"The first cut is the sweetest" [New saw]

[Taffy Evans]

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"Originally Posted on:Wed Jan 13, 2010



Well I recently bit the bullet and ordered a new table saw. I ordered it on the 5th of January and its arrived and set up today, the 12th of January. Good service considering it had to travel from Adelaide to North Queensland.
It was Martin who got me all fired up when he enquired about table saws, about a month or so ago.

It’s 10” and has all the good features one would expect, and a real decent fence [that I did not expect] with micro adjustment and locking front and rear of the fence. The motor is 3hp single phase.

The transport company wanted $90.00 for a forklift truck to deliver it, a kilometer from my workshop, so I picked it up in my trailer and spent the afternoon getting it unloaded and into position. You know 190 kg is bloody heavy. It wasn’t until I was finished the assembly and having a celebratory beer and reading the manual, that I saw that certain parts of the assembly required two people. Oh well, where there’s a will there’s a way they say.

I’ve cut a few pieces of timber and I’m wrapped with it, and my existing dust system just went straight on and collects dust far more efficiently. Why did I keep putting off getting a new saw?

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[kiwigeo]

Great score Taffy.

My saw isn't running yet.....a couple of parts missing from the guard/anti kick back assembly and need to make up a better throat plate insert for the thing (Jet one doesn't sit perfectly flush with table). Parts of the mitre fence are missing but the one supplied with the machine isnt crash hot so an aftermarket assembly will be picked up shortly. The cast iron wings dont sit perfectly flat but Im not too concerned about it.......might get them machined sometime in the future.

[Hesh1956]

Congrats Taff - that looks like a fantastic machine!!!

[ozziebluesman]

Well done Taffy! That machine will service you well for many years.

Congratulations mate!

Cheers

Alan

[Dennis Leahy]

Taffy,

I have saw envy.

I also had to laugh when you mentioned operations requiring two people - but yet somehow managing to do it yourself, alone. Man, that is so true! my back usually reminds me the next day...

Dennis

[Dominic]

Nice saw taffy. And bloody good service. I love my saw even though I am still a little cautious of it.

For dust extraction, I read an article in Fine Woodworking about getting better dust extraction from a TS. One good tip is to fill in the cavity around the top of the cabinet and the bottom of the table. I used spray foam. Also cut some slots in the motor cover/door so fresh air blows over it to keep it cool. Thats a really good idea. I covered over any holes not wanted so I could direct the air where I wanted it. The article also suggested putting fridge magnets over the tilt slot. Dust from my saw is now minimal even without a hood.

Geez Martin, sounds like you are off to a bad start. Is this a new saw or second hand? The jet throat plate should have little adjusters under it to level it. And if you can't get the wings adjusted correctly to be flat with the main table I would take it back. Table saws are dangerous and out of square ones even more so.

Everyone please be careful.

Cheers
Dom

[kiwigeo]

Dom the saw is second hand. The throat plate is not a big issue...its a bit warped on one corner so adjusting the screws wont fix that. The wings arent a huge issue either...they're not perfectly flat but I don't see how its going to be a huge issue unless I'm after super accurate cuts on sheet stock.

[Kim]

Great looking saw Taffy.

It is always a good indication of a successful purchase when you find yourself asking why you did not do it sooner.

Cheers

Kim

[Dominic]

Martin, you will probably make your own throat plates anyway so as you say no big issue. MDF with magnets is good because it is flat.

With the wings anything that can change the angle of the wood in the blade while sawing, like uneven wings, can cause the wood to bind in the blade in which case it comes shooting back at the spot you are standing. Kickback happens in a instant and puts more woodworkers in hospital than any other issue. Its only after that all things you could/should have done come to mind. I know from my own trip to emergency to have my hand stiched up after being hit by a flying square of mdf.

You could probably use thin shims either at the top or bottome of the wings to change the angles of the wings to get them flat with the body. I would recommend spending the time to sort out these set up issues before you start using the saw too heavily. You will benefit with safer and more accurate cuts.

Cheers
Dom

[kiwigeo]

Dom, the wings are not out by an amount to cause problems you've highlighted. Shimming is an option I already plan to try before hiking the wings off to a machine shop.

Kick back is something I'm well aware of.....it's why I wont be running the machine until I get the spares for the blade guard/anti kick back fitting. Im sure alot of people have ended up in hospital as a result of kick back but I wonder how many of those people were standing in the wrong place as they fed the wood through their saw?

While Ive got you what brand of blades to you use? Do you run a dado blade set? What brand is it?

Cheers Martin

[Dominic]

Martin, I use 2 main blades both CMT that I got with the saw. One is a 24 tooth rip blade. The other is a 96 tooth fine cut off blade which stays on the saw for most work I do but is designed for clean cuts in mdf, ply wood etc. Both are 12". You have many more options in a 10" blade with a 5/8 arbour. (I assume that's what you have)

I got a 5/8 arbor for the saw so I can use other blades (mine came with a 30mm arbour). With that smaller arbour I can also use a 10" Freud thin kerf glue line rip blade which cuts really clean smooth cuts which they say can be glued up with no additional cleanup. Plus the thinner kerf needs less power to cut so your saw works easier. Very good general purpose luthier blade.

I also got a Freud 8" Super Dado set. I ordered it from the US (Woodcraft)which worked out much cheaper than getting a set locally. Cost about 1/2 what the sets available locally cost once posted. About $250 verses about $500. Comes with shims etc to customise the fit. Its the more expensive version of the Freud dado sets but with things like this is pays to get good quality blades. They should last for ever if looked after.

Good luck with your saw, even better than not standing in the wrong place with kickback is to know how to prevent it in the first place. Sounds like you have it figured out.

Cheers
Dom

[Dominic]

Martin, some links

dado set
http://www.woodcraft.com/Product/202009 ... e-Set.aspx

Thin line rip blade
http://www.woodcraft.com/Product/202010 ... Blade.aspx

Cheers
Dom

[kiwigeo]

Thanks Dom, Ive already got my eye on the CMT blades.

[tim mullin]

Hey Taff -- just one word of advice: have another read of that manual, then make sure you go through the entire set up routine that's no doubt buried in it. The saw make cut, but from the factory it's guaranteed to be out of alignment. Should be adjustments to get the blade perfectly parallel with the mitre slots, the fence parallel to the blade, the various stops for blade angle, etc. It's finicky, and the adjusters are usually not obvious, depending on the saw, but a well-tuned saw is a joy to use ... sort of like a well-tuned hand plane.

[Taffy Evans]

Got my new throat plate fitted...

Tim, ready for setting up the machine tomorrow. Very important as you say, it will be interesting to see how far out it is.

This saw uses a 30mm arbor, a bit of a pain as some of my good blades are 5/8".


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[tbkmagic]

I suppose a machinist may be able to machine your blades out to 30mm?

if its cheap enough?

[Lillian]

Can you guys get Freud blades? If so, well worth the money.

[Dominic]

Taffy, before you get your blades re bored, try to find a 5/8 arbour for your machine. I called up carbatec (where my saw is from) and they had one for about $60 with a long thread for dados. Given these things are of common heritage it is very likely you could get one for your saw. I asked about reboring but the steel in blades is very hard and they were going to charge me more than the arbour to do a dado set. Much cheaper than buying new blades as well.

Cheers
Dom

[Taffy Evans]

Thanks Dom

[Allen]

You can get Freud blades but it's far more economical to get them from the USA. Just had a mate get 2 blades on his door step in 7 days for less than the cost of one blade from Sydney.

[Lillian]

Allen wrote:
You can get Freud blades but it's far more economical to get them from the USA. Just had a mate get 2 blades on his door step in 7 days for less than the cost of one blade from Sydney.

That's just wrong.

[Dennis Leahy]

Maybe someone could organize a group buy of the little 24 tooth, thin kerf, 7-1/4", carbide Freud Diablo blades. The price went up. The first time I bought them they were about $8US, now they're about $10US each. I think just under $30US for the 10" version.

The 7-1/4" blades leave a surprisingly nice edge on the wood, and the kerf is only about 1/16".

They have a 5/8" arbor hole, so that may or may not work with Antipodean saws - better check. With the diamond "knockout" close to the edge of the 5/8" arbor hole, I would doubt these would be good candidates to have the hole machined larger.

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Dennis

[Allen]

For most of the things we use a table saw for, you really don't need, nor want the largest blade that your saw will swing. So the 7 1/4" is more than ample. And the price is a lot better too.

I'm using a 6" blade made for one of those battery powered skill saws used by trim carpenters. Very thin kerf and leaves a silky smooth edge. Got it for $40 at Bunnings, but I would have got a Freud blade if it was an option.

I change blades very often during the course of the day. Picking the right blade for the job at hand. It takes less than a minute to change one on my saw so I don't just leave a "General Purpose" blade on.

My saw blade collection is an 8" Dado set from Forest Saw Blades, A 10" Woodworker II from them as well. A 10" Freud cross cut blade for hardwood, the 6" Irwin blade I mentioned above, and a StewMac fret slotting blade.

[Kim]

I bought a few of the 10" diablo blades from ebay USA that Dennis has shown and they are great, cheap to. As Dennis also mentioned, for most task in lutherie, the 7 1/2" is adequate and so cheap to replacement they become a consumable. I also have a couple of high end 10" cross cut blades but find the cheap 10" diablo's do such a good job of ripping and cross cutting, that these $150> blades now just hang on the wall collecting dust instead of making it. Maybe on some other projects they will come into their own, but for guitar building they seem over kill on the $ side because after being cut to dimension, most components will end up being processed further by edge tools and/or abrasives anyhow.

Cheers

Kim

[Stu]

Thanks for posting this, Taff.

I'm at the crossroads of working out which table saw to buy and which ones to steer clear of and although the only minus I see for my own usage and this machine is the larger 30mm arbor, I'm very interested to find out how precise the whole machine is once set up properly. I was planning on using my 5/8" arbored fret slot saw with this machine but have also made a dedicated fret sled for this purpose so it would be no great loss providing everything else was precision personified.

I did a search of this table saw and the price certainly seems great for a 10"
set up but always after a bona fide report on the practicalities.

Thanks again Taff and everybody else for throwing extra info too. It all helps me make a decision.


Cheers, Stu

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