I'm trying to figure out a good method for holding work down when cutting long dado's on my tablesaw. I can't mount board buddies or featherboards on my unifence because it will lift up (and I can't clamp the opposite end because I stupidly attached my outfeed table there without any t-track.) One thought I had was to build something that will span across my saw that I can then use for downward pressure.
Any thoughts?
Thanks,
first, get a roller support for the infeed side of things. this will keep the stock from dropping below the table and lifting out of the cut.
then rout a Tslot into your outfeed so's you can use a hold down on the end of the fence and a featherboard or springboard to control the stock. this won't work for really wide boards where the dado is away from the fence, but it will help for narrow ones.
keep a slab of mdf around for use as a weight for non-through cuts of flexible materials.
Thanks Bridger. If my outfeed was appleply like it should be I think a tslot would work, but it's 3/4" melamine particle board so I have concerns about getting a slot deep enough that it won't blow out the top, but shallow enough not to weaken the board too much...
Doesn't your fence still lift up? How is it held down on the outfeed end of the fence?
Thanks,
I had the same problem with the stock unifence, so I decided to get an aftermarket unifence...I think...it's called...mighty t track...yes I found it.
Don
You know...it doesn't, and it did with the unifence, but that's not why I got the new fence. It was because of the side to side flex. You got me. It probably should still flex up and down. If I remember correctly, I lightened up on the downward pressure that the board buddies put on the said wood. I think there was a post in the past regarding this issue and that was the suggestion someone made. Sorry, I haven't used the board buddies in a while. I don't think the downward pressure needs to be huge. The purpose of these devices isn't to smash the wood on the table, only to prevent kick back. It also has the added benifit of keeping the wood against the fence. I'm not a safety expert, but, from the little experience I've had with kick-back, you get in trouble when the wood gets on top of the blade.
On the new fence there is a t track on top. The board buddies attach to a (uhw?) plastic that fits in the track and then is tightened down with a bolt and a knob. The track runs the length of the fence, so I can place both board buddies anywhere along the fence, before and after the blade is perferable, I suppose.
I'm talking out of my butt a little because of my limited experience with safety issues, but maybe someone can add to the discussion. I may be way off base on backing off on the tension, but it worked for me. I certainly do not want to work unsafe. I like my ten fingers.
Don Folklore wrote
On Wed, 12 Oct 2005 15:38:56 -0500, with neither quill nor qualm, Folklore quickly quoth:
Route the outfeed table at a point suitable for holding down the unifence and mount a section of t-track in it. Duck soup.
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maybe make yourself some fairly long reaching dogs and sink a series of threaded inserts into the melamine to anchor them?
Can you just drill a hole or cut a notch in the outfeed table large enough to put a clamp through? The fence on my saw locks at both ends, When I want to keep a board close & tight to the work surface I usually clamp a block to the fence so that the board just slides under it, or use a featherboard clamped to the fence vertically.
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