another benchtop tablesaw question

[gilljc]

Hi
have got my scheppach hs80 up and running with its new blade now, and have been experimenting. I have got the blade angle sorted out and can make a nice basic mitred box now, and have been playing with cutting slots for splines, and thinking about making boxes and lids from one piece, in all this I have had to remove the blade guard to angle the blade to 45 degrees, and remove the upright piece of metal (might be called a splitter?) from behind the blade to cut slots for splines.

My question is, how essential is the splitter thingy for the general work I will be doing as it is really fiddly to replace? I will mostly be cutting fairly short lengths and usually no more than half to one inch thick
Scuse my ignorance, hope someone can give me some advice
regards

Gill

 

[marcros]

It is a riving knife and is essential for rip cutting.

 

[Mar_mite]

You can have it just bellow the height of the blade. That will allow you to cut grooves. Your crown guard may not fit though.

 

[Owenw]

The "splitter thing" is there to keep the cut open as you are cutting. Removing it means that you are greatly increasing the risk of the wood jamming in the blade and getting kickback.

On my Bosch GTS10 the riving knife and guard are the same thing, so you cannot cut grooves without removing the lot. I have occasionally forgotten/not been arsed to put it back when rip cutting - when something does kickback, it is pretty scary! The last time it happened it shot a bit of 2x1 through the shed window and 15 metres down the garden! So, in short, always put the riving knife back!

 

[Eric The Viking]

My question is, how essential is the splitter thingy for the general work I will be doing as it is really fiddly to replace? I will mostly be cutting fairly short lengths and usually no more than half to one inch thick
Scuse my ignorance

Ignorance isn't a crime, only willful ignorance is (in my book)! I think you're doing the right thing: asking before making a change.

The riving knife is a crucial safety feature, as the Americans (who traditionally haven't had them on their table saws) are only now finding out.

Four safety things make a table saw MUCH safer:

1. the 'crown' guard, which sits on top of the blade

2. the riving knife, which largely prevents kickbacks (the Yanks incorrectly call this a 'splitter' - that's not its function at all!). The 'back' teeth of the blade are going upwards, They should play no part whatsoever in the cut, but if they can dig into the stock for any reason, they can pick it up and fling it back towards the operator, with considerable violence. People have been killed by kickbacks, and serious injury is not unknown, even on small, hobby tablesaws.
The riving knife minimises the possible contact with the back teeth of the saw.

3. For any fence-assisted 'ripping', including cuts to man-made boards, using a SHORT fence, that finishes just past the front edge of the blade. When you're slicing off pieces against a fence, they can then fall away from the blade cleanly, and not get pulled into the teeth at the back (see kickbacks above!). Counter-intuitively, short fences don't affect the accuracy of the saw (as long as they're rigid), and might even improve it slightly over a full front-to-back fence.

4. Push sticks and push blocks. Goes without saying really: the right type, with a handle to keep fingers/knuckles clear, etc.

You can add to that list, including a well-positioned stop switch, and so on.

All this and more (saw setup but majoring on saw safety) is PROPERLY explained in Mr. Maskery's excellent DVDs on the tablesaw. They might save your fingers!

Disclaimer: Steve's a friend, but search for other mentions on this forum of his DVDs and see what other people say.

 

[gilljc]

Thank you all so much - I am really enjoying my little saw, and have taken all your warnings fully on board and am getting the hang of taking the riving knife - which includes the support for the blade guard on and off, it is a bit fiddly but don't really fancy chunk of wood embedded in my head