Board Buddies direction of rotation

[J. Clarke]

The descriptions I can find for "Board Buddies" say that the yellow ones rotate clockwise and the green ones counterclockwise. That's nice, but it's useless information without their telling you which side of the thing you're looking at when it rotates that direction. Hence the following question:

If I have here a table saw with the fence to the right of the blade as I stand in front of (i.e. on the side from which one feeds stock) the saw, do I need the yellow board buddies or the orange board buddies?

[Bernard Randall]

If you really want BBs for your TS it's the Yellows. Depending on the type of work I found them of very limited value and got magnetic featherboards that get far more use.

Bernard R

[rick]

I've had exactly the opposite experience. I've tried magnetic feather boards in the past and found them unsatisfactory. I recently purchased a setof yellow board buddies and mounted them on a metal plate that will slide into the slots on the top of my Vega fence. They are mounted about 12 inches apart. I position the plate so on bb is on the infeed side of the blade and one is on the outfeed side, just past the rear of the blade. When properly adjusted they work great and I can take them on and off the fence in just a couple of seconds. Only negatives I have noticed is they get in the way of a pushstick when ripping really narrow stock.

Rick

[Bernard Randall]

Mine were mounted on the top of a Bies, about the same configuration as yours, the problems I found were the plastic cams kept on getting jammed and there wasn't enough lateral movement to get the roller where I wanted it, maybe OK with a lower fence. Now they sit mainly gathering dust but recently I fitted them to my router fence and occasionally use them to put some down pressure if boards aren't truly flat.

Different horses and all that.

Bernard R

[John Crea]

Depends on what side of the fence you are cutting with.

If cutting to the LEFT of the fence, then use the clockwise board buddies

If cutting to the RIGHT side of the fence, then use the counter clockwise board buddies

John

[J. Clarke]

Please confirm that the yellows are correct for the fence on the _right_.

I'm not planning on using them in conjunction with a table saw, I just want to verify the direction of rotation before I order.

[J. Clarke]

Thank you very much, exactly what I needed to know.

[Alan W]

Rick:

What method do you use to finish clearing stock with the Board Buddies on the narrower stock? I've found a second scrap piece of same thickness material is a bit awkward, but cannot think of much else to use.

Also how much tension do you put on the downward pressure of the BBs? I've found if I put as much as I want to, I have great difficulty getting the material under the second one and end up with only slight downward pressure.

Recently I've installed a Micro-JIG Splitter to assist the board buddies in an attempt to keep from burning the edge going through the saw.

Alan

[rick]

Alan,

I find that if I adjust the BB's about 1/4" lower than the thickness of the stock they seem to work well. I don't use a great deal of spring pressure, you still need to use reasonable care to keep the stock against the fence.

As far as clearing the narrow stock, I find if I position the front roller a couple of inches in front of the leading edge of the blade I can use a push stick to reach over the front roller once the rear edge of the stock has cleared the roller and push it clear of the blade. If I'm just cutting one piece, I stop the saw and release the pressure on the rear roller and pull the stock free. If I am cutting multiple pieces, once the piece is clear of the blade I go ahead and feed the next piece, letting it push the previous piece clear of the rear roller and onto the outfeed table.

Rick