Marcjwebb":32etu0u1 said:
i am noticing that about half way through it seems to get tougher to push through however when there is no panel on it is glides through smoothly, no grabbing.
Have you double-checked the alignment between the mitre slot and the blade?
Could you be cutting something that could be releasing internal tension and gripping and binding on the saw as it moves?
That's exactly how I'd describe the feeling you get when the wood you're cutting moves and internal tensions close up the saw cut a bit, which in turn binds on the blade and acts as a resistance to cutting further. The solution is to stop your cut with the saw still in the wood (removing it with the saw running could lead to kickback accidents, especially if you took your riving knife off!), power down the saw and knock a wedge into the cut line to force the wood apart again. Then power up and resume the cut.
Nearer the end of the cut there's less of the wood remaining to exert any force, so that's why it speeds up again near the end.
(I've been ripping down some slabs recently and have been making a lot of use of a couple of wedges made of sycamore. Except for the bit where they disappeared into the house to be used as doorstops!)
Another option could be that the blade isn't entirely aligned with the mitre slot, meaning that as you push the wood through the cut, it's moving at an angle across the blade rather than directly parallel to it - so the already-cut edge starts to rub against the rear face of the saw blade, 'inside' of the teeth. If that's the case, I had some luck just loosening the screws that pass through the table to hold the motor + saw in place on my TS-200 and then knocking the tabletop with a mallet until it was all aligned. However, unlike some saws the motor in the TS-200 is attached to the tabletop itself, so you may find you only get good results by opening the side of the saw and giving the mallet tap to the motor unit itself.
