HI, I have a circular saw for cutting plywood and large things like that. My
son got me a circular saw guide from sears with clamps that hook on the saw
and you can cut up to 2 foot with it. Works really good...
ROB FROM MINNESOTA
----- Original Message -----
From: William Stephan
To: [email protected]
Sent: Friday, November 02, 2007 7:12 PM
Subject: RE: [BlindHandyMan] Circular or table
Wow! Great post Dale, thanks for taking the time to explain. And, I truly
did have problems holding everything together while trying to set the depth
on a circ saw, maybe it's time for a table saw like John has.
-----Original Message-----
From: [email protected] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
On Behalf Of Dale Leavens
Sent: Friday, November 02, 2007 6:51 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [BlindHandyMan] Circular or table
There are a couple of ways to perform dado cuts with a table saw. The very
best way is with a stacked dado head. This is a pair of saw blades separated
by a suitable number of what are called chippers. A chipper is a somewhat
'S' shaped bit of metal wider in the middle with a hole through it to slide
over the arbor on the table saw. At the tips of the 'S' the metal of the
chipper is widened. These days this is usually done with a piece of carbide.
The thickness of the chippers varies and there are washers otherwise called
shims which can also be fitted between the blades and chippers or between
the chippers. You add chippers and shims between the blades until you get
the width you require for your dado cut.
A second way uses a dado blade also often referred to as a wobble blade.
This is a blade mounted against an angled, I don't know how else to describe
it. It forms a sort of wedge in such a way that you can turn this device to
alter the amount of wedge that the wobble blade rests against. This has the
effect of tilting the blade so when it turns it wobbles from side-to-side
thereby cutting a wide groove as it passes. the width can be adjusted by
adjusting the shape of that wedge and thus the displacement of the wobble.
There are issues with this approach, perhaps the most significant one being
that the floor of the groove will not be absolutely flat but rather slightly
arced.
The third way that comes to mind and the one I often use for a single
application mostly because I am lazy is to set the edge of the blade to one
edge of the desired location of the dado and lock in the rip fence then push
the board through. You may set it a little short then move the fence in very
small increments to accurately locate the one edge. You then just keep
moving the fence about the width of the saw blade and sequentially run the
board through until you have traveled the fence the required distance for
the width of the dado you want.
This has the disadvantage that often the floor of the dado will be a little
like corduroy which I argue leaves a place for excess glu to inhabit. It is
also fairly easy to get your groove just a little wider than you wanted.
All of these methods require that the saw is free of a blade guard of
course. The real dado sets also require a table insert with a wider hole for
the blade to protrude through. Usually dado sets are smaller, 6 or 8 inch
diameter. The stacked head saws the two outer edges while the chippers
chisel out the middle something like a planer would do.
Setting the depth of the dado is generally easiest using a table saw because
of the size of the table. My favorite method uses a step gauge one of my
daughters sent to me a couple of Christmases ago. This is a flat bar of
aluminium more or less trapezoidal in shape. Each sloped end has a series of
quarter inch steps cut in it, at one end they are offset by an eighth of an
inch so on one end the steps are 8th inch, 3 8th inch, 5 8th inch and so on.
The opposite end are quarter inch, half, three quarters and so on. I figure
usually 3 8ths depth in 3/4ths inch panels so I set the gauge on the table
top and raise the blade until it is just touching the appropriate step. I
spin the blade by hand listening for the evidence of it just barely skimming
the appropriate step then lock that height in. I don't and never have owned
a wobble blade I expect it might be a little tougher to set that way. I also
use my step gauge to set router bit height.
You cannot or rather you should not ever attempt to mount a dado style
cutter into a hand held circular saw.
This leaves you with one or two variations on my lazy man's dado done on the
table saw. You can and do however continue to use the blade guard on your
circular saw.
Cutting a dado with a circular saw can be done in at least a couple of ways.
Using a pencil mark of course is the traditional way, both sides of the dado
are marked and you saw between the marks in several passes. Few of us can do
that but we can use a saw board or straight edge and measure to locate it at
one edge of the dado and then cut, then move the straight edge or other
guide over incrementally and continue until you have the width you require.
You might use a pair of cutting boards particularly one made for the motor
side and one made for the outer edge of the saw then align them and clamp
them so they form the outline of the dado you want to cut then just run the
saw between them in several passes removing material until the dado is
clear.
Another way is to cut the two outer walls of the dado channel and, depending
on how wide it is, make a couple of more cuts between the wall cuts then
take out the waste with a chisel. If you set the depth into plywood to about
the junction of laminations you can often get the natural fiber separation
to help you get a really nice bottomed dado.
Setting the depth of the dado with a hand held circular saw can be a little
more problematic than on a table saw. This is because the blade rarely comes
very close to the shoe plate so gauging the absolute depth can be
confounded. If you can see there is usually a scale on or near the depth
lock, it is at best approximate even for optically enabled humans.
The other problem is holding everything, the saw upside down, a gauge
balanced over the gap in the shoe and the spring loaded blade guard ot of
the way while you manipulate the depth lock control. It is easier if you hae
a small sheet of material the desired thickness of the depth of the dado you
want to cut, then set the saw on this sheet, retract the blade guard and
slide the blade up against the cut edge of the sample depth board then raise
or lower the saw until you feel the tips of the blade are at the same depth
as the sample thickness and lock the machine to that depth. A step gauge can
be used and I have often done it but it is just a little difficult.
Cutting a rabbet can be done in the same way, it is nothing more than a dado
with a missing side wall.
I hope that I have addressed your questions satisfactorily. I don't want
anyone to think for a moment that any of my posts represent the only or even
necessarily the best method or technique. I am neither professional nor
trained. I have had a certain amount of experience in these things and that
is all. It is my hope that not everyone will have to use up all that time
making many of the same mistakes I have made.
Dale Leavens, Cochrane Ontario Canada
[EMAIL PROTECTED] <mailto:DLeavens%40puc.net> net
Skype DaleLeavens
Come and meet Aurora, Nakita and Nanook at our polar bear habitat.
----- Original Message -----
From: William Stephan
To: blindhandyman@ <mailto:blindhandyman%40yahoogroups.com> yahoogroups.com
Sent: Friday, November 02, 2007 11:18 AM
Subject: Re: [BlindHandyMan] Circular or table
Dale, great post.
Can you talk a little about cutting dados? I've never really grasped how to
get the right depth with a circular saw or table saw either.
Thanks!
Bill Stephan
Kansas City, MO
(816)803-2469
William Stephan
-----Original Message-----
From: "Dale Leavens"<[EMAIL PROTECTED] <mailto:dleavens%40puc.net> net>
Sent: 11/1/07 8:43:07 PM
To: "blindhandyman@ <mailto:blindhandyman%40yahoogroups.com>
yahoogroups.com"<blindhandyman@ <mailto:blindhandyman%40yahoogroups.com>
yahoogroups.com>
Subject: Re: [BlindHandyMan] Circular or table
Hi Dale,
I had a table saw long before I finally got a circular saw however I did
have a jig saw which I used a lot for reducing plywood and other sheet goods
down to manageable sizes.
Thing is that even with a very big and top end table saw, wrestling sheet
goods, even relatively light ones like quarter inch plywood around on a
table saw is not only difficult but does add significant injury risk. You
can add infeed and outfeed tables if you have enough shop space but it is
still damn difficult and although I did quite a bit of it as a younger man I
don't much fancy it today.
If you are likely to do a lot of cabinet work into the future or where you
need a high degree of accuracy to finished panels the table saw is what you
want.
Excellent work of most types can be accomplished with a hand held circular
saw and a little care. It becomes somewhat more difficult to reproduce a
series of identical cuts than with the fence on a table saw but again using
jigs or other measuring sticks and such it certainly can be done.
One can even cut dados and rabbets with care but it is more difficult. One
can of course buy both a decent circular saw and a router or two and still
have a pretty good chunk of change from the price of a decent table saw.
A table saw certainly can be used safely by the blind. There are different
techniques depending on your confidence and skill complement of course. You
may wish to use path finding techniques to ensure safety, knowing that the
blade is always in the same place means if you need you can locate some safe
part of the machine like the far right near edge of the wing and near rail
of the fence then follow that back to the fence and down to the switch for
example. If on the other hand you are a little more sure of yourself you
might, as I usually end up doing, kick the power switch on with the toe of
my shoe. My saw is a 1975 vintage with a standard light switch for power.
Kicking it off while controlling work and waiting for the blade to spin down
sometimes requires a little imagination. Modern machines usually have
something like a recessed push button for on and a big square panel you can
hit with about any body part to turn it off.
The beauty of a table saw is that it is relatively easy to set the rip fence
to a suitable distance with a ruler or what ever, even an already cut piece
can be slid up against the blade and the fence slid up to it.
Using a circular saw with a decent shop made jig can be quite accurate too
provided it is the sort where the base comes out where the saw has cut it
flush so you can tell exactly where the blade will cut. Otherwise you must
include an offset to the edge of the shoe for aligning the guide as I have
to do since I still haven't got around to making such a jig. I recently saw
a jig designed for cross cutting with a pivot for locking in an angle. It is
interesting in a way, I well remember observers goggling my makeshift jigs
in some kind of wonder and now 30 years later they sell them in major
department stores albeit rather more refined (and expensive) than the blind
pioneered of necessity.
Unless you expect to continue a vigorous hobby into the future I think I
would hold off the table saw. You will always want a circular saw anyway. It
is well worth while to buy a good quality one. This can be said of all tools
and it is also true of a table saw only a decent table saw will cost in the
range of 800 to 1000 dollars. A cheaper one will disappoint and you won't be
wanting to use it a lot. If you really get into the work you will soon
regret not having bought a better one and your money will be wasted. It may
discourage you from continuing. You can get a darn good little 7 and a
quarter inch circular saw for a hundred and fifty bucks or less, I really
like my little Makita MAG model for about a hundred and twenty five, good
quality, light, toolless blade change, it is available in right and left
side blade and should remain accurate as it is a well made tool.
Doubtless there will be other opinions, there are a lot of stamped steel
table saws for a couple of hundred bucks out there and I don't intend to get
into a debate on that. I have used them occasionally on a job site and they
work well enough where 8th inch accuracy is adequate, light to shift onto
the bed of a pickup truck and not a big loss if they get knocked around a
bit but beyond construction carpentry I don't like or recommend them.
I hope this is helpful.
Dale Leavens, Cochrane Ontario Canada
[EMAIL PROTECTED] <mailto:DLeavens%40puc.net> net
Skype DaleLeavens
Come and meet Aurora, Nakita and Nanook at our polar bear habitat.
----- Original Message -----
From: Dale Alton
To: blindhandyman@ <mailto:blindhandyman%40yahoogroups.com> yahoogroups.com
Sent: Thursday, November 01, 2007 8:20 PM
Subject: [BlindHandyMan] Circular or table
Hi gang,
I am contemplating purchasing a circular saw or a table saw. I know I have
to cut some plywood to make a counter for the wet bar I am in the midst of,
and yes if you like keg beer come on over. I am also thinking about making a
little cupboard type of thing to put by my front door. The thing I don't
know for sure is which saw would be better for me. Are table saws safe for a
total to use? I think I would get the use out of either but don't know what
would be best. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Dale
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