Hello Dale, You bought both but both what? A table saw I take it but what else?
Now for the table saw question. You should first raise the blade to be a little higher than the thickness of the board you are ripping. Usually the height of a tooth or so, about quarter of an inch or a little better. Blade guards vary a little, some you adjust with a hand bolt through a slot, I think many these days are pivoted and your board just pushes it up as it enters the blade. If you need to adjust the guard just raise it to clear the thickness of the board you are pushing through. My saw is a very old one and never did have a guard. Your guard will likely have a series of swinging toothed things hanging from each side of the guard support. These are the kick back preventers and they too will be pushed up as the board goes through but the teeth will grip the board if it tries to come back out of the saw. You then set the fence the required distance from the blade to rip the width you require. Traditionally one stands to the non-fence side of the board, the blade side but in front of the saw and, holding the board in the right hand use the left to keep it against the fence but the hand stays near the front edge of the saw table while the right hand advances the board into the blade. As the end of the board approaches the front of the saw table you take a push stick and hook it over the trailing end of the board next to the fence and continue pushing the board through the saw but you do not follow it with your left hand. Now the use of feather boards really can help further here. I have a couple, they were not cheap, I think about 30 bucks but you can get cheaper ones. The ones I have are plastic with a number of finger like structures fanning out from an apex. There are two hand screws on the top which run in slots and there is a bar underneath which fits into the mitre slot of the table saw or more often I use mine for small pieces on my router table. You set the feather board into the mitre slot on the waste side of the board and adjust it until the fingers are snug against the work you are pushing through usually locating the feather board up stream of the blade. When you tighten one of the bolts down it not only locks the feather board but it expands the track in the mitre slot locking it firmly in place. The fingers on the board are arranged to permit easy movement forward but to impair movement back. This device largely replaces the function of the left hand in guiding wood into the saw. There are other types of feather board, one that slips over the rip fence of the saw and these days many fences include slots specifically for this purpose. These are hold-down to keep the wood held down onto the table surface. I have just clamped a piece of scrap to the fence for this purpose at times. Finally, it helps to add a out feed table to receive the board as it comes off of the saw. I have some roller stands but I don't much like them If the end of the board drops a bit too much it will push the damn stand over. They can be helpful though in holding the trailing end of the board up as you feed it into the saw. When cross cutting using the mitre gauge or other methods do not allow the end of the board to come up against the fence. If you must use the fence for a guide measure when cross cutting then clamp a piece of waste to the leading edge of the fence ending some distance short of the blade by at least the width of the work being cross cut. In that way you can slide the end of the cross cut against the scrap then holding it firmly against the mitre gauge slide it forward into the moving saw. The end of the stick should pass the end of the waste before the saw engages so that if anything happens the piece has room to move between the saw and the rip fence and therefore will not come flying back at you. A better way to do this is to have a stop on the fence on the mitre gauge and remove your rip fence altogether however this usually means a very expensive after market mitre gauge. Hope this helps and if I can clarify further do ask. Dale Leavens, Cochrane Ontario Canada [EMAIL PROTECTED] Skype DaleLeavens Come and meet Aurora, Nakita and Nanook at our polar bear habitat. ----- Original Message ----- From: Dale Alton To: [email protected] Sent: Saturday, December 15, 2007 11:29 PM Subject: [BlindHandyMan] tips, tricks, and knowledge Well I did it. I bought both. I am still hesitant with the table saw but am excited to use it. I want to be as careful as possible and want the subject on using a table saw. I am primarily concerned with a piece larger than the table. How is a person suppose to run say a 8 foot piece of 1" x ^' through the table by himself? I like my 10 digits. Thanx, Dale [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
