The table saw is the forefront of many woodworking shops, however it can be daunting to use. If you don’t concentrate and follow the safety instructions, you could lose a finger. But with some practice, you can master the art of sawing and use your table saw for the majority of your projects. They can make any kind of precise straight cut, just not curved cuts.
Install the blade with the teeth facing towards you. Some blades have an arrow to show you which way to insert into the table. The blade fits on an arbour and is held in place with a washer and nut. Tighten the nut with a wrench. Install the riving knife. It prevents the wood from touching the back of the blade and helps prevent kickback.
Place the insert plate over the blade making sure it’s flush with the table top. An anti-kickback pawl can be inserted over the arbour. If your table comes with a guard, make sure you use it. Most table saw injuries are caused by kickback. A kickback is when the wood doesn’t move smoothly through the blade and twists. At the end of the wood, the blade grabs the offcut and throws it forward. Blades can spin at 3,000 RPM, so if it catches a piece of wood, it can turn it into a sharp, dangerous projectile. Stand to the side of a table saw blade rather than directly behind it. If kickback occurs, you aren’t in the direct line of fire and have some chance of avoiding the flying wood.
Always use a fence or mitre gauge to support the wood rather than moving a piece of wood through the saw freehand. You don’t have enough control. It also helps with keeping the wood square with the blade. Use a rip fence when the wood is longer than it is wide.
Check out the range of quality table saws and table saw accessories.
#1 Fitting the Blade Safely
There are many different table saw blades you can choose from but the most. General purpose or combination blade; 30 tooth or 50 tooth blade.Install the blade with the teeth facing towards you. Some blades have an arrow to show you which way to insert into the table. The blade fits on an arbour and is held in place with a washer and nut. Tighten the nut with a wrench. Install the riving knife. It prevents the wood from touching the back of the blade and helps prevent kickback.
Place the insert plate over the blade making sure it’s flush with the table top. An anti-kickback pawl can be inserted over the arbour. If your table comes with a guard, make sure you use it. Most table saw injuries are caused by kickback. A kickback is when the wood doesn’t move smoothly through the blade and twists. At the end of the wood, the blade grabs the offcut and throws it forward. Blades can spin at 3,000 RPM, so if it catches a piece of wood, it can turn it into a sharp, dangerous projectile. Stand to the side of a table saw blade rather than directly behind it. If kickback occurs, you aren’t in the direct line of fire and have some chance of avoiding the flying wood.
Always use a fence or mitre gauge to support the wood rather than moving a piece of wood through the saw freehand. You don’t have enough control. It also helps with keeping the wood square with the blade. Use a rip fence when the wood is longer than it is wide.
#2 Setting up to Make the Cut
If you set up an awkward cut and your gut instinct tells you it isn’t quite right, don’t make the cut. Reconfigure the wood and how you are standing, so you feel safer. Imagine where your hands and body will be while you are making the cut. Think about the beginning, the midpoint and importantly the end when you need to get the wood all the way through the saw, some distance from where you are standing.#3 Making a Rip Cut
The rip cut is the most common on table saws as it cuts with the grain. To get the right width measure from the fence to the blade’s teeth. If you have marked your wood with a cutting line, make sure you take into account the thickness of the blade (kerf width). Raise or lower the blade so that it sits a little higher than the thickness of the wood. While cutting keep your focus on the fence rather than the edge to make sure the wood is being pressed against it during the entire cut. A push stick or gripper helps keep your hands away from the blade and keep the pressure on the wood both against the fence and the table. Use the push stick on the wood which hasn’t been cut yet. Once the blade has passed, you can’t keep the pressure on the fence.#4 Making a Cross Cut
If you need to make a cross cut where you cut across the wood, use a mitre gauge fence. Line it up to the place you want to cut then feed it through the blade keeping both hands on the fence. If you are making multiple cuts to give you several pieces of wood of the same length. Screw a scrap of wood to your mitre fence to make it longer and clamp another small piece of scrap to mark the length you need. Butt your wood against the scrap piece and start cutting so you end up with the exact same length. If you are cutting small widths, use a scrap of block wood clamped to the fence as a stop block. This stops the wood from becoming caught between the fence and blade potentially causing a kickback.#5 Maintenance
To keep your tabletop smooth, apply wax at least every few weeks. You will notice how easily your wood slides over the table. The wax will also reduce oxidation and keep your table looking good. A table saw creates the most mess of all the tools in your workshop. Fine shavings and dust fall on the floor, become airborne and settle in every nook and cranny. If you want to keep your work area and air cleaner, invest in a dust collector.Check out the range of quality table saws and table saw accessories.
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