Rips "Wander"

[jackellis]

I fired up my BT this evening to rip the tongues and grooves off some 3" wide oak flooring (bought for 50 cents per square foot) so I can glue it up into panels. I use a featherboard positioned 1" in front of the blade to keep the workpiece tight against the fence but I can see the board moving away from the fence as it passes the featherboard. It means I'll have to joint the boards, which is a pain, but I cannot for the life of me figure out why the board drifts away.

Auggghhh!

[LCHIEN]

there's only a few things that can be wrong...

off the top of my head
1) fence moving (rear lock not working)
grab the fence when its locked down and see of any small force moves the back end.
2)wood is bowed b4 starting if the wood is tight to the fence at the FB and the the front of the saw and its away past the FB, it must have a bow.
3) your feather board not holding it tight to the fence (coming loose?) ccheck and see if there's space between the board and the fence at the FB.

[Alex from Sac.]

You might want to try ripping using a square piece of stock against the fence and butting the material up against it like when using jointer clamps.
Heres an example: http://www.hartvilletool.com/product/10889

Ive had great success just using some blue tape in the same method since I don't have the clamps. Works great for squaring stock without having to use a jointer.

[cabinetman]

Ripping solid wood can release stresses within the wood that allows it to "walk", or move on its own in responding to being cut. That's the purpose of splitters and riving knives, to keep the kerf, and prevent movement or closure on the blade. Likewise any released energy from the wood being cut can manifest itself in just about any direction. That's what you get when you deal with mother nature.
.

[leehljp]

Stress is my first impression.

Was/Is the wood bowed, cupped or twisted at all before cutting?

Technique is my next guess. Even with a feather board, misguided feed technique can cause that. Just because a feather board is there, it doesn't mean that the board will go straight in.

I (and others, I think) will say to feed by watching the board as it goes along the fence, and push so that it stays on the fence. Do not watch the blade/cut once started. Watch the board along the edge of the fence and push so that it stays there as you push.

When the board is just entering the blade and 4 to 6 ft are still in front of the blade, it is easy to cant the board, even with a feather board, because of the fulcrum effect. I am not saying you have done this, but I have seen it done.

[SARGE..g-47]

Likely reaction wood as Cabinetman mentioned.... If it is, all the adjustments in the world won't change what mother nature did to the tree before you got it..

Good Luck...

[Crash2510]

Is the fence perfectly parallel to the blade or is it toed out.

If its not parallel it could cause this

[LarryG]

Given that the table saw is a BT3x00, another likely culprit that I don't think has been mentioned yet is that the riving knife is not aligned directly behind the blade.

[Uncle Cracker]

Given that the table saw is a BT3x00, another likely culprit that I don't think has been mentioned yet is that the riving knife is not aligned directly behind the blade.

Beat me to it, Larry. I had this exact problem with mine once upon a time. I have also found it useful when feeding the stock into the blade to push slightly off center in the direction of the fence. This seems to minimize the drift.

[russj]

Hi, I've been lurking for quite a while but had to reply to this post. Had the same problem when I was ripping some oak for a coffee table top. What I discovered was that my fence has a very slight bulge about mid blade. A straight edge placed against the fence has just the slightest, almost imperceptible rocking movement. Had to do multiple rips until I ended up with acceptable cuts for a glue up. Frustrating to say the least. Unfortunately I haven't come up with any fixes. I'm not sure what I can do to fix the problem and am worried about making the problem worse.

[RodKirby]

Hi, I've been lurking for quite a while but had to reply to this post. Had the same problem when I was ripping some oak for a coffee table top. What I discovered was that my fence has a very slight bulge about mid blade. A straight edge placed against the fence has just the slightest, almost imperceptible rocking movement. Had to do multiple rips until I ended up with acceptable cuts for a glue up. Frustrating to say the least. Unfortunately I haven't come up with any fixes. I'm not sure what I can do to fix the problem and am worried about making the problem worse.

Add another plywood "face" - at least 3/4" thick to minimize flexing.

Like this - without the extension...

[pecker]

Having installed a fair amount of oak flooring, I would be surprised if the stuff you bought is very straight. Flooring nailers are designed to nudge them into alignment. But most of the longer pieces have some bow to them, and at 50 cents, you've probably bought some of the lowest quality stuff there is.

Maybe cutting the longer pieces in half will help.