Mitre saw stop block safety

[Croolis]

A while back I put a stop block on the waste side of a cut by using the mitre saw's clamp to hold down said stop block. My waste material, which was quite short, fired out when cut and shot over my shoulder. Lucky me.

I hadn't let the blade stop spinning before I raised it. I noticed on basically the very next cut (sans stop block), which was a very thin bacon slice sort of cut, that raising the blade before it stops, even if the waste isn't trapped by a stop block, makes it fly out, as it flew over my shoulder again.. Lucky me twice.

Now, having watched vids about repeat cuts with stop blocks, lots of folks put the stop block on the waste side. You get people in the comments saying it's a bad idea. But if I'm making repeat cuts from a long board and I want the results all the same length I have to use a stop block on the waste side, right?

Is it OK to use a stop block on the waste side if you wait for the blade to stop? The only way of doing it I can think of is to have two blocks, one being the actual stop block and the second block as a spacer going between your work piece and the stop block that you use every time to position your work piece, clamping down the work piece, then removing the spacer block. But maybe you won't get as accurate cut that way?

Dunno, I'm tired and I may be missing something obvious, but it's bugging me. Any thoughts?

 

[Doug71]

I'm not sure what you are trying to do.

You would normally push your keeper piece against a stop and the waste piece would be just free?

 

[Croolis]

If I have a 3m piece of 2x4, and I want to turn it into a bunch of 300mm pieces, am I, say, putting the 300mm on the right of the blade with a stop block on the end of it? So I have 2700mm to the left of the blade, making my cut, and then sliding up the 2400mm remainder for the next one.

That all right? Can I expect my 300mm piece to not get launched? Maybe I should clamp down the 300mm piece? Don't want to find out the hard way next time I do this. I spent Saturday measuring each piece of the many repeat cuts I did because I didn't want to risk a stop block, and I was too busy to go googling for best practice. I've just been thinking about it.

 

[Bingy man]

I use my dewalt mitre saw with the “ stop block “ it’s a 10 or 12 mm metal rod with a flat plate that secures right or left side support. Once it’s set up ( I use it on the rhs ) I simply butt the timber up to it at the correct length ( say 500 mm ) and make the cut - I always let the blade stop before I raise the blade as the cut piece is potentially trapped between the stop and the blade . I’ve never had an issue with the cut piece being flung out.

 

[Mrs C]

Sounds like your stop block is too thick hence your cut piece has no where to go but fly in your face when the blade comes back up, especially if your blade isn’t square The stop block is only a marker, if it is very slim the cut piece will slide gracefully to the right when you take the blade up.

 

[Croolis]

Cool, thx folks. My next bench build will be for mitre station (a small, moveble one as I'll have to move it to shed open door for infeed/outfeed with long pieces) so I'm thinking about how I should incorporate it.

 

[skeetstar]

Set your stop block at say 320mm from the blade. Insert a loose block of 20mm timber. Run your workpiece into position. Remove the loose 20mm, make the cut.
Problem solved.

 

[squib]

It will do it again, put the stop on the left and hold the timber on the left and it won't happen.

 

[themack]

I think the easiest thing to do though is to wait till the blade stops . Nothing will fly then.

 

[kgill]

Definitely let the blade stop spinning!!!
I've experience the same thing more times than I care to remember! Usually in the rush to get on with the job I let the blade move up while it's still spinning and I think the teeth catch the lose wood ie RHS / not secured or held side - im right handed and use that hand on the handle of the saw, with the left hand holding the timber. I guess the other thing I've learnt the hard way is don't push the work piece into the stop block too hard. All it takes is a fraction of a mm for the wood the bounce back off the stop and it catches a tooth spinning at god knows what speed for it to fly out and hit you or worse ruin your work. Another problem with making repeated cuts with a stop block are that by definition the long piece you are cutting into small bits needs support as it's bigger and unruly and will fall off the saw if not supported. So the bit touching the stop block that is unsupported is the bit you want and if it catches the blade it tends to ruin your work.

 

[Bingy man]

Definitely let the blade stop spinning!!!
I've experience the same thing more times than I care to remember! Usually in the rush to get on with the job I let the blade move up while it's still spinning and I think the teeth catch the lose wood ie RHS / not secured or held side - im right handed and use that hand on the handle of the saw, with the left hand holding the timber. I guess the other thing I've learnt the hard way is don't push the work piece into the stop block too hard. All it takes is a fraction of a mm for the wood the bounce back off the stop and it catches a tooth spinning at god knows what speed for it to fly out and hit you or worse ruin your work. Another problem with making repeated cuts with a stop block are that by definition the long piece you are cutting into small bits needs support as it's bigger and unruly and will fall off the saw if not supported. So the bit touching the stop block that is unsupported is the bit you want and if it catches the blade it tends to ruin your work.

Another issue pushing to hard into the stop is you can easily add a mm or 2 to your finished piece. I’m right handed as you so my right hand is operating the saw ,, and I’m feeding the timber length in from the left hand side of the blade up to the stop . I have a roller table that supports the long length set up on the left which takes care of the support and although I rarely use it for repeat cuts the clamp ( l h s ) . Blade spinning at full speed before engaging the timber and all stop before raising the blade . I also try to avoid cutting through a loose knot choosing to cut it out and discard it..

 

[Croolis]

It will do it again, put the stop on the left and hold the timber on the left and it won't happen.

Am I being dense? How can I do repeat cuts without measuring from a length of timber if I'm feeding from the left by putting a stop on the left end of the material you're cutting from? I mean, not much point in a stop if you're repeat measuring?

Set your stop block at say 320mm from the blade. Insert a loose block of 20mm timber. Run your workpiece into position. Remove the loose 20mm, make the cut.
Problem solved.

That's what I thought of earlier. Does doing that intefere with precision on the repeat cut, can anyone say?

 

[Croolis]

I've just realised in my original description I was calling the keeper the waste piece. Sorry, I was dead tired when I started typing this out . Look at my post #3 for exactly what I should have said.

 

[JSW]

Am I being dense? How can I do repeat cuts without measuring from a length of timber if I'm feeding from the left by putting a stop on the left end of the material you're cutting from? I mean, not much point in a stop if you're repeat measuring?

It's a bit counter intuitive. If you're right handed, the stop block goes on your left hand side, 300mm from the blade. The workpiece is butted up to the stop block, hold the 300mm piece with your left hand, operate the saw with the right hand, the rest of the workpiece is then free of being trapped or pinched by the blade.
As long as you keep hold of the 300mm piece with your left hand you can raise the blade back up to its resting position. Anything less than 300mm and you need to clamp the keeper piece, starts getting a little close to your hand otherwise.

 

[squib]

Yes as above, you can go shorter but be aware of your hand. It becomes more natural with time......as an extra when doing repeat cuts you need maximum attention as you get into the swing one can get complacent and ow moments may occur!!