Tablesaw Safety question!

I have a Shop Fox 3hp cabinet saw equipped with an Osborne EB3 miter gauge with a stop for repetitive cutting. The blade is aligned dead on parallel to the miter slot using a calibration plate and dial indicator for reference. When using the miter guage I am advancing the miter gauge and work piece until it is cut. After the cut is completed, I retract the workpiece with miter gauge towards me, I don't pass the board past the rear of the blade and then turn off the saw. I feel kind of unsafe doing it this way because I do have a trapped piece of wood risking a huge kickback. I see Norm do it the way I described every week. I would like to have some opinions on this, how do you guys do it? What is the normal method of crosscutting with a miter gauge? Incidently, there is no play in the slot on the miter guage, Zero! TIA.......

Gene

Reply to
EugeneC173
Loading thread data ...

When I'm not using the stop I'll retract the miter gauge after slightly moving the stock away from the blade. If I'm using a stop the the stock is removed off the back of the saw or the saw is shut off with the blade stopped before I retract the miter gauge.

-- Jack Novak Buffalo, NY - USA (Remove "SPAM" from email address to reply)

Reply to
Nova

Ditto Nova

Jim

Incidently, there

Reply to
James D Kountz

Incidently, there

Reply to
Bruce Adams

Good technique suggests not drawing the workpiece back along the spinning blade, ever. You can get a kickback from cut-offs, too, even without the fence there. DAMHIKT. Tom >Subject: Re: Tablesaw Safety question!

Someday, it'll all be over....

Reply to
Tom

I take advantage of a bit of play in the slot, cutting with pressure right, drawing back with pressure left. If I forget, no great sweat, as the edges of the teeth are the only possible point of contact, and they are pushing the piece into the table.

Greater danger lies in reaching to clear the cutoff.

Reply to
George

Not sure wha tyou are saying. "Trapped piece" is a clue that you are sliding the piece with your miter gauge with the piece sliding against the fence while passing it through the blade. That's situation should be avoided by clamping an alignment board against the fence such that the piece leaves that alignment board before the piece reaches the saw blade. Small pieces can vibrate toward the back of the blade and fly off in any sirection too. I read that a table saw blade runs at 100 MPH.

Reply to
Phisherman

Yeah, that's about right. On a 10-inch blade running at 3000 RPM, the tip speed works out to slightly over 89 MPH.

Reply to
Roy Smith

Yeah. It is tempting to take away the cutoff piece. Norm gave me the willies a couple times remove the cut-off piece with his fingers. I either turn off the saw and "freeze" until the blade stops or slide the cutoff away from the blade using one of my narrow pushsticks. I keep 3 or 4 different pushsticks on my Beisemeyer fence, wher ethey are easy to use and convenient. Safety has a lot to do with working without being in a rush.

Reply to
Phisherman

The author of one of the table saw books I read uses blasts of compressed air to clear cutoffs. It is especially handy when using a pattern jig that covers the right side of the blade.

-- Mark

Reply to
Mark Jerde

No, the piece is trapped between the stop on the fence and the blade. The fence isn't in the picture.

Gene

Reply to
EugeneC173

You make a very good point, the stock really can't rotate into the blade with the miter gauge behind it. Any other opinions on this?

Gene

Reply to
EugeneC173

Jack,

Your method would be the absolute safest method. Thanks for your input.....

Gene

Reply to
EugeneC173

True. One wrong move though and OUCH the nice clean cut edge could have a big nick or so could your head.

Cutting a 1" wide piece, maybe I'll bring it back, cutting a 10" wide piece, no, I'm not going to and in fact cannot because my pawls prevent it. I'd still not do it anyway once past the blade that far. Ed

Reply to
Edwin Pawlowski

The problem is, because you are retracting the miter gauge, it's in front of the stock due to the direction of travel. The stock can easily rotate off the gauge.

-- Jack Novak Buffalo, NY - USA (Remove "SPAM" from email address to reply)

Reply to
Nova

HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.