Large Scale Central

Cutting thin lumber

General Discussion
#1

I have always cut all my lumber on the table saw. I do have have a nice table saw and always a stickler for a good fence and very much of a stickler at setting the fence very accurately correct.

Not setting the fence correctly can cause bad cuts and be very unsafe.

I make my own table inserts out of HDPE plastic, because the saw is used in business by employees we have a SawStop brand for the obvious safety feature that they incorporate.

I have always used the fence and homemade push boards, I was at one of the large tradeshow that my company exhibit in, I saw a quite unique tablesaw fixture that is made for ripping thin material.

I purchased one of these fixtures from the Rockler booth at the NGRC in Atlanta. Not sure if I would like it or not. Now after trying it, I do like it and would recommend to all people that would like to try cutting their own thin scratch built lumber for their own projects.

#2

I have been using this same fixture for a few years now. It works great. I posted this fixture on a previous thread about 2 years ago. I highly recommend the attachment for a table saw.

#3

Dennis, since you did not really explain how this works, I will try.

  1. Set the fixture ahead of the saw blade.

  2. Zero the bearing to the blade and then adjust the bearing back away the thickness of the boards you want.

  3. Put your stock lumber you are cutting off of against the bearing and bring the rip fence over to it so the stock lumber will slide easily against the fence and the bearing. (too much pressure and the stock lumber will bind).

  4. After you cut your piece off of the stock lumber repeat step 3 as many times as you need or until the stock lumber is so small it is not save to push it past the blade and the fence.

Again I have been using this fixture to make scale lumber for years now and it works extremely well.

#4

Just so I am clear in my understanding of this device, the stock material rides against the fence. The tool is on the opposite side of the blade from the fence, secured in the ‘T’ slot in the table. The desired material is cut on the opposite side of the blade form the fence so that the material drops away from the blade and will not bind between the blade and the fence or the blade and the tool. The tool must be located a small amount in front of the leading edge of the blade to allow free movement of the material.

Do I have it right?

#5

Bob, you have that right. What makes this jig/tool/fixture great is that the cut off pieces fall away from the blade. It does take some getting used to, to set the fence each time so the stock material does not bind against the bearing at the end of the fixture. It should slide by the bearing with little effort.

#6

After a six month break from building I am getting back to work. After reading everyone’s thoughts I will be buying one for the saw!

I never felt comfortable cutting less than 1/8" but my layout was outdoors and I left my wood thicker. Now that I have moved indoors I will be cutting thinner stock on the table saw.

Thanks for the information!

#7

Sorry guys I was working on this last night and the sleepy eyes was winning the battle. So I planned on completing it tonight, i have no idea

how it posted , but, oh well here we are. hopefully another picture will show up, still I have not figured this picture thing out.

#8

#9

https://flic.kr/p/26LxPfb

#10

 

 
 
Wood pieces 2 | by Dennis RayonWood pieces 2 | by Dennis Rayon
<img width=“695” height=“521” src="//c1.staticflickr.com/1/931/42945986544_e7fb19929a_b.jpg" class=“main-photo” alt=“Wood pieces 2 | by Dennis Rayon”>

 
#11

I am using a Diablo blade 60 tooth, cuts vert smooth, of course Cedar is very soft. this process is a little slow but safer than the other way.

A lever locking fence will speed it up if it squares itself when pushing down the locking lever. If you fence has a turn to tighten it will

take a little longer. But getting a finger or multiple fingers cut will take a lot longer to heal. I had a friend cut two fingers not to bad, I ask him if he had heard of a Saw Stop

brand table saw. He said they cost to much, I ask him how much his finger medical bill was, he said just over 5000 dollars, I said I could buy 3 saw stop saws plus nice set of blades.

He frowned and said yes, and I still don’t have one… In business we must have one, So be careful. Even with this system fingers can still get cut.

Dennis