Question
I am moving into a new shop, one that is smaller than I currently lease, and will need to move from an old Hendrick's beam saw to a Striebig vertical saw. I have been thinking about this change for a while, and have a few questions now that I need it.
I am looking at any model from the 5192 model to the compact plus. Beyond the color change from green to white, could anyone tell me the main changes from the 5192 type models (80's), the optisaws (90's), and the compacts pluses (00's)?
I think, for cutting the thinner plastics that I do regularly, that I will need to make the back slats into a bunch of "T's" so I have a solid, or near solid, back plate to prevent vibration of the sheet, which leads to chipping. The older Striebig's seem to be more suitable for that, but could the models with the plastic strips do that too?
For sure, when the literature say's the saw will cut 6.25 feet, will it? Many of my plastics come, optionally, in 75" by 100" sheets, and I don't need the compact plus if it can't handle that I'll just move down to the regular compact and max out at 5' cuts. In general, any thoughts on cutting thin material would be appreciated.
Forum Responses
(Cabinetmaking Forum)
From contributor R:
I've got the 5192 1988 model and mine maxes at a 70.75" rip. As far as the backing, I don’t think the solid or near solid lathes will work, as the saw has a deflector to bend the lathes out of the way. So unless you disable the deflector, the lathes must be able to bend. Disabling the deflector kind of defeats it purpose. I have cut some laminate with a 1/2" MDF backup board, but kind of a pain to use all the time. That said, have you looked at the Hendrick ProV vertical? It has a pneumatic hold down beam. I see them come up on eBay every now and then. I have a friend that used one for several years (big shop) until he got a rear load beam saw. I thought of buying it myself, until I lucked out and bought my Striebig for 2K.
