Tablesaw under-blade light?

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I first line up my eye to both the leading and trailing edges of the apropriate side of the blade (the teeth, not the body of the blade) and then, without moving my head, adjust the mark on the piece to line up. All this with one eye closed. I don't see the problem with paralax. I get cuts right where I want them...

Bob Davis, thanks for the pics in abpw, cool guard. Am I right, the sides pivot up independently with the top remaining stationary? Much better & simpler design than I've seen before! Ever considered/tried connecting dust collection to the top? Seems I get too much dust, what with a zero clearance plate.

Reply to
Gary DeWitt
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Bridger:

I think he's free handing the cut (without the fence) in which case maybe it ought to be pointed out to him that maybe that's as stoopid as dropping a zero clearance insert onto a whirring blade.

OK, maybe it's just me.

UA100

Reply to
Unisaw A100

hell, I close my eyes whenever I use my tablesaw anyways.

Can't stand the sight of blood.

Reply to
bridger

Nope, gotta disagree. The would definitely be dumber, and dropping an insert onto a moving blade would be pretty stupid.

PK

Reply to
Paul Kierstead

nobody ever accused me of being real bright, I guess. I've done _both_ of those things, though not at the same time. Hell, I've done far more dangerous things and still have all 10 fingers.

some of the stuff I've done should have killed me. I guess I've learned a thing or two as I've gotten older. I'm certainly not advocating for instance freehanding a pocket plunge cut on the tablesaw, even though I have successfully done it. just because I'm an idiot doesn't mean everyone else has to be too....

Reply to
bridger

I'm good at sawing x amount of material off the end of my tape measure while setting the fence x amount away from the blade. Maybe he's not freehanding a cut but using the miter gauge. If you do put a light below the table be aware of starting a fire. Usually what I do is eyeball close and then edge up on the mark by moving the piece slightly in a series of short cuts. Sometimes I'll put a scrap in the miter gauge and make a cut, then slide it back and using the cut edge scratch a mark on the table top with something sharp to show exactly where the cut is, which you can do for both sides of the blade. You can also use masking tape and a sharp pencil (I use # 2 1/2 pencils) but that doesn't last long.

Reply to
Sam

That's exactly how it works. The sides were stolen from the factory blade guard and simply bolted to a wide 1/2" thick piece of Lexan. The whole gizmo is connected to a counterweighted sliding beam that hangs from the ceiling. The articulating sides handle all kinds of evils. For example, cutting a 1" wide strip with the left side of the guard fully down and the right side fully up to clear the fence.

I'll be posting my solution to dust collecting pretty soon. Yes I had dust collection on this guard and it worked pretty well for ripping. But I encountered too many situations where I could not use it effectively (crosscutting, using a GRRipper, using Grip-tites, using Tenon Jig, etc.). I decoupled dust collection from the guard - watch for my pictures.

Bob

Reply to
Bob

Appears to be a good idea. It was in the shop hints section of FWW many years back. Some reader wrote in suggesting it. Think he used a plain old 40 watt with a switch. I'd worry about a dust explosion myself. -Rick

Reply to
Sbtypesetter

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