Considering buying

[CaptRandy]

I am considering buying a BT3100 TS but had a few questions. I notice there is not a miter groove on either side of blade. Is there a way to use a mortice jig?
Are there zero clearance plates available for the blade?

[LCHIEN]

Welcome to the forum.

no miter grooves are provided because the saw utilizes a sliding miter table (SMT) which does the same purpose. there are OEM accessory dual miter slots available for left hand mounting and people have made all kind of DIY miter slots both sides for those who needed them for other jigs or just plain missed them. A lot of people think the SMT is better than conventional miter gauge and slot (larger moving area, longer and wider slide, larger miter bar etc.) Its should be relatively easy to make a mortising jig to bolt to the miter fence since it has T-slots top and face.


Zero clearance plates are available and its also easy to make your own of various materials (I've seen lexan, wood flooring, , plastic, wood) since they use square cuts rather than having rounded ends.

Lots of detailed answers to these and 100 other questions if you get my FAQ (see below).

[CaptRandy]

Thank you for your answers, Think it fill my needs and I plan to purchase.

[dbhost]

Mortise jig? I think you may mean a tenoning jig. I can't imagine how a mortise can be made on the table saw...

There was a member here quite a long time ago, that designed and built a tall fence attachment that has a lot of great functions, including tenoning...

http://woodworking.phruksawan.com/Mu...nce/index.html

Actually check out his articles all together, he's got a lot of good ideas for the BT3x00 series saws...

http://woodworking.phruksawan.com/wwHome.html

[CaptRandy]

DB, you are correct, must have been a senior moment.

[JimD]

I use a jig that slides on the rip fence for tenons. I also have a micro positioner for the rip fence which really helps. I use a quick acting clamp and nibble the material off on both sides until I get to the desired thickness of the tenon. It works really well.

I also use a miter slot and osborne gauge, however. I did not like the accuracy of the SMT. The BT3100 is not great for cross cuts, especially with a miter gauge, because of the small table surface in front of the blade. The SMT helps with that too. I made a little accessory table that mounts to the rails for the miter slot.

Mostly I cross cut at my radial arm or 12 inch dual bevel CMS.

One of the nice things about the 3100 is the versatility. The rails that slide and have lots of slots are very handy. The rip fence also has slots which some jigs use.

If you approach a BT3100 as a conventional saw, you might be disappointed. If you approach it as a different saw with its own unique slant on things, I think you would be happy with it.

Jim

[pelligrini]

I've used a cast iron tenon jig on my saw.

If you make your own miter slots like I did check the distance where you want the slot with the jig. My slots are a little too close on the left to work with the jig I got from woodcraft. If you use the Ryobi miter slot tables you will have to remove the hold down washers that are on a lot of jigs and miter guages. The ryobi slots are square sided and don't have the T shaped bottom.

[CaptRandy]

Just purchased new to me saw. Now I need to unpack from back of my truck.