I finished building and installing a splitter for my at least 40 year old Craftsman table saw. Last week, I came across a piece of brass that was eaxctly the guage of my saw blade - it slid into a kerf cut in a 2 x
4, but there was no daylight showing. I test it a couple of times, and slid in of its own weight. Oddly enough, if I tried ot push it in, it would jam if I wasnt' very careful- I think that when I pushed it, I was mis-aligning it slightly.I figured out a way to mount it. There was a screw hole in part of the mechanical piece that holds the arbor, about and inch or so clear of the back of the blade. I cut the piece of brass into a slight curve, and attached it with bolt through that hole. I'm doing a bad job of explaining this, but the bold is parallel to the arbor.
At any rate, I was playing around with nylon spacers, trying to figure out how I was going to get one cut/sanded that would hold the splitter at the proper distance was from the trunion, and in the same plane as the blade.
When I was at the hardware store, looking for a spacer after breaking one while tryint to cut it, I had a sudden brainstorm. Why not use a spring? I had already put a knife edge on the front of the splitter, and not only did a little play seem like not such a bad idea, it might even be a good idea.
I tried this, and it seemed to work perfected. The knife edge and spring seem to let the splitter "float" perfectly into the kerf of the wood. It certained looked like it was working correctly, and it allows me to use a splitter that is exactly as wide as the saw kerf, and not worry about somehow getting the splitter a littl mis-aligned.
Is this a good idea, or totally wacky?