Circular saw safety

[tony]

Hi folks , I am after some advice on circular saw tables , as in the safe set up . On the HSE guidance notes it states that the gap between the riving knife & the blade at table level should be about 8mm , should this 8mm be maintained all the way up , as if you are moving the blade up & down , then this gap needs to remain constant ? It also gives some guidance on the gap between the top of the blade & the riving knife ( 25mm max ) I think this may alter if the blade is quite large , but ours is not a large blade . What is the reason for maintaining the gaps at these sizes & how safe / unsafe is it if these gaps are larger . Thanks Tony

 

[woodbrains]

Hello,

If the correct blade size is used for the riving knife, then the gap will be maitained when raising and lowering the blade. In other words, the radius of the arc described by the riving knife will be approx 8 mm bigger than that of the blade, the gap will be the same all round. If you are using a much smaller blade, then it may be necessary to get a better suited knife, as the gap will never be consistent. If the blade/knife is matched, but you still see an inconsistent gap, then I think you may be setting the knife up too high. Set it so the 8 mm is consistent all round, and the height will set itself. Incidentally the 8 mm is maximum gap, you could go a bit smaller.

Mike.