I have a 25 year old Craftsman contractor saw that I have done much to
improve including machined pulleys, leg stabilizers and even upgraded
to a very nice rip fence called Align-A-Rip. It still has the 1 hp
motor. My problem with ripping is that the board always seems to
wander from the fence beyond the blade. Is my hand position at fault?
Using a push stick for the last part of ripping makes it even worse.
What techniques do you use?
Thanks,
Rocky
Generally, I don't use a featherboard. I've done about the best I can
with blade alignment with this saw. I do find that pushing from the
corner farthest from the fence helps but maybe I'll try the
featherboard approach too. Which brand do you find to be good? I also
think that maybe the low power of the saw make me push with more force
to make the cut and that contributes to the wandering too. Any
thoughts on that?
Rocky
On Feb 2, 12:52 pm, "Mark Jerde" <[email protected]> wrote:
> "Rocky" <[email protected]> wrote in message
>
> news:[email protected]...
>
> >I have a 25 year old Craftsman contractor saw that I have done much to
> > improve including machined pulleys, leg stabilizers and even upgraded
> > to a very nice rip fence called Align-A-Rip. It still has the 1 hp
> > motor. My problem with ripping is that the board always seems to
> > wander from the fence beyond the blade. Is my hand position at fault?
> > Using a push stick for the last part of ripping makes it even worse.
> > What techniques do you use?
>
> If you have a splitter or riving knife behind your blade make sure that's
> not the problem. My table saw was driving me nuts because I was having the
> same kind of problem, the durn saw couldn't rip straight. The longer the
> board, the worse it was. It turned out that the splitter was slightly out
> of alignment, forcing the wood to move away from the fence on rips. I had
> installed the guard per the mfgrs instruction, with a straightedge, but it
> wasn't good enough. When I got the splitter in better alignment the rip
> problem went away.
>
> I discovered the problem by accident, using a lightweight sliding cutoff
> table. If anyone wants it, I'll write up how to make a couple jigs to test
> for this problem.
>
> -- Mark
Thanks to all who have given their views. Much to consider and try.
Rocky
Rocky wrote:
> Generally, I don't use a featherboard. I've done about the best I can
> with blade alignment with this saw. I do find that pushing from the
> corner farthest from the fence helps but maybe I'll try the
> featherboard approach too. Which brand do you find to be good? I also
> think that maybe the low power of the saw make me push with more force
> to make the cut and that contributes to the wandering too. Any
> thoughts on that?
>
You can't put a featherboard behind the blade. It'll push the kerf shut.
Take a look at these. I've used them for many years.
http://www.woodworker.com/cgi-bin/FULLPRES.exe?PARTNUM=96974
--
It's turtles, all the way down
In article <W%[email protected]>, "DanG" <[email protected]> wrote:
>I suspect you have a saw alignment problem
>
>Is the blade parallel to the miter slot in the saw table?
>Parallel within .009" or less!
Should be a lot closer than that. I shoot for +/- 0.001.
>
>Is the fence parallel to the slot? Again, within thousandths.
Doesn't have to be parallel -- just can't have less clearance at the back of
the blade than it has at the front. This has been cussed and discussed
backward, forward, inside out, and upside down here, and it seems that
everybody has a different opinion about aligning the fence. Consensus seems to
be that over 1/32" of toe-out is too much. *Any* toe-in is dangerous. Between
that, though... some guys advocate dead parallel, some say 1/64" toe-out, some
say a few thou. I try to keep mine around two or three thou toe-out.
--
Regards,
Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)
It's time to throw all their damned tea in the harbor again.
Have you checked the parallelism of the blade and fence?
If the diverge to the outfeed side, the board will wander away.
Wood with lots of stress can bend in wierd ways when being ripped.
Have you tried a feather board?
Do you push mostly from the back corner of the blade on the side away from
the fence?
That can apply a gentle torque to hold the board against the fence.
WL
"Rocky" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>I have a 25 year old Craftsman contractor saw that I have done much to
> improve including machined pulleys, leg stabilizers and even upgraded
> to a very nice rip fence called Align-A-Rip. It still has the 1 hp
> motor. My problem with ripping is that the board always seems to
> wander from the fence beyond the blade. Is my hand position at fault?
> Using a push stick for the last part of ripping makes it even worse.
> What techniques do you use?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Rocky
>
"Rocky" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>I have a 25 year old Craftsman contractor saw that I have done much to
> improve including machined pulleys, leg stabilizers and even upgraded
> to a very nice rip fence called Align-A-Rip. It still has the 1 hp
> motor. My problem with ripping is that the board always seems to
> wander from the fence beyond the blade. Is my hand position at fault?
> Using a push stick for the last part of ripping makes it even worse.
> What techniques do you use?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Rocky
>
There are some scary suggeations and some good one so far and then there is
Swingman's suggestion.
First of all, regardless of what appears to be going on, are the results
what you want?
If the board comes out straight and parallel and the width you want, the
fence could be bowed away from the blade on the far end.
1. ABSOLUTELY DO NOT use any kind of feather board on the side of the board
past the front cutting edge of the blade.
2. Make sure your fence is straight.
3. Make sure your saw is properly set up with your miter slot and fence
parallel to the blade.
4. Because a lot of wood will move or bend after it has been cut use a
splitter to prevent the wood from being sawed again by the back side of the
blade.
5. Be sure that your wood has a STRAIGHT edge against the fence and remains
against the front end of the fence through out the cut.
I suspect you have a saw alignment problem
Is the blade parallel to the miter slot in the saw table?
Parallel within .009" or less!
Is the fence parallel to the slot? Again, within thousandths.
If you are sure you have it set up correctly, you might be
interested in a set of Board Buddies or learn to pressure the work
piece to the fence by the direction and way you push..
--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
DanG
A live Singing Valentine quartet,
a sophisticated and elegant way to say I LOVE YOU!
[email protected] (local)
http://www.singingvalentines.com/ (national)
"Rocky" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>I have a 25 year old Craftsman contractor saw that I have done
>much to
> improve including machined pulleys, leg stabilizers and even
> upgraded
> to a very nice rip fence called Align-A-Rip. It still has the 1
> hp
> motor. My problem with ripping is that the board always seems to
> wander from the fence beyond the blade. Is my hand position at
> fault?
> Using a push stick for the last part of ripping makes it even
> worse.
> What techniques do you use?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Rocky
>
"Rocky" wrote in message
> I have a 25 year old Craftsman contractor saw that I have done much to
> improve including machined pulleys, leg stabilizers and even upgraded
> to a very nice rip fence called Align-A-Rip. It still has the 1 hp
> motor. My problem with ripping is that the board always seems to
> wander from the fence beyond the blade. Is my hand position at fault?
> Using a push stick for the last part of ripping makes it even worse.
> What techniques do you use?
The pertinent question that has yet to be asked, or answered:
How does the resultant cut _measure_ up?
IOW, when measuring your workpiece after the rip, is it at the CORRECT
dimension/width throughout its entire length that you set the fence for?
Answering that question will more than likely lead to some solutions for
you.
--
www.e-woodshop.net
Last update: 1/27/07
"Wilson" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Have you checked the parallelism of the blade and fence?
> If the diverge to the outfeed side, the board will wander away.
> Wood with lots of stress can bend in wierd ways when being ripped.
> Have you tried a feather board?
> Do you push mostly from the back corner of the blade on the side away from
> the fence?
> That can apply a gentle torque to hold the board against the fence.
> WL
Wander away from a diverging fence? That would be into the blade, correct?
It will go in the direction it's pushed, regardless divergence after the
blade. The lumber must, however, be reasonably straight for the fence to
work. Nothing more frustrating than a bowed edge.
I have a featherboard with a handle that I like to use in the left hand.
Fits all widths of boards easily, and allows that bit of pressure against
the fence in front of the blade which is all you need.
I also favor a shoe type push stick over the sickle types, because it
controls lift, too.
I had already suggested Board Buddies:
<http://www.rockler.com/ecom7/product_details.cfm?offerings_id=11262&cookietest=1>
Upgrade the motor.
Use a narrow kerf blade
Make sure the blade is sharp.
--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
DanG
A live Singing Valentine quartet,
a sophisticated and elegant way to say I LOVE YOU!
[email protected] (local)
http://www.singingvalentines.com/ (national)
"Rocky" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Generally, I don't use a featherboard. I've done about the best
> I can
> with blade alignment with this saw. I do find that pushing from
> the
> corner farthest from the fence helps but maybe I'll try the
> featherboard approach too. Which brand do you find to be good?
> I also
> think that maybe the low power of the saw make me push with more
> force
> to make the cut and that contributes to the wandering too. Any
> thoughts on that?
>
> Rocky
>
>
"Rocky" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>I have a 25 year old Craftsman contractor saw that I have done much to
> improve including machined pulleys, leg stabilizers and even upgraded
> to a very nice rip fence called Align-A-Rip. It still has the 1 hp
> motor. My problem with ripping is that the board always seems to
> wander from the fence beyond the blade. Is my hand position at fault?
> Using a push stick for the last part of ripping makes it even worse.
> What techniques do you use?
If you have a splitter or riving knife behind your blade make sure that's
not the problem. My table saw was driving me nuts because I was having the
same kind of problem, the durn saw couldn't rip straight. The longer the
board, the worse it was. It turned out that the splitter was slightly out
of alignment, forcing the wood to move away from the fence on rips. I had
installed the guard per the mfgrs instruction, with a straightedge, but it
wasn't good enough. When I got the splitter in better alignment the rip
problem went away.
I discovered the problem by accident, using a lightweight sliding cutoff
table. If anyone wants it, I'll write up how to make a couple jigs to test
for this problem.
-- Mark
In article <[email protected]>, "Edwin Pawlowski" <[email protected]> wrote:
>I also use a magnetic featherboard. Keeping the board in line before the
>blade certainly helps keep it aligned after the blade. My pushstick is a
>good sized one with a grip like a hand saw handle (I traced it from a saw)
>so it can be held down firmly over the board.
Magnetic featherboard may not work on his 25-yo Craftsman contractor saw -- a
lot of those had cast-aluminum tops.
--
Regards,
Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)
It's time to throw all their damned tea in the harbor again.
"efgh" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:mGHwh.27218$Oa.23157@edtnps82...
>
> "Rocky" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
>>I have a 25 year old Craftsman contractor saw that I have done much to
>> improve including machined pulleys, leg stabilizers and even upgraded
>> to a very nice rip fence called Align-A-Rip. It still has the 1 hp
>> motor. My problem with ripping is that the board always seems to
>> wander from the fence beyond the blade. Is my hand position at fault?
>> Using a push stick for the last part of ripping makes it even worse.
>> What techniques do you use?
>>
>> Thanks,
>>
>> Rocky
>>
>
> Wouldn't a splitter just past the blade that's parallel to the fence side
> of the blade be enough to stop this?
>
>
That's what it's supposed to do. It may merely force a broader curve with a
bowed edge, though. The vintage of the saw probably means no splitter,
though a nail-type ad-hoc splitter in a plywood insert works well.
"Rocky" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>I have a 25 year old Craftsman contractor saw that I have done much to
> improve including machined pulleys, leg stabilizers and even upgraded
> to a very nice rip fence called Align-A-Rip. It still has the 1 hp
> motor. My problem with ripping is that the board always seems to
> wander from the fence beyond the blade. Is my hand position at fault?
> Using a push stick for the last part of ripping makes it even worse.
> What techniques do you use?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Rocky
>
Wouldn't a splitter just past the blade that's parallel to the fence side of
the blade be enough to stop this?
"Rocky" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>I have a 25 year old Craftsman contractor saw that I have done much to
> improve including machined pulleys, leg stabilizers and even upgraded
> to a very nice rip fence called Align-A-Rip. It still has the 1 hp
> motor. My problem with ripping is that the board always seems to
> wander from the fence beyond the blade. Is my hand position at fault?
> Using a push stick for the last part of ripping makes it even worse.
> What techniques do you use?
Do you have an outfeed table? That helps support the wood as it leaves the
saw itself. For long pieces, there are rollers and other types of supports.
I also use a magnetic featherboard. Keeping the board in line before the
blade certainly helps keep it aligned after the blade. My pushstick is a
good sized one with a grip like a hand saw handle (I traced it from a saw)
so it can be held down firmly over the board.
"Rocky" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> I have a 25 year old Craftsman contractor saw that I have done
much to
> improve including machined pulleys, leg stabilizers and even
upgraded
> to a very nice rip fence called Align-A-Rip. It still has the
1 hp
> motor. My problem with ripping is that the board always seems
to
> wander from the fence beyond the blade. Is my hand position at
fault?
> Using a push stick for the last part of ripping makes it even
worse.
> What techniques do you use?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Rocky
Not to belabor the obvious...but are you using a feather board to
keep the work piece from moving away from the fence??
Len
On 1 Feb 2007 21:05:36 -0800, "Rocky" <[email protected]> wrote:
>Generally, I don't use a featherboard. I've done about the best I can
>with blade alignment with this saw. I do find that pushing from the
>corner farthest from the fence helps but maybe I'll try the
>featherboard approach too. Which brand do you find to be good?
Brand? You can make one in a couple of minutes out of scrap.
But for immediate gratification, you could try what I do- when
ripping, I feed the stock with my right hand while I press it into the
fence with my left. Hand placement is about 8-12" in front of the
leading edge of the blade, and acts as an impromptu featherboard.
Only real downside is that it can lead to splinters as the wood slides
against your finger, but that doesn't actually happen that often.
>I also
>think that maybe the low power of the saw make me push with more force
>to make the cut and that contributes to the wandering too. Any
>thoughts on that?
On that? I think you need to let the saw make the cut, and not try to
jam the wood into the blade- it's a cutting tool, not a splitting
wedge. 1hp should be fine for cutting most things.