNC might be useful is on a table saw set up to do specific joints in semi mass production. Here I'm thinking finger joints. Other joints are possible of course, but the repetitive nature of finger joint cutting would seem to be ideal for CNC. I would imagine though that for true mass production you could find a purpose built machine. On top of all of that you can't dismiss the safety issues inherent in table saws themselves that are enhanced by adding automation to them. As such I can't really recommend amateur CNC builders tackling a CNC'ed table saw. I see such a machine as significantly more dangerous than a CNC router!