rip saw ideas?

[loriny]

I'm trying to come up with an idea for a homebuilt straight line ripsaw to complement my moulders. Most of my material I can buy straight lined but not all. I have been using 16 feet of saw guide rail with a setup on my tablesaw. What I am trying to build would be either like a 16 ft travel radial arm saw(prefered) or a sliding table past a saw blade with 16 ft travel.
Lorin

[harryball]

I've seen something that sounds similar to what you are looking for but I don't know exactly how to describe it. The guy had built a long table and hung a rail over it with the head of a radial arm saw attached.

I'll send you a PM with my phone number if you want a better description.

It was pretty cool though but had a very specific purpose ripping 20' boards with a bow on one side and flat on the other.

/RB

[Gary Campbell]

Lorin...
Why reinvent the wheel? There are straight line rip saws, beam saws and sliding table saws for sale cheap all over the place. As long as you can find one to meet your length criteria, any one of the 3 would work.

[loriny]

you're probably right Gary. I'm just now over doubling my shop size and also just bought another moulder. I'm hoping to pinch a few pennies but I might just look around.
Lorin

[taylor]

a simple idea that won't break the bank. use two pieces of angle iron 1 by 4 or something that will not sag in the middle over the 16 ft span. make a plate to mount on the skill saw. use the angle iron as tracks or rails for the skill saw . seems like a cheap way of making a long radial arm saw. "making the tools is just as much fun as using them"
good luck in your project
mark

[beacon14]

Are there sliding table saws with 16' of travel? That does not sound cheap, even used.

[loriny]

I think I overlooked the obvious. I had been envisioning a table saw if I feed the board rather than sliding the saw. Does this sound right. Build a 32 ft straight fence into a bench with my radial arm saw in the center. Then slide the saw in or out with a laser on it to my cut. Push past the blade and into the power feed. Would feed with crown out and cut outside edge.
This way I don't actually lose the area as it would be a work bench with a cutoff saw built in.
The project is a ways off yet as I have no space right now so any other thoughts would be welcome.
Lorin

[myxpykalix]

It seems like it would be way less complicated to build something that the saw can move on instead of having the table move.
If you have a 16 foot piece of material you need to cut you only need a 16 ft table. The material stays stationary and supported while the saw would be far less weight to move.

Also think about this...if you have a 32 foot long bench how long before it is crowded with tools and **** that gets thrown up there. I don't think i have any free horizontal work surface that doesn't have tools laid up there. One of these days i'll get organized

good luck though