Looking to upgrade our chopsaw. We are a 4-person cabinet shop that produces primarily face frame cabinets to residential customers.
Is an upcut saw the way to go? Another sliding miter saw? Something altogether different…?
What do you all use?

Jump or upcut saw is the way to go if only 90 degree cuts are required. Coupled with a computer fence and production will show you your next bottle neck. It was easy to cut 40-50 cabinets worth of stock in a short period of time, like an hour or two depending on the operator.

I agree with Dustin.

4 man shop here as well.

Northfield popup saw with a Razorgage
3 benches with Omga chop saws and manual Biesemeyer type fences

They all have their place and uses.

One of our biggest problems is that our chopsaw (a DeWalt slider) loses tolerance when sliding out to cut a wider board... There is too much play for my liking and can result in non-90 degree cuts... A simple chopsaw would eliminate some of the slop but significantly reduce our crosscut capacity. I see that some upcut saws can handle super wide boards (some, larger than our current slider can)... That is enticing but my concerns are two-fold:
1. Small part handling. When a small amount of wood needs to be removed from a piece, is there an issue there with the machine holding the workpiece in position? Can it be precise enough (and can it be paired with a Tigerstop)?
2. What holds the workpiece against the fence? I see a lot of effort put into holding the piece down to the table, but if the workpiece is not held against the rear fence, wouldn't the cut have a tendency to be not 90 degrees?

Thanks for all your input.
-JJE

I have just whisker shaved the ends of 8" material just fine, that was coupled with a computer fence. Most jump saws allow you to control the speed of the cut, not the RPM of the blade but the blade travel speed. If you hold your material to the fence and it clamps it, it's not moving. The overhead clamp are very secure in holding power. Small pieces weren't a problem unless you are talking like an inch square. That's just a dangerous cut on any saw unless it's like a tablesaw sled that totally supports the workplace. Those were so rare in our case, we would just pull out a tablesaw sled to cut those. The accuracy of a jump saw vs the slider you have now is night and day. Not to mention easier on the operator as you don't have nearly as many moves per cut.

...Just awesome. Thank you, Dustin.

Dustin what brand do you have? we are following this conversationas well

I have 2 saws, one is the 18" Jet, the other is a 16" Pistorius. The fence is shopmade, not the greatest but it works. Would rather have a Tigerstop but I got out of cabinets a few years ago and now just do moldings. Tigerstop or Razor gauge would be fine if I was going to purchase, looked at both when I was at the Vegas show.

I had a Tigerstop before getting the Razorgage.
I prefer the Razorgage. Much easier to use interface.