Kickback

[Puckdropper]

You know how you should always stand beside the blade and not behind it? And when you make a cut where there will be a little offcut, you set it up so it's on the free side of the blade?

That saved me from injury the other night. I made one mistake: I didn't use a zero clearance insert on the cut, a 45 degree angle cut in plywood. The thin spear fell slightly between the blade and insert and was picked up by the blade and thrown backwards. It was there and then it wasn't!

I found the spear had punched its way through a air fitting package (not the fitting, just the thin plastic package) and stopped about 10" after it exited the other side.

Puckdropper

[Noons]

Yikes! That was close!

[Bill]

Congratulations! Take care!

Bill

[G. Ross]

Glad it turned out OK. I've found that being lucky is as good as being smart sometimes. I never saw a 45 deg. zero clearance insert. Guess if I cut a lot of 45's I would think about making one.

[bnwelch]

Congratulations on the fortunate results...I am trying to think how I would fabricate a 45 degree zero clearance insert...seems to me it might make se nse to make more than one, as the height of the blade dictates both the loc ation and size of the slot...at least on my table saw it would...

[Puckdropper]

[e-mail] wrote in news: [e-mail]:

My entire blade & motor assembly rotates, so the blade still moves straight up and down, it's just the axis has turned to be 45 degrees to the table. My RAS is set up as you describe, the height of the blade determines exactly where the cut occurs.

It would be rather difficult to make with a saw that worked that way. There's another way to approach this cut, though: Set your saw up so the blade leaves no offcut. Repeat until you hit the desired angle/dimension.

Puckdropper

[Spalted Walt]

[Leon]

Glad you were not hurt!

But truthfully anywhere on that side of the saw can be a risk. I was cutting wooden lattice down from 4' to 3'. One of the little pieces that was not securely stapled came back at a 45 degree and and nailed me.

[Leon]

45 Degree "angle", not 45 degree bevel.

BUT my saw stop came with a closed insert, I would not say zero but very close to zero. Anyway you can tilt the blade and not damage it or the insert. It has a 45 degree relief on the bottom side.

[Puckdropper]

Leon wrote in news: [e-mail]:

Good point. The area in front of the blade is definitely the red zone, extreme danger. The areas on either side would be orange zones: still dangerous, just not as likely to be hit.

Puckdropper

[woodchucker]

Glad your ok. I picked up a leather welding apron at HF years ago. I use it sometimes in the shop. Wish I had kept that one for WW only, and didn't dirty it up welding and grinding. The new ones are not as nice.

But the leather I hope will slow or prevent a puncture if it ever happens. Just have to start using it again. Because SHIT HAPPENS.

[krw]

No, people make their own luck. This case is a perfect example.

[Brewster]

I made one for my saw, definitely a worthwhile addition.

Problems are you can't push down the insert on the fully retracted blade like you do with a standard insert (my blade sits only about 1/4" below the surface when fully retracted and my inserts are 1/2" BB ply).

I ended up installing an 8" dado blade side cutter to get the insert installed and the bevel cut started. I then put in my 10" blade and finished cutting through the insert.

As others have mentioned here, don't try to return your blade to 90 degrees while the 45 degree insert is still installed, you'll bend your blade 8^)

-BR

[Leon]

SawStop has a bevel at the bottom and opposite side of the blade bevel tilt direction on their zero clearance insert.

I wonder if you could make one by simply making a zero clearance insert in the traditional manner but lowering the blade so that the teeth are just at the top of the insert and then tilting the blade "while the saw is running".

You would have raise the blade multiple times as you progressed through the bevel but that should only take a few minutes.

If your saw is set up correctly the center of the blade pivot should be at the surface of the table. The SawStop zero insert can be used at any angle.