Cutting bevels with Right tilt blade

[MikeMcCoy]

I've been using a table saw for a lot of years and one of the few things that still scares me is a bevel cut. It can be done safely without a doubt but I think I now own every beveled router bit known to man and my table saw blade hasn't been tilted in several years.

[niki]

Tom and Opa
Thank you so much for your kind words but.....
Are you trying to depress me and force me to write a book while I'm still enjoying so much in the garage....no way....well, maybe in 10 years...

Bruce
I think that not having a Riving knife would (maybe) end-up with a kickback even with a 90° cut.

Even if the fence is "toed-out" a little bit.....and that means that the fence will be "toed-in" when on the left side of the blade...the riving knife will keep you out of troubles and if in addition, you use a short fence, I think that you safe.

Just to visualize your description, I made a drawing of the 2 x 4 and cut it at 45°....I noticed that if the fence would be on the left side, the supported width of the board on the table is only 1" while the top side of the board has 3" lying on the blade....I would not feel good with this set-up..



Just not to send you back, here is how I cut a narrow board to 2...I would not do it with the fence on the left side



Regards
niki

[siliconbauhaus]

Nice tip as usual Niki. When you eventually do a book and become rich and famous can I have that beckam saw

[mschrank]

I hate to be the lone dissenter here...makes me think I must be wrong

I've read many of Niki's tips and plan on using several of them, but I think this one is potentially dangerous.

I've always felt that one of the cardinal rules regarding table saw use is that when making a bevel cut, the fence goes opposite of the blade tilt (Right tilt saw, fence goes on the left).

I think maybe Niki's "sled" and short fence might make this safer....but I'm not convinced. There is still a piece of wood that is in effect wedged between/underneath the blade and the fence.

Niki, in your drawing above, it doesn't matter which side of the blade the fence is on...there is still only 1" of wood supporting the left portion, and 3" of wood laying on the blade. The difference is that if the fence is on the left, the portion of wood on the right has someplace to go (to the right) rather than being kicked back.

[niki]

siliconbauhaus
Oh yes, you can have the Electra-Beckum when...especially that you are "Bilingual - mm or inch" so will not have any problem...
It was part of the Metabo group and now, no more EB everything is Metabo.

Mike
First, it's not a tip...as I said, I made this pics for another forum that the "Left vs Right" was "on fire", just to show that it can be done safely also with right tilt blade.

The illustration below is from the UK SHE (equivalent to the USA OSHA), "Circular saw benches -safe working practices" that come in a PDF and I "captured" this illustration.

Just to have an idea what is the UK HSE...they are the "inventors" of safety ...everything that you see on my TS, Riving knife, Quick attach/detach blade guard, enclosed blade for DC (as you can see, almost no dust is coming out of my TS and I'm using only a home-vac)...

From 2005, new regulation..."The blade must stop within 10 seconds (on my TS it's in 6 seconds) and from the end of this year "All the woodworking and Metalworking rotating machines shall have to stop within 10 seconds"...

They are very powerful in UK and once they catch you working without blade guard...you can look for other job...they are backed-up and very strongly supported by the employees Unions and they don't care about money, they care about safety...

TV show like "Norm" gives with the "Blade guard removed for clarity"...the show would also be removed due to too much "clarity" and too little safety...heck, they screw a screw on the wall and they have to put on ear protection and eye protection...sorry but that's too much even for me

OK, after such a long review, here is how SHE is recommending to make a bevel cut



About the 3" lying on the blade...please have a look at the second picture above (that I'm cutting the 1½ x 1½" into 2 parts...would you dare to make this cut with the rip fence on the left side of the blade...

I was watching here in Poland a guy cutting round wood for fire-wood (they do it here every year before the winter)..........Home-made table saw...a motor connected to 20" blade...What? riving knife? blade guard?...What's that?...

They are cutting "Free hand" (obviously)...I was sitting there and watching the guy for more than an hour (with many butterflies in my stomach) and wondered..."How come that he does not get any kickback"...moving a round slab through the blade without "Perfectly aligned fence" or sled and nothing...

Regards
niki

[crokett]

This is clever but I'm not sure I see the point either. If I have a bevel to rip, chances are better than not I am ripping a wider board down so I make the bevel cut with the stock between the fence and the blade, then make the rip to width as normal.

[cwithboat]

left side bevel cut

I have to make a 10 degree bevel cut (80 degrees to the table) on the edges of a 8" x 18" x 14" box. I see no way of doing this from the right side. I plan to use the sliding miter board with a sacrificial miter fence. Does this make sense? If it does, for future reference, to what angle should the cut be limited using this technique?