left or right tilting TS

[jab73180]

i am wondering which tilt everyone prefers on their table saw? can i get the pros and cons there are for each?

[Bobby Slack]

I think is best for the saw to tilt away from the fence. So I vote for the blade to tilt towards the left ... although you can move the fence to either side.

[knotscott]

It's always a matter of preference Jason. The tilt direction gets debated a fair amount as to whether one is safer than the other....supposedly left tilt is safer because the blade bevels away from the fence, but the right tilters just move the fence to the other side of the blade to compensate. There's some debate about the safety of that move because it's still a non-standard operation. There's even some debate about whether or not the trapped pieces on a bevel cut are a concern.

Tilt direction and safety debates aside, I've owned both and prefer left tilt primarily because the arbor nut goes on from the right side (with my right hand), and has normal thread orientation....on a right tilt saw the arbor nut goes on from the left (with my left hand), and the thread orientation is reverse. I'm right handed and never did get used to the "righty loosy, lefty tighty" routine!

There is another downside to the left tilt saws...the arbor flange is on the left side, which means that changes to the thickness of the blade(s) will change the zero reference on the tape measure, which is reference off the right side of the blade....not an issue on a right tilt saw that has the flange on the right side. I found the work-arounds to be pretty simple...either use blades of the same thickness, add a shim to compensate between full kerf and thin kerf thicknesses, or just measure by hand. When I was using predominately thin kerf blades, I chose the shim route....the shim was easily removed when I switched to full kerf.

[Vic]

I have right tilt and really wish I had chosen the left tilt. Most of this is because I have an Excalibur sliding table and can't really put the fence on the left of the blade for things like a raise panel cut.

[jab73180]

i noticed that grizzly has almost all left tilters.

[BuilderBill]

For probably 95-99% of the work the average woodworker does there's no practical difference, other than the indexing problem for the tape measure on the fence that knotscott mentioned and that's easy enough to control. And if you're using that tape measure for absolute finished dimensions you've got bigger problems than which way the blade tilts...

On beveled rip cuts(assuming you need the capacity of the fence on the right) then the left-tilt has a distinct advantage in that you're cutting face-up to a finished dimension and any tearout or variation in dimension from stock thickness will be on the inside of the finished piece. But for beveled crosscuts using a miter gauge or sled and positioning the stock on the left the right-tilt has the advantage since you're now cutting face-up(dimension/tearout/variation see above).

We can debate the safety aspects of trapping a wide rip between the blade and the fence on the right-tilt saw until the cows come home but it's like beating a dead horse, it's been done over and over and nobody's happy with the results. If you're ripping a wide piece on a bevel you'd better jig up to keep the work tight against the fence and flat on the table or your finished cut won't be straight worth the proverbial tinker's damn. And if you keep the stock tight to the fence and flat on the table there's no safety issue.....

First shop I worked in had a new Rockwell Unisaw (yeah, I'm an old fart...) so I've spent some time behind a right-tilt. I've also worked behind Powermatics and other left-tilts so I can go either way, it doesn't really make a difference to me. For long wide bevel cuts there are better and safer ways than trying to use a table saw. For all the rest it really doesn't make a difference.

If I were buying a new cabinet saw I'd spend more time worrying about overall quality, dust collection, motor and fence options. Whether the blade flops left or right would probably be my last concern.

Just my $.02 worth,

Bill