bench saw riving knife and guard

[Lazurus]

On my Scheppach Ts4010 I find I have to keep the blade higher than I would like to, as to allow clearance under the blade guard where it joins the riving knife, I could have the blade with just a 1/2 tooth over timber depth if there was more clearance at the back of the guard, instead of the 20mm plus I have to have at the mo.

Also the riving knife is a PITA when it comes to dado`s etc, but I am loathe to remove it for the obvious reasons of kick back, is there any advice to reshape or cut down the overall height

 

[Sawdust=manglitter]

I personally found the blade guard a pain so I no longer use mine (at my own risk, blah blah, i know), but I found the same as you that the riving knife was too high for various operations. So all i did was 'trim' the riving knife down to be approx. 5-10mm below blade height by cutting off a strip from the top with a hacksaw and rounding over any sharp corners with a file, now i can do anything on the TS without worrying about the riving knife being too high. The only possible issue would be cutting very thin stock on the TS, but for that i just raise the blade enough so the riving knife becomes effective

 

[Trevanion]

I've got an old Scheppach TKU and it's a brilliant little TS for all my ripping needs. It's compact, plenty of power, it's got an electric brake and is very accurate. The only downside to the machine was the riving knife was a total waste of time as it was a set height and hooked from around the back of the machine to the blade. It was pretty out of line with the blade and I never bothered trying to adjust it and just took it off.

7 years no problems or any kickback as of yet. Although I don't advise it at all.

 

[chiokli]

I've found that adjusting the carriage the riving knife bolts onto at the back, allows the riving knife to drop low enough to be at the level of the top of the teeth. I believe I might be using a 10" blade (254mm) as opposed to a 250mm blade, so I get a little extra height which allows for grooves without having to adjust anything. However, I don't use the crown guard most of the time unless I'm cutting acrylic and don't want to be showered with bits, or trimming MDF and need the additional extraction. In those cases, I'll raise the blade up higher so the piece doesn't hit the crown guard, or unbolt the riving knife and raise it up.

Otherwise, you are set to filing down the riving knife. Or setting up a fancy crown guard that doesn't attach to the knife at all, in an ideal world.

 

[user22161]

I personally found the blade guard a pain so I no longer use mine (at my own risk, blah blah, i know), but I found the same as you that the riving knife was too high for various operations. So all i did was 'trim' the riving knife down to be approx. 5-10mm below blade height by cutting off a strip from the top with a hacksaw and rounding over any sharp corners with a file, now i can do anything on the TS without worrying about the riving knife being too high. The only possible issue would be cutting very thin stock on the TS, but for that i just raise the blade enough so the riving knife becomes effective

Different saw but I've done the same except that I bought a second knife and cut that down so I can still fit the original if I want to use the guard, mainly for dust extraction with mdf.

 

[Raymond UK]

I've never used the guard on my Scheppach TS30. The riving knife is still in place. I have a 1hp dust extractor just for the table saw and even without the guard the table is pretty much clear all the time.