A New Combo

[Chris Hall]

Have you ever laid eyes on a combo machine which features only a jointer and a table saw?

Check this out:

2343931.jpg (47.31 KiB) Viewed 3387 times

Kinda weird huh?

[dmccurtis]

Kinda weird, but kinda makes sense.

[Chris Hall]

Really? I guess i see things differently. It seems to me that the saw is totally in the way of a good body position for jointing. You want to be able to stand right next to the machine on the outfeed table to apply steady pressure and control on the board. The further out you have your body, the weaker you are in terms of leverage and control. Its the same for hand planing - your hip should be next to the board edge, not two feet away.

Just look at the design too - feed a board in on the jointer infeed and then lean over awkwardly to joint, and then have to walk around the table saw to grab the board again. Seems totally un-ergonomic.

Ergonomically, it would have made more sense to have put the table saw on the other side of the machine altogether, but then you would run into issues with the jointer fence being across the saw table. To me, it's a really odd and surprising design, and fortunately doesn't seem to have caught on with other manufacturers.

Some jointers have bolt-on mortisers which attach in the same position as the Paolini's saw table, however those are accessories meant for easy on-off, and usually have a wheeled carriage to carry them over and back as you need them. With the Paolini, the table saw looks rather more permanent. I really don't get it.

[dmccurtis]

I said kinda makes sense.

I wouldn't want to use the thing as implemented, but if I had to imagine a combo machine, a table saw/jointer would seem convenient. If all you use a table saw for is milling stock, I could see a compact saw/jointer with a full-length bed on both sides being pretty useful in a small shop. I don't know who would use one in a production setting.

[Matt J]

My first thought was that it might be purpose built for some specific production task, but I can't think of what that might be.

I hope there's a way to run the blade independently from the cutterhead, I wouldn't want to be leaning over a spinning blade while jointing, even with the guard.

And the rip capacity on either side of the blade looks like it might be less than the width of the jointer... Weird.

[Chris Hall]

That's a good point. I presumed that the saw blade was centered on the jointer cutter head - it sure looks that way - and therefore i wonder if there even is a provision to raise/lower the blade? The table must be cranked up and down and the blade stays where it is - thats what the crank handle below the saw table must be for.

You're right, jointing over a spinning blade would certainly seem a recipe for disaster, so maybe the idea is to remove the saw blade altogether before using the jointer (just like you would remove the chuck and milling cutter from the end of the jointer cutter block after removing a mortising attachment.

And yeah, the rip capacity to the right of the blade would appear to be 4~5 inches max. What do you do with that?

What a curious design!

[Chris Hall]

This detail photo shows a large circular cut out in the table saw rip fence, which must mean the entire table goes up and down over the fixed saw blade:

2343931-5.jpg (41.49 KiB) Viewed 3358 times

Here's another one in the same vein, a Celmak 400, with a tablesaw on one side and a mortiser on the backside of the jointer:

00472.jpg (50.62 KiB) Viewed 3358 times