Hi,
I bought a zero clearance insert for my Unisaw. This is the first time I've owned one, and I'm a bit puzzled as to how to make the slot. My first instinct was to lower the blade completely under the table, turn on the power, then slowly raise the blade with the new insert in place. However, even when the blade is at its lowest point, the bottom of the insert hits it. I couldn't possibly run the saw this way to get the slot started.
What am I missing??
TIA
-m
You aren't missing anything (yet).
Just lay the ZCTP into the opening (with the saw blade fully lowered). Carefully(!) hold the plate up with your fingers and start the saw blade spinning.
Be VERY careful now -- you want to continue "not missing anything"!
Lightly / gingerly / (insert your own phrase ) lower the plate onto the whirling blade. Press it on down 'til it lays level in the throat. Now begin to raise the blade on through the plate.
WHen you have it cut through, turn off the saw and remove the new zero clearance throat plate. Take a sharp chisel to the bottom side to clean off the accumulated crud-stuff.
While care and good fortune you will still "not be missing anything" and you'll have your ZCTP ready for use :-)
-- Steve
The Delta inserts have a clearance pre-cut.
- Nate
I was just relating to the aftermarket UHMW insert blank I worked on last week. It required a bit of bandsaw work to clear space for the splitter before I could even begin to lower it onto the table saw blade.
Lower it onto the blade? I always slowly raise the blade into the already fastened insert. Lowering the insert onto a blade sounds pretty risky: assuming you are talking about cutting the zero clearance throat.
LD
PLEASE NEVER LOWER ANYTHING ON TO THE BLADE!!!!!!!!!!
You may have purchased the wrong insert for your saw. The correct insert should not have this issue. You can make the insert thiner by either resawing it on a band saw or running it through a planer.
Whatever you do, please do not follow the recommendation of lowering it onto the whirling blade ~ that is IGNORANT!
This is generally the way I do it - you can also use the fence to ensure the insert is lowered parallel to the blade. An alternative is to mount a smaller diameter blade that allows the insert to be fully seated before turning the saw on but then you need to be sure both blades make the same kerf width.
"Steve" wrote in news:417c8710$1_4@127.0.0.1:
Or, much more safely, mount a blade from your 8" dado set, and cut the slot most of the way through that way.
Or, also safely, install the factory Unisaw insert, and double stick tape the zero clearance plate over it. Then clamp the sandwich to the table top with a tubafor and a couple of clamps, and raise your blade slowly through the zero clearance plate.
I use these methods all of the time with shop-made zero clearance inserts. I'm really nervous about the method Steve recommends...
You may want to google the archives regarding these inserts. There was a good thread, humourous and informative, on making these yourself, sometime in the last year or so. Originated by Unisaw A100, I believe.
Patriarch
Jeez, I missed the start of this. Unfriggin believable!
I think if you saw it done you'd not be so squeamish. The blade is fully lowered below the surface of the table- it's just that the blade won't let the very front of the insert fully seat by an amount just shy of
3/4" (I just went out and set up a mock kerf cutting). The rear of the insert is in the throat and resting on the rear lugs - you're only pivoting the front downward to fully seat on the front lugs. When you're done the blade is still below the top of the insert's surface so you aren't exposing yourself to a bare blade. Stand to the very side of the saw so that you can hold the back of the insert with one hand and lower the front with the other.What do you imagine could happen that would make this method so unsafe? The insert is secure left to right by the throat opening. It's registered and resting on the rear lugs - all downward motion (as I mentioned, about 3/4") of the insert is stopped once it hits the forward lugs and by then it's fully secured by the front of the throat opening.
It's really no different than a plunge cut on a table saw or a table-mounted router.
Other than having your hands far too close to the path of the blade? I may be over cautious, but I've got all my fingers. I've made several zero clearance inserts and in all cases I've manged to lower the blade enough to allow screwing the insert to the table prior to cutting the slot.
Something I'll definitely be checking if I buy another saw.
LD
I'll have to admit that I thought "is he friggin' kidding?" when the first person posted about lowering the insert by hand onto the blade. Hey, if he and Owen feel safe doing that, more power to them. I wouldn't feel safe doing it. But, as I think Owen mentioned, it's pretty simple matter to just throw the 8" blade from the dado kit on to make the cut, if need be.
todd
Steve responds:
You, sir, lack common sense. You have described an excellent way to lose a finger or two.
Use a smaller blade to start the cut. An 8-1/4" works fine, as does an 8" off a dado set. Even a 7-1/4" off a circular saw will do well in a pinch.
Make sure the zero clearance insert is held (I clamp a piece of 2x4 over mine, wide side down). Raise the small blade into the insert, until it is fully raised. Shut the saw down. Lower that blade and change to a 10". Repeat the process, including the holddown.
Do not EVER use your bare hands to place an item onto a spinning blade. NEVER.
Charlie Self "When we are planning for posterity, we ought to remember that virtue is not hereditary." Thomas Paine
Owen Lowe notes:
Yeah, it is. The piece is too small to grip safely.
Charlie Self "When we are planning for posterity, we ought to remember that virtue is not hereditary." Thomas Paine
You're nuts.
Why not throw a smaller blade in there to establish a pre-cut and then run the 10"? I know it's boring and safe but it sure beats cleaning blood off the walls when you only have stumps where fingers used to be.
-Brian
I think you forgot the step just prior to this.
"Be sure you are wearing a diaper".
UA100
Good? Humorous? Informative? Me? I think it must have been that Greg Millen guy.
Anyways, for anyone wanting to re-read, here it is.
UA100
The following presumes you have a right tilting Delta Unisaw. Please make the necessary adjustments for your make of saw, insert thickness and blade tilt direction.
How To Make A Zero Clearance Insert With Splitter:
1) Go to Home Depot/Lowes and give an eye up to the stack of 1/2" MDF.2) Find a sheet that hasn't been dinged by the fork lift tines during the twice weekly Warehouse Rodeo and Jousting Championship.
3) Wrestle the sheet off and onto one of the (insert color here) flat carts.4) Wheel it back to the nice man at the Safety Speed-Cut panel saw.
5) Instruct him to make cross cuts at about 32". You may choose to use another size(s). Exercise this option now.6) Load the cut sheets back onto the cart, stand in line, let everyone know how peeved you are that you are being made to stand in line, make an ass of yourself and then pay the nice people at the check out.
7) When back at the shop set aside one piece for a table saw sled to be built later. Set another aside for future projects or jigs and fixtures.8) With the last piece begin ripping the sheet into pieces
1/16"ish wider than your table saw blade insert.9) Cross cut the pieces 1/16"ish longer than your insert.
10) Make a template. Here's where people usually chime in to just use your present insert to make the new inserts. I prefer to make a template for reasons that will be made known shortly.11) Start with your OEM insert and trace a line around it onto one of the MDF blanks.
12) Band saw (jig saw) the rounded ends off.13) Go back to Home Depot/Lowes and buy some 3M (Scotch) No. 4011 Exterior Mounting Tape. It has a proper amount of tackiness but isn't so think that the template/item being cut will shift thus spoiling the cut.
14) Double face tape the MDF to the OEM insert with 4-pieces of tape 1" long. Press together using hand pressure.15) Load router table with router bit having a bearing on top. Raise bit until the cutter is a red cubic hair or so above the thickness of the MDF.
16) Run the MDF/OEM insert sandwich into the bit and trim off all edges and ends.17) Go back to Home Depot/Lowes and purchase a box of 1/2-8 flat head Phillips sheet metal screws.
18) Using the OEM insert to locate, drill and countersink the face of your template for four of these screws.19) Insert screws so that points just peek out by 1/32"ish.
20) Using this template take another of the MDF blanks and press the pointy end screw side onto the blank.21) Rout off the excess as you did above with the template and OEM insert.
22) Rinse and repeat until all blanks are routed.23) Drill and countersink the face of the MDF insert for leveling screws. Step 20 will have pre-located these for you. Insert 1/2-8 flat head Phillips screws into freshly drilled and countersunk holes so tips are just coming through.
24) Into the edge of each template drill and countersink a hole for a 3/4" course thread drywall screw of other screw of your choosing. Do the same with one screw on the end of the MDF insert. Be sure to oversize this hole so the screw does not split the MDF. This screw hole is not structural.25) Insert screws into freshly drilled and countersunk holes.
26) Place MDF insert into blade opening in table saw. Check for fit. Adjust leveling screws so insert is flush with the saw table. Adjust the edge screws in or out for perfect snug fit.26) Repeat the above with three blanks for every saw blade you own, i.e., you have four blades then fit up twelve inserts.
27) Using your dado set place onto the saw arbor the two outside cutters.28) Insert MDF insert into blade opening and park the saw fence over it but to the wide side away from the line of the dado set below.
29) Raise dado set until the cutters are just starting to bulge through the face of the MDF insert.30) Repeat until all inserts are done.
31) Replace dado cutters with your saw blade and repeat the raising through though this time raise the blade as high as it will go.32) Carefully measure from the fence side face of the saw blade to the fence side edge of the insert and set saw fence at that setting.
33) Feed one of the inserts into the saw blade for 1 1/2". Stop and withdraw.34) Set up porty planer and begin planing stock to a thickness that matches the kerf made in the last step. Note: Don't presume that you only need to plane the wood to the advertised blade kerf unless your saw has zero run out.
35) Cut and fit the freshly planed stock into the kerf. Let it stick out a minimum of 1/4" plus the thickness of whatever material you expect to be cutting, i.e., for 3/4" material you will want this to stand 1".36) Glue freshly trimmed, freshly planed stock into kerf slot in the MDF insert. When dry, insert MDF insert into saw blade opening and rip a piece of wood. Check to see that there is no gap between the wood and the freshly glued, freshly trimmed, freshly planed stock.
37) Repeat until all inserts for all inserts are done.38) Set aside balance of insert blanks to be used at a later date or for when you set up for dado cutting.
39) Post your horrible experience at Home Depot/Lowes on rec.woodorking and make an ass of yourself.UA100
That's not exactly true; it's quite common. The proper response is to put a single dado blade in the saw, then raise that blade through the insert. Whereas a 10" blade doesn't have the clearance, a 8" blade shouldn't have a bit of trouble.
Howdy,
You have lots of good suggestions already, but I will add another thought:
Shine a light into the saw to see if any crud is preventing lowering the blade a bit more. You may have all the clearance you need.
HTH,
Common problem with just about every brand of Tablesaw...even when lowered a 10 inch blade will not allow the insert to be lowered flush with the saws table ...
As others have said just use a smaller blade... I find that easier then using a router etc to precut a shallow grouve in the bottom of the insert...
Just remember to "clamp" down the insert (2 x 4's or using the fence...when you raise the blade...
Piece of cake really.....
Bob Griffiths >Hi,
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