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Re: follow-up [message #29003 is a reply to message #29002] |
Wed, 31 March 2004 06:33 |
Dean Kukral
Messages: 177 Registered: May 2009
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Master |
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I see what you are saying. If the tracks are not parallel to the blade, then the fence is also not parallel to the blade. Since I spent $300 for a fancy fence for my Sears saw, I HAD to go check and see if it was parallel or not! I was pleased to see that mine is parallel to the blade. :) I don't think that my blade is moveable, but it has been a long time since I set it all up, so I may have forgotten. It is belt-driven. I suppose that if this is an issue on an individual saw, then the directions for that saw will discuss it.
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Wait a minute [message #29004 is a reply to message #29002] |
Wed, 31 March 2004 06:49 |
Dean Kukral
Messages: 177 Registered: May 2009
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Master |
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I have been thinking about this some more. Whether the back of the jig is square to the blade or not is irrelevant. If you want the newly cut edge to be square to the old edge that is resting against the jig's back, then the back of the fence must be square to the track, not to the blade. This is because the jig slides in the track. If the blade is not parallel to the track, then either it angles away from the cut, which will probably cause a rough edge or maybe even some binding, or it angles into the cut, which would definitely cause binding and would be dangerous. I am not an experienced craftsman, so I am certainly open to disagreement, but it sure seems to me that if your blade is not parallel to the track, then you have a serious problem.
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Re: follow-up [message #29006 is a reply to message #28997] |
Wed, 31 March 2004 09:40 |
crazychile
Messages: 46 Registered: May 2009
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Baron |
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Thanks for the photo, Bill. I,ve been studying this for the last day or so and am a little confused by the photo. If you could clarify a couple of things for me I would appreciate it. 1. I build a new top surface for the saw out of plywood. (This fits over the existing surface). 2. In this new top surface is a slot where a perfectly square "L" fits and this is used to feed the piece of wood across the blade. 3. Do you also clamp a strip of wood on the other side of the blade to guide the varying sizes of wood? Thanks for the info! crazychile
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Re: REply to bigger capacity and sucky Ryobi [message #29008 is a reply to message #28999] |
Wed, 31 March 2004 16:49 |
BillEpstein
Messages: 886 Registered: May 2009
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Illuminati (2nd Degree) |
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First, the Ryobi. Not it's fault. Radial arm saws have always been out of square and generally inaccurate. Ditto the newer "chop saws" and especially the sliding miter saws. Just look, as I have, at the throat plates on Porter-Cable, Bosch and Ridgid saws: after several cuts the plate looks has jagged edges far wider than the blade. The sliding miter table is the answer. The one I built was a copy of Kelly Mehler's in a way past issue of Fine Woodworking. He has a book of Table SAw tips you can find with the design. It addresses the issues of accuracy, safety and flexibilty better than any other. Just don't try to use maple runners or fool with the plexiglass "safety" stuff. The fence enables the use of all manner of clamped on jigs for dadoes, mortises, finger joints and lots of other stuff. You'll never use a chopsaw again. And make several in different sizes as Fitzmaurice suggests: I had one that trimmed 36" wide interior doors! If you can;'t find the book just think: 1/2" quality birch plywood for the 'floor', 2 metal mitre gauge runners, a fence at the back about 4" tall of 2 layers of ply laminated together and a main, front fence 2 ply thick that's 4" tall except at the center where it rises to 6 or even 8" tall for a width of about 6". The high point has 2 effects: it holds a box that protrudes a further 4" to the front which encomp[asses the saw blade for safety and it allows a surface to clamp to right on top of the blade kerf. This is where you attach the jigs, usually. Attach one metal runner to the floor at one point and then square the floor to the blade. Run another screw into the runner. Attach the front fence to the floor with one screw at the one end and sqauare the fence to blade. Be real anal about this one. Now run in the rest of thescrews and attach the secon runner. The rear fence doesn't ahve to be very square at all. Finish with routing slots in your outfeed table, (you do have an outfeed table?) so you can push this and larger jigs past the blade. The saw kerf indexes the cut, you can clamp workpieces to the fence for extreme accuracy, make one for use with the dadoe head with "zero clearance", another with a right angle piece built in for tenons, etc, etc.
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