More Tablesaw Shenanigins

[matthewwh]

Just saw this on the LV website:

http://www.leevalley.com/us/wood/page.aspx?p=65138&cat=51&ap=4

If they just left the flippin guards and riving knives on and learned to use routers for non-through cuts they'd be fine.

The expression "guard removed for clarity" makes my skin crawl.

</rant>

 

[Steve Maskery]

Have you seen this?
http://www.finewoodworking.com/item/29720/tablesaw-safety-takes-a-back-seat

Whilst it's true that the examples they give are accidents waiting to happen, I was amazed to see the invitation at the end to send them our examples. I am sorely tempted to go through my FW collection and scan every single example of poor practice promulgated in that magazine over the years. They are amongst the worst culprits! Whilst I welcome any sinner who comes to repentance, it's a bit rich, having only just discovered riving knives, to be moaning about TS safety. I bet that in the next issue or two of FWW there will be a picture of an unguarded TS.
S

 

[jimi43]

So let me get this right...

I take OFF my riving knife which is designed to stop kick-back perfectly well...

Make a zero clearance insert...

Insert two plastic blobs...

Pay $30 and sit back and relax....

I'll have three!!

:lol:

Jim

 

[Eric The Viking]

Ok, I'm probably being really dense, but I can't for the life of me see what you are supposed to gain from those peg things compared to a riving knife. How can they possibly be thought of as an improvement?

I'm still not a tablesaw owner, and they still make me nervous...

 

[jimi43]

The only benefit I can see...hence the different sizes for kerf...is that a riving knife is kerf specific...and this system can be changed

Also the zero clearance insert with a riving knife requires that you manually enlarge the slot to include the riving knife.

Actually...it's a good idea...I want one now! :lol: :wink:

Jim

 

[woodbloke]

I am sorely tempted to go through my FW collection and scan every single example of poor practice promulgated in that magazine over the years. They are amongst the worst culprits!

The very reason that my blood starts to boil as soon as I scan through a copy of FW
That Veritas could come up with a such a stupid idea as these plastic pins is beyond belief... ](*,) ](*,) - Rob

 

[OPJ]

One advantage I can see in using these splitters (if I'm reading the diagrams correctly?) is that the rear one appears to divert the waste away from the back of the blade, more so than a standard riving knife would (thinking about it, you could probably create a wedge-section riving knife for the same effect....).

Still, if I had a table saw, I wouldn't swap my riving knife for this! I doubt it's very effective when you're ripping timber 3in thick. As easily as they fit in to the plate, I bet they pop out again just as quickly.

 

[Eric The Viking]

One advantage I can see in using these splitters (if I'm reading the diagrams correctly?) is that the rear one appears to divert the waste away from the back of the blade, more so than a standard riving knife would (thinking about it, you could probably create a wedge-section riving knife for the same effect....).

Still, if I had a table saw, I wouldn't swap my riving knife for this! I doubt it's very effective when you're ripping timber 3in thick. As easily as they fit in to the plate, I bet they pop out again just as quickly.

There's a catch #22 there though: if you put the pins close enough to the blade to be effective, you risk anything carried round the circumference flicking them out in passing. If they come loose, they become missiles themselves!

Riving knives have chunky bolts. I quite like that idea in this context.

 

[JohnBrown]

The riving knife on my saw is fixed the the blade rise-and-fall, so that it is very close to the blade regardless of how much blade is above the table. I always thought that was the idea - to have the splitter fairly close to the back of the blade.

 

[mailee]

Well I am guilty of removing the crown guard many times on my table saw for certain jobs but I would never ever dream of removing the riving knife! :shock: My riving knife sits level with the top of the blade and stays there regardless. :roll:

 

[Steve Maskery]

I think that the problem is that in the States, many saws come without a riving knife at all. Well, perhaps not now, as I think that the rules have changed (fairly recently, though), but certainly historically. I've had emails from people who ask what that funny bit of metal is behind my blade. Seriously. And I regularly get asked what a riving knife is - "Is it the same as a splitter?". It's clear that some people have never seen a riving knife.

The splitter option has been one that is easy to retrofit. It just happens to be a very poor substitute for a riving knife, for all the reasons posited above.

I no longer take FWW, but in one of the last I received, there was an article about these new-fangled European-style riving knives and why they were actually better than the traditional splitter (FWW 202).

The one good thing that this will do (apart from the obvious) is likely to be that we get better riving knife systems on our saws, too. I want one that is easy to remove and replace (for different-thickness blades) and a good guard that doesn't rely on the RK for support. I've made new (and better) versions of both RK and guard for my saw, it's just a pity that it was necessary to do so, especially as many other aspects of the saw are superb.

CHeers
Steve

 

[Richard Findley]

Looking at the add for these pin thingys.... are they just push fit into the base board? If so, I wonder if the designer has actually had a bit of wood bind and come up at him? It would pull these out of the base in a blink!!!! Then where do they go??!!

Richard