As Roly said, whatever works is right fot you. I personally have the table flat and use an adjustable stool to set my height to what's comfortable. I'm also a top feeder with my EX21, I find it so easy to release the tension lever then undo the bottom clamp and just lift the top arm and blade out of the wood. I support the arm as I lower/guide the blade into the next hole. It didn't take much practise to be able to reclamp the blade in the bottom clamp without bending down to look at it, I do it all by feel now and I can change holes in about 10 - 15 seconds.