What is Rip Capacity on a Table Saw?
When discussing table saws, rip capacity refers to the maximum distance between the saw blade and the rip fence. Put another way, it’s the maximum width you can cut when making a rip cut. While a rip cut in wood means cutting in line with the grain, here we take “rip cut” to mean any cut made using the rip fence.
Note that rip capacity has nothing to do with the length of material you can cut on a table saw. For some reason, this seems to be a common bit of misinformation on the Internet! You can rip however long a piece you want, provided you can properly support it on the infeed and outfeed side of the saw.
How much is enough?
Your rip capacity needs are determined by the type of projects you use your table saw for. You’ll want a rip capacity of at least half the width of the largest workpiece you anticipate ripping. (Only half, because if you need to rip wider than half the sheet, you can just turn it around and rip the smaller width instead.)
Related: Table Saw Buying Guide: What to Look For
If you’ll be breaking down large sheet goods like 4’x8’ plywood, you’ll want at least 24” of rip capacity. Since this is a pretty common job for a table saw, you’ll find many models with about 24 1/2” or 25” of rip capacity.
For smaller projects like decorative pieces and the like, you can get away with a smaller rip capacity. This can be an advantage because you can use a saw that takes up less room.
Conversely, if you are making very large pieces of furniture, you may need more than 24” because you’ll be cutting huge pieces. Full-size cabinet saws often come with extension tables and legs that provide 50” or even more of rip capacity.
Of course, you should bear in mind that a larger rip capacity almost always means a larger (and heavier saw). Don’t go overboard buying a table saw with a huge rip capacity if you won’t even have room to use it!
Left vs. right
The rip capacity of a table saw will typically be different on each side of the blade. Most rip fences can be extended much farther to the right of the blade than to the left. Thus, the rip capacity will be larger to the right as well.
This right-vs-left difference doesn’t matter much for vertical cuts, where the blade is straight up and down. But since table saw blades generally only tilt in one direction, it can make a difference when making beveled cuts.
In practice, this is rarely an issue. That’s because you always want to make beveled cuts with the saw blade angled away from the fence, to avoid trapping the piece and causing kickback. Most table saws on the market in the U.S. tilt the blade to the left. So allowing the rip fence to extend farther to the right gives you the most flexibility with beveled cuts.
Table saw rip capacity examples
Here are some examples of table saws with different rip capacities.
20” rip capacity
The DeWalt DW745 is a portable jobsite table saw with just 20” of rip capacity to the right and 12” to the left of the blade. That means you can’t rip something as wide as a 4’x8’ plywood sheet down the middle. In practice, you probably wouldn’t use this small saw for that purpose, anyway. This is a very popular model of table saw, so it goes to show that you don’t absolutely need a huge rip capacity to be a very useful tool.
25” rip capacity
I mentioned above that 25” is a pretty common rip capacity, since it lets you rip a 4’ wide sheet down the middle. The Bosch 4100-10 is just one example of many table saws with this kind of rip capacity. With a smaller saw like this, you’ll still need some external supports if you want to rip a full 4’x9’ sheet.
36” rip capacity
The SawStop CNS175-TGP36 is a contractor-style table saw with a 36 1/2” rip capacity. That’s more than enough to handle a 4’x8’ sheet of plywood. And it has room to spare for even wider cuts, such as you might make if you’re building large pieces of furniture.
52” rip capacity
The Powermatic PM1000 (1791001K) is a cabinet table saw with a massive 52” rip capacity. That means you could slide an entire 4’x8’ sheet of plywood between the blade and rip fence! This kind of capacity is much more than you’d need for typical home improvement or DIY projects. But if you will be building furniture, a saw in this class might be just what you need.
