Blade height over wood on TS

[Ed62]

I'm really glad to see all the posts on the subject. It looks like my fence is going to have an addition to it. It sure makes a lot of sense, and it's not even hard to do.

Ed

[SARGE..g-47]

Afternoon ICM..

Thanks for catching on before I finished the first pot of coffee. I usually have to explain it about 3 times before someone grasp it, as simple as it is. I can usually get an instant convert in my shop by showing them on the saw as that is much easier to grasp as you can physically see what is happening.

Your BT (if that's what you have) has a slot at the top of the fence. I built my short fence by mating 3 pieces of MDF with glue and screws into a upside down U shape or a 3 side retangular box if that's eaiser. Then I cut 3 pieces of phonelic and added them to the surface by drilling counter-sinks and ataching sheet metal screws. Then you drill 2 holes in top that correspond to the center of the track on top of your existing BT fence. Slide a reciever nut in there or a T nut bolt and it mates to the holes on top of your home-made short fence. Two knobs with female reciever threads screw to the T bolt now sticking through.

I made mine exactly 1" thick (3/4" MDF and 1/4" phonelic) and for a reason. By adding the sub-face on the existing fence I have thrown my rip scale off by 1" if I used a 1" thick subface. So... one of two things has to be done to correct that.

(1) Be sure to remember to add 1" when you set the scale. For instance if you want to rip 2 5/16" wide, you have to remember to set the scale to 3 5/16" wide to compensate for the distance lost with the sub-face,

(2) And the easiest as I did is to get one of those adhesive backed 72" long tapes at Highland Woodworking or wherever and add it over the existing stick scale. "Bingo".........

Here's a little closer look at the fence isolated to get a better picture. Look at it carefully, remember what I described and let your mind run wild. You will grasp the concept.

Niki.... thanks for the assist on stating Euro practices and the stringent safety guidelines. I was taught all this by Englishman Richard Jones who is a professional teacher, designer and furniture builder. Possibly the best Wood mechanic I have seen. And by the way.. I almost purchased your Electra Spectrum.. Nice saw, but the cost of importing it from the source was very cost prohibitive. Then I got lucky and found a ragged out BT3000 in a yard sale for $125 with rails. I spruced her up a bit and haven't regretted the time spent doing so since as she has preformed well (over 30,000 linear feet ripped since).. very well indeed for a saw being sold as "junk". :>)

Pics of "home brewed" Eurom short fence and home-made crown guard below:

Regards...

[big tim]

Pardon my ignorance, but what is the difference between a riving knife and a splitter?
I've had my BT3000 for about 6 years and many years before I became aware of this forum and such things as the Shark guard etc.
Not being happy with the Ryobi blade guard and the pawls, I made this modification to my bladeguard. The drawback of course is that I have to remove the guard to make a beveled cut, but then again, I also have to replace the ZCTP with the ryobi throat plate.

Tim
http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p...ift/Pic999.jpg
http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p...ft/Pic1000.jpg
http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p...ft/Pic1001.jpg

[drumpriest]

Tim,

Simpley put, a riving knife moves up and down with the saw blade. Due to this it can sit far closer to the back of the blade than traditional splitters, thus greatly reducing the possibility of kickback.

The short fence is new to me, make sense. It's more important to have extra fence up from to get a straight cut than in the back, as that's after the cut.

[lcm1947]

You're welcome Sarge. Well it's really a simple concept so wasn't too hard. I really like the idea though and your design couldn't be any better I don't think. I had something a little different in mind but after seeing yours close up I think I'll just copy it. So thanks for the pictures and telling us about it. Glad you decided to look at the forum this morning before consuming 4 gallons of coffee. I too consume quite a bit of the stuff in the morning myself, well actually all day long but the doc has got me on decaf. It really sucked at first not getting my caffeine but I'm used to it now and need it and like it almost as well. You notice I said almost. Anyway it sure looks like you got your money's worth and then some. Good for you. Hey that is one sharp looking push stick you got there. I assume you made it. Nice job.

And Tim I see Drumpriest has already answered your question so you're all set. I just weeks ago found out the different myself. It never mattered to me until I was thinking about buying a new TS so found out during the course of comparing features. I have since decided that I'll keep the old 3100 for various reasons and the number one is all saws have their good and bad features and unless you have over $2000.00 you aren't going to get them all anyway so I'll just keep mine. I have also eliminated a couple of the problems I was having with my 3100 and it's performing much nicer now so am happy with it again.

[niki]

Just to go back to the main topic

I took this picture from Ian Kirby's book "The accurate table saw" (ISDN 085442079-7)

The last pic text says:
"The gullets should clear the top surface of the workpiece. After that, the guarded blade can be as high as the operator finds comfortable".

Personally, when I cut the 1-3/16 Oak, I use High Blade, the feeding is easier (and faster)


Sorry for the so bad pic...

niki

[dkerfoot]

I'm a "leave the guard on and run the blade high" guy.

I'd been considering a short fence mod. Thanks for the ideas!

[Ed62]

Thanks for the pics, Sarge. And thanks to everyone who posted their thoughts on this. A change is in the air.

Ed