STM 1800 hurts so good

[sansbury]

A few weeks back I bought one of these after some annoyances cutting over sawhorses and foam, and boy is it nice. The price is brutal and I spent a lot of time thinking whether I should maybe just buy a real table saw (which I'm trying to avoid for other reasons), but having swallowed that pill I hate to say this thing delivers and I wish I'd bought it sooner.

Breaking down full 3/4" sheets was by far the thing that caused the most cursing and moaning during a project and this table has made that process almost a pleasure. Knowing what I know now, if I couldn't afford this thing, I would DIY a version of it. Being able to easily lift up a sheet and move or spin it around without a second thought feels like luxury and saves a lot of time. Combined with a pair of 30" TSO guides I feel like this is the best solution for breaking down plywood in a smaller shop setup that I've worked with.

 

[Ebuwan]

yep; roll it out in the driveway, sheets come right off the back of the pickup bed right onto the table; track saw for a little while, and boom.

 

[Mike Goetzke]

My shop doubles as a garage so I have my big machines on mobile bases. I use two ceiling cable lifts for material and my MFT style tops. I love my 4'x8' workbench setup that is made up of Speedhorses, Tracktubes, and three MFT tops that I connect together. Takes me about 5 minutes to set up or break down. Love this except once setup I have little to no room to pull out my big machines because the sawhorse system is stationary. I end up clearing the table and breaking it down temporally.

When the STM 1800 came out I was like what $$$. Then like you, about 3 weeks ago I took delivery of one. Haven't built anything on it yet but set it up and it has the mobility I was looking for. I'm not getting any younger so this should eliminate extra lifting and be more efficient. I too use my work table to break down sheet good but also for assembly and other non-woodworking projects.

 

[Stan Tillinghast]

I got the plastic clips for the STM; each one is screwed under a 2x4 foot sheet of pre-finished 3/4 inch maple ply. Makes a great assembly table, desk for designing projects, etc. When done it folds up next to my DashBoard work table, the plywood sheets go against the wall.

 

[Mike Goetzke]

I got the plastic clips for the STM; each one is screwed under a 2x4 foot sheet of pre-finished 3/4 inch maple ply. Makes a great assembly table, desk for designing projects, etc. When done it folds up next to my DashBoard work table, the plywood sheets go against the wall.

This is my cutting/work table. It's 3 slabs that I align with Dominos and pull together with Domino connectors. I store the slabs on a ceiling cable lift. Been using this 4' x 8' table for years on sawhorses but the STM makes everything so much easier/faster.

 

[MMCO]

This is my cutting/work table. It's 3 slabs that I align with Dominos and pull together with Domino connectors. I store the slabs on a ceiling cable lift. Been using this 4' x 8' table for years on sawhorses but the STM makes everything so much easier/faster.

View attachment 377609

Nice setup. You say this is used for cutting, how come there are no saw marks, just curious?

 

[Mike Goetzke]

Nice setup. You say this is used for cutting, how come there are no saw marks, just curious?

I use spoil boards.

Using the STM 1800 on it's first project. I already took advantage of rolling it off to the side so I could pull out my TS.

One thing I noticed is since I usually store my cut components on my table top ends it is causing the top to droop on the ends. Think if I put like a 1/4" shim on top of the outrigger boards is reduces the droop by quite a bit.