any one have any experiences with jet table saws? having a little problem with ripping.any help is appreciated. thanks
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I have a jet contractors saw and if I use a rip blade it works well, even better with a thin kerf blade.
Troy
Yes, I own a Jet saw -- an old blue contractor saw with a (relatively) new motor.
Problems with ripping are generally connected to (a) the alignment of various parts of the saw; (b) your feed technique and/or (c) the blade you are using.
Have you aligned the blade to the miter slot, the fence to the miter slot, the splitter to the blade and to the table (90°)?? Are you using a blade suitable for ripping? How experienced are you with feeding the wood to the blade?
forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
i am using a freud 74lm glue line ripping blade. have aligned rip fence, and checked it several times to make sure. any suggestions on feeding would be appreciated. thanks
Be sure and check your splitter -- I've had mine mess me up more than once. Not only does it have to be in line with the blade, it also needs to be 90° to the table.
Is the stock edge that's riding the fence nice and straight? Is your fence face flat?
I still struggle a bit with ripping. It's the easiest when I use a featherboard just in front of the blade, to keep the stock consistently against the fence without having to worry about my fingers. The trick is to keep a consistent movement of the wood, snug against the fence without being greatly forced. Too fast and the saw might bog down, too slow the wood will burn. That's why a 24-tooth rip blade (or 30 tooth, in your case) is nice on a smaller saw. Be sure you're not forcing the wood at some angle in the beginning of your cut ("Gotta get it against the fence, against the fence..." that kinda thing).forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
am using a rip straight anti kickback device from woodworkers supply. it holds stock tight against fence. burning, and marks from saw blade on ripped edge. get some "vibration" if i try to feed to fast.
Not familiar with the RipStraight, and haven't been able to find it online. No matter -- something is not alligned correctly on your saw -- that vibration you speak of is a bad sign -- or the RipStraight is creating some kind of pressure.... Grasping at straws here. Do you have a link you can post to a picture of the RipStraight?forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
woodworkers supply catalog item #96974. this is an anti kickback device which can be adjusted to hold wood against fence for ripping
OK, got a picture of the device. I'm with the other(s) who say most likely cause is some kind of misalignment with the saw. That needs to be eliminated before focusing on the anti-kickback gizmo, which could also (maybe) cause problems. We still need more complete info. You may be quite frustrated, but trust me -- we've virtually all been there and experienced that, got the T-shirt, the whole bit, so take a deep breath.
OK, I just went back and re-read your first couple of posts. You indicate you've aligned the fence for ripping, but nothing was said about the blade. Here are the questions I asked:
In addition, I would ask what part of the wood is burned? That to the fence side, or that to the off-side. Is the burning pretty consistent the length of the rip?
'nuf for now. Awaiting the info.forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
first, thank you for the help. now to the questions.
1 yes i have aligned the blade to the miter slot.
2 the table is 90 degrees to the blade. check it with an inclinometer.
3 stock edge is straight.
4 the off side is burning, not consistently burning.
5 if i push the stock a little fast, get a knock, like "vibration" in the blade. hope this gives you answers. again thank you
One more, though -- the splitter? Or did I miss that info? If the burning is intermittent -- on again/off again and not confined to the back end or something, it might be a feeding thing.
Please check your splitter, though. 90° to table, nicely in line with the blade.
forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
Edited 3/29/2007 12:45 am by forestgirl
don't use the splitter. probably should. when i used it on other saws, it usually got out of alignment. got a trick to keep it in line? thanks
Sorry, wish I could offer some tips on the splitter. I use a quick-release Merlin splitter. Since it wasn't really made for my model saw, it took some persistence to get it installed so it would stay in place, but none of that would help with a factory splitter. If you don't use a "normal" splitter, please at least make a wedge-splitter to stick into the throat insert.
NOTE: That 30-tooth blade (LU74, right?) is recommended for material 1/8" to 1" If your hard maple is significantly thicker than 1", you'd probably be better off using a 24-tooth blade. You can grab a Diablo model at Home Depot pretty cheap and try it out. It'll certainly be easier on the 1.5HP motor of your saw.
Besides that, if absolutely everything checks out alignment-wise, I'm guessing refining the feeding technique will help. Sorry we don't have a crystal ball! For sure, though, let us know what works and what doesn't.
forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
Edited 3/29/2007 11:33 pm by forestgirl
Edited 3/29/2007 11:34 pm by forestgirl
"Sorry we don't have a crystal ball! "That would be handy...maybe we can take up a collection and get one! ;-)
Oh, I really think SysOp ought include a psychic in next year's budget. I hear they're somewhat more reliable than crystal balls, over time. ROFL!forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
i want to thank you very much for all the assistance you have given me. it is greatly appreciated. will let you know how i make with yours and other suggestions
fi9nally got everything together, and it is working. thank you for the heads up on the max thickness for the lm74 rip blade. the mfr should be more forthcoming with this info. tried some 4/4 stock and no burning or vibes. will pick up a 24 tooth diablo when i go to work tomorrow. thanks again to you and everyone else that helped.
I'm so glad you were able to track down the problem, that's great!
The "maximum thickness" thing isn't written in stone. Once you're worked with various woods and thicknesses, you'll get a feel for what's what. For instance, hard maple, and cherry, both burn much easier than, say, oak. So, you could use that blade on thicker oak with little problem (probably, I'll say). But with hard maple, you need fewer teeth if it's burning and you're feeding as fast as your saw will handle. It might even be the case that if you were using a 3HP saw, that blade would work fine, because you'd be able to feed faster.
I have a paper copy of this chart from Freud. It's pretty handy for getting info on their various blades, though because the chart's so long, it's hard to read on the computer. I've attached a .jpg picture with the outer parts of it cropped out, but you still have to take it 100% and use the slide bar to read it.
The inexpensive Diablo 24-tooth blade would stand you in good stead, methinks.
Enjoy your burn-free sawing!forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
thank you for the chart. will be very helpful.
First off, what kind of wood are you ripping? Are you using a 24 or 20 tooth blade? If you are using a 40 or 60 tooth blade to rip (Cherry especially) you will get burn marks.
Is the fence 90 deg. to the table? If the fence is leaning away from the table (greater then 90 deg.) the wood is trying to climb up the fence.
The first thing I would do would be to get rid of that anti-kick back thing and then raise the blade up above the fence height. Move the fence out 6" and check the distance from the fence to the blade at the table top and then between the top of the blade and the top of the fence. Don't use a tape measure but a folding rule. Also check for run out on the blade because the blade may be wobbling.
As for the vibration, take off that v-belt and put on a link type belt on because if the v- belt sits for a long period of time if develops an oval shape to it and the saw will rock and roll when you start it.
It's only my 2 cents on this but let me know what happens.
The Freud blade model he stated above is a 30-tooth blade. Would a flat-spot-belt run smoothly under easy cutting, and then chatter when under pressure? forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
depends on what he's cutting and if he is forcing the wood thru. Cherry and black walnut will burn if you look at them wrong. The blade will do the cut at it's own speed if you don't force the wood. To me I would change to blade to a 24 or 20 tooth blade. These blades run cooler due to less heat build up because there is not a lot of teeth or blade material in contact with the wood and this dissipates the heat faster. The belt sound he describes sounds like a T/S not used to often and the belt has become oval. If you not going to use the saw for awhile (say, over the winter, vacations etc...)I suggest you remove the belt so this doesn't happen.
mostly hard maple. will try your suggestion re blade to fence. thanks
I agree with Knotscott, we need more info. In my last reply, I had you confused with a member who was having burning issues when ripping, so targeted the repsonse to that.
Please come back and give a detailed description of what kind(s) of problem you're having.forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
Another problem could be the outfeed roller (if you are using one) if it's not perpendicular to the feed it will pull the stock away from the fence.
Try replacing it with an outfeed flat surface.C.
What specific issues are you having? It it burning, feeding hard, bogging, etc?
Jet makes alot of TS models... most of them are very good and should be capable of ripping to full blade height with good alignment, the correct blade, and flat/straight stock. The Freud 30T GLR isn't intended for ripping material > 1" thick, although it'll get the job done given the scenario. A 24T TK ripper will have an easier time of it. If the stock is very thick, and/or it's not flat and straight, any blade will struggle more on any saw.
I too have the contractors model. The only things I did to "improve" performance were:
1) zero-clearance insert
2) Forrest thin kerf blade with "stabilizer" to reduce noise.
I like it after those two minor mods.
We're all spittin' in the wind here until he comes back and explains what kind of ripping problem he's having.forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
am using a freud glue line rip blade, and i still get blade marks on the ripped edge. also the ripped edge looks like it is slightly cupped. probably something stupid i am doing
"...something stupid" Ohhhhh, don't go there. Frustrating, yes, stupid no. Learning curves are wicked.forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
You don't specify what the problem is, makes it difficult to suggest solutions. Regardless, I'm betting your blade is not parallel to the miter slots/fence. This will cause burning and/or kickback on ANY saw. I have a Jet SuperSaw (JWSS). Having some trouble with burning on the left side of the blade, just this last weekend I got my indicators out and aligned the fence AND blade to the miter slots. The fence is dead on, the blade is aligned to within .005 TIR, which I think is close enough for woodworking. I put my Freud 24 tooth ripping blade on and ripped a 96" X 2" thick maple board, both sides of the cut are 'perfect', no blade marks of any kind, perfectly smooth finish. Cuts like a dream. In fact, I've had this saw for almost a year now and except for less than perfect dust collection, I'm very pleased with the saw. It's cut everything I've thrown at it without a whimper or any indications of lack of power. It IS wired for 220 volt however....hope this helps with your problem with ripping, whatever it is.
After reading the rest of the posts, I'm betting your blade is NOT parallel to the miter slot/fence. That will cause burning for sure and certain....
Jeff
Edited 3/27/2007 3:17 pm by jeff100
Are you sure your fence isn't slipping as you cut??? How much pressure are put pushing against the fence with? Have you checked the cut piece for taper? If your fence is slipping as you push the stock against it, even if only a little, you would get burning on the offcut (left of blade) piece. IF...everything else is set up properly as you indicate and you're using the proper blade (and the blade is NOT warped), this is the only other variable I can think of that COULD give you trouble. The stock fence that came with my Jet SuperSaw was a POS and susceptable to slipping, so I replaced it with a Jet Biesmeyer knockoff that comes with the Jet contractors saw that is MUCH better fence (go figure). This fence will not slip. But I digress, I'm not sure which fence you have, but the next time you get burning, check the cut piece for taper. BTW, how are you checking the alignment of the saw blade to the miter slot, and the fence to the miter slot. Tell me you're using an indicator, and not some assemblage of squares and scales.
Using a Freud LM72R010 24 tooth blade, I cut thick maple 2"-3" thick regularly with my Jet saw and don't get burning....ever...so it can be done. There's something going on with your saw that you still haven't figured out.
Jeff
am using an inclinomweter to check for square!
I can see that tool being used to check the blade angle to the table, but what about the blade alignment to the miter slot? How do you use an inclinometer to check the blade alignment to the miter slot?Jeff
used an adj. square to check square with mitre slot. found out my fence was off. used an lexan angle device i bought from eagle america a while back. now everything is working. thank the good lord!!!!!
That's GREAT!! It's a good feeling when the equipment performs well after having given you problems, I know how you feel. Hopefully from here on it will give you years of satisfaction...JeffPS - Keep an eye on it, as it may change over time and need to be aligned again...especially if you have a mishap that jars the mechanism. As the saying goes, stuff happens.
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