I hear you. I've been flip flopping between the CSC and the Sawstop CTS. The main thing stopping me is that there's only about 250mm infeed support on the CTS. What's the comfortable range for the slider on the CSC?
Ouch. 250 isn’t much. Though you can build a jig for ripping:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?t=93&v=Wkhstmsc61Eor for slightly wider cuts:
With the slider pulled fully towards you, there’s about 420mm infeed on the CSC.
That’s with the fence just on the very front edge of the slider, which is the point at which there is no play and I’d feel comfortable using it. I suspect Festool would say a number lower than that and might want more of the mitre gauge on the slider. But IMO it’s really solid at that point.
There’s also the option to lock the slider in place while it’s pulled fully towards you (the saw-blade changing position). This would give some more infeed support for wide panels against the fence. But then your waste side would have no support. This could be fixed with a strategically-placed block, taped down with double-sided tape beneath the slider (on the circled area in the photo*).
But it’s really sketchy IMO as someone not (yet) experienced with using a tablesaw. Personally I’d get my track saw out at that point — much easier. The manual describes the forward position only for changing the saw blade.
* Note that the slider doesn’t slide directly on this area— there’s a ~3mm gap. So using a very light double-sided tape to stick down a block is doable, though there’s obviously a risk of crud buildup over time, which then could interfere with the slider moving above it.
Just speculating what could be done to increase infeed depth here, and not making any recommendations. Personally I wouldn’t use the sliding table locked in the forward position for cutting.
