Table saw question

[Chris_belgium]

I've recently bought an old cast iron table saw, but been having trouble getting good results, If I try to saw longer pieces, the piece starts to wander away from the fence, it stays in contact in the beginning of the fence, but at the end of the fence I can see a little gap.
I have checked and the fence is 0.15mm out at the far end of the blade, could this be the cause, I remember reading somewhere on this forum that it used to be standard practise to have the fence out just a touch to prevent kickback?

What could be the problem, bad technique on my part, or is something setup wrong. Have been thinking of investing in some of those magswitch featherboards, might be the solution.

Regards, Chris

 

[RobertMP]

I'd be interested by any replies on technique too. My saw is only an Axi TS200 but cutting largish boards I notice the edge wandering away from the fence a little. I can steer it back in line and back to the fence but the wander is noticeable when the cut edge is against the fence for a second cut.

Not sure if a longer fence is the answer as it currently is like a scaled down version of yours and being quite short is hard to maintain contact when feeding a board through.

With a hand held portable saw and saw board I was used to cutting panels to final size. Now if I need accuracy I have to cut oversize then recut when the panel is manageable.

Ripping timber I've taken to using a couple of plastic feather edges if accuracy is important.

 

[Doctor]

Is the blade sharp?

 

[jasonB]

Also check the riving knife is not rubbing on one side of the kerf

Jason

 

[jimi43]

I would say it's the blade from the distant view it looks like it might have seen better days. A fresh blade never hurts.

Kickback can be reduced by using a sub-fence....one that is fixed to the existing fence but steps the work out a tad and only extends as far as the blade.....

The riving knife alignment is important as Jason suggests, if off it may guide the work off line. Ensure that the riving knife is aligned with the blade and that the blade is the correct thickness for it. The thickness of the riving knife needs to be midway between the kerf thickness and the blade body thickness.

Jim

 

[sometimewoodworker]

I've recently bought an old cast iron table saw, but been having trouble getting good results, If I try to saw longer pieces, the piece starts to wander away from the fence, it stays in contact in the beginning of the fence, but at the end of the fence I can see a little gap.
I have checked and the fence is 0.15mm out at the far end of the blade, could this be the cause, I remember reading somewhere on this forum that it used to be standard practise to have the fence out just a touch to prevent kickback?

What could be the problem, bad technique on my part, or is something setup wrong. Have been thinking of investing in some of those magswitch featherboards, might be the solution.

Regards, Chris

The first thing I would do is get a blade with a better tooth count.

I have no idea what the blade you have is designed for (your picture isn't sharp enough to see the geomertry) but it probably isn't wood.

You need a blade with far fewer teeth probably 1/4 of the present number would be a fine cross cut blade.

and for a rip then 1 in 6 or 8 would be enough.

The current blade is probably dirty and will gum up quickly use with wood

As for the fence if it 0.15mm closer to the blade at the far end then it is bad. if it is further away from the blade then it may not be a problem.

 

[Steve Maskery]

Yes, that most certainly is not the right blade for ripping. Sort that out, fit the right riving knife for the job and then see how it performs.

It looks like a very solid machine, so you should be able to get it to sing.

Please make a guard, though.

Cheers
Steve

 

[jasonB]

Please make a guard, though.

Why, its got an overhead guard, just needs lowering a bit.

Jason

 

[Steve Maskery]

Ah! I didn't spot that! I thought that was part of something behind. Oops.
It's just a bit high then

S

 

[Chems]

Its not high at all, on the picture where he is cutting its down right to the work piece.

Bloody HSE nazi's!

 

[Benchwayze]

Looks like a Wadkin. Great saw, but it does need a new blade by the looks of things. A ripping blade is the best bet, or a combination blade if you want to use it for both cuts.

Then a proper set-up would be a good idea.

Blade should be parallel to the mitre-guide channel
Fence also should be parallel to the mitre-guide channel.
Blade should be set at a true 90 degrees to the table.
Riving knife set properly.

Depth of cut: Teeth should project through the timber by just enough to cut right through.
The guard seems ok to me,

HTH

John

 

[Chris_belgium]

Bloody HSE nazi's!

So true on this site , since I started reading this forum, I'm scared of using any kind of powertool and even some hand tools :twisted: Even have nightmares that I'm gonna die of some horrible disease caused by dust , gues on this site the glass is always half empty on HSE matters !

The blade has one tooth angled left and another angled right, now that I think of it, it looks exactly the same as the blade we used to cut pvc window profiles with on a former job. I was planning on buying a new blade anyway so I'll try that first and see what happens. Thanks for the advice!

 

[Chems]

Bloody HSE nazi's!

The blade has one tooth angled left and another angled right, now that I think of it, it looks exactly the same as the blade we used to cut pvc window profiles with on a former job. I was planning on buying a new blade anyway so I'll try that first and see what happens. Thanks for the advice!

I think thats common on all blades, at least all the ones I have, you mean the top of tips of the teeth?

 

[jasonB]

Just about every blade will have tips pointed in alternate directions. If it is like a UPVC blade be careful as they are usually negative rake and can kick back when used in a table saw.

Jason

 

[mtr1]

It looks like a very good quality(Martin) dedicated Rip saw to me, with a ripping fence, and would take a much bigger blade too. I've used several before and I'm not sure how accurate they are meant to be, as they are for ripping to rough widths prior to more machining on Planer then Thicknesser.

 

[Chris_belgium]

It looks like a very good quality(Martin) dedicated Rip saw to me, with a ripping fence, and would take a much bigger blade too. I've used several before and I'm not sure how accurate they are meant to be, as they are for ripping to rough widths prior to more machining on Planer then Thicknesser.

What is the structural difference between a cabinet saw and a dedicated rip saw?

As you can see there are attachments for a sliding table presumably meant to cut sheet goods, wich would make it a cabinet saw?

A bit confused right now

 

[mtr1]

Do you have the attachments for the sliding table? and the sliding table? or is it for an attachment for sliding larger timber for ripping? All I can say is.... thats a rip saw, I'm not saying you couldn't use to cross cut with. I've seen one other on here using a large rip saw for what your proposing. I guess The biggest give away if I'm correct between the two saws will be the power of the motor if its about 3hp then its a cabinet saw, if its over that and in the 5hp-10hp range its a rip saw.

 

[Benchwayze]

It looks like a very good quality(Martin) dedicated Rip saw to me, with a ripping fence, and would take a much bigger blade too. I've used several before and I'm not sure how accurate they are meant to be, as they are for ripping to rough widths prior to more machining on Planer then Thicknesser.

On closer examination of the name, yes, I can now see it's a Martin. I blame 71 year old eyes, and lack of 'inertia' to stir my stumps, and visit an optician!

I've no doubt this saw could be used for lots of operations given care and the right blades. I wish I had room for such a saw for sure!


Cheers

John

 

[mtr1]

Heres the other example of someone using a rip saw for other operations with sucess.

https://www.ukworkshop.co.uk/forums/table-saw-side-extension-wip-t41173.html

 

[OldWood]

Can I recommend a nifty little computer utility I've just been using to zoom in and confirm that the name is Martin and that the blade looks much more like a gear wheel than a saw blade !! What in the earth would such a fine toothed blade of this diameter be used for, with teeth that look triangular?

The utility is Gadwin Printscreen - I'll leave anyone interested to google for it. Apart from using it to zoom in on small areas as here, it's main use is to capture selectable small areas of the screen and extract them as a graphics file (jpg, etc). I only found it a month or so ago and have found it very useful.

Rob