I have been thinking of getting the Grizzly G0605X 12″ Extreme Series Tablesaw in January or Feburary. The blade is 12″ (obvious?) and I have a few good 10 inch blades I’d hate to just not use..
Can you safely use a 10 inch blade on a saw with a Riving knife made for a 12 inch?
Replies
Sometimes the riving knifes are ajustable and you might be able to remove it. Give Grizzly a call and they probably can answer your question.
Troy
Is the hole size the same on a 12" as a 10" blade ?
I don't have a Grizzly but I have had two saws with riving knives. The knives were adjustable front to rear and up and down. Ask Grizzly for the specifics on their saw. The riving knife is also associated with blade size however, they are good for a certain range. The same knife is used on my saw with both a 10" and 12" blade.
Steve
One advantage of a riving knife is the way it fits close to the circumference of the blade. That won't be the case with a 10" blade and a knife with its arc sized for a 12" blade. You might see if grizzly can come up with a riving knife for another saw ( a 10-incher; maybe the G0623X I've been eying) and see if you can drill it or whatever to fit the mounting holes. Otherwise, I'd think the broader gap the higher you got above the table wouldn't be a show-stopper; it just wouldn't be optimal.
Most saws I know have an up-down adjustment for the knife as well as forward-back. But in any case the position of the knife is NOT THAT CRITICAL as to make it a problem. The only thing that is CRITICAL is that the thickness of the knife be exactly the same as the kerf, no more, no less.
David Ring
http://www.touchwood.co.il/?id=1&lang=e
Will,
You can download the Owner's Manual for the G605X at
http://www.theusermanualsite.com/manuals/mfg/grizzly/g0605x_g0606x.html
But it's a 13 meg file. If I recall correctly, you said you were on dialup, so I saved you the trouble and did the download.
I couldn't find a mention anywhere of a blade size other than 12". It says you can install a 1" or 5/8" arbor, so I assume you can install whatever blade fits those arbors. (Max depth of cut with the 12" is 4" at 90 degrees and 2-3/4" at 45, if that's any consideration.)
As for the riving knife, I clipped the picture in the manual that showed it installed. From the looks of it, it's simple enough. If you can fit your 10" blades to the saw, seems like an old tank mechanic ought to be able to cobble up a suitable riving knife out of whatever old thin plate tank part he's got laying around.
Dan
Thank you all for the replies.I downloaded the manual some time back and looked at the exploded parts but I thought I'd just ask you folks that actually use a saw with a riving knife.Yes this old Tank Mechanic could make/modify a riving knife if I had to BUT I would just hate 'butchering' up a new tool.I thought maybe someone actually had the saw or knew the safety issues with respect to the proper gap/profile for the knife to be effective and not cause problems.Nothing wrong with my current TS but for some reason I have this thing stuck in my brain for a new saw (I can live with this strange thought). I really have no need for a 12" blade for what I do but... why not!.. I guess I'll be playing with my mind and do the toss up for a 12" or 10" saw with a riving knife.
Will,
As another poster has noted, the riving knife profile should match the curvature of the circumference of the blade as closely as possible. If you fit a smaller blade to a knife that is sized for a larger one, the riving knife typically can be got close to the blade teeth at the table top level but then the knife gradually moves away from the blade-back as it rises to the top. (This is when the blade is elevated to its maximum).
When you push a tall, square-ended piece of timber into and past the back of the blade, there is a short period of travel when when the back-teeth are in the wood but the riving knife has not yet got in the kerf. This is the danger point where kick-back could still occur if you skewed the wood sideways so that the back teeth caught and pushed it up.
It's a very small risk, though, compared to no knife or one of them splitters set well behind the back of the blade.
My TS riving knife does tip forward a bit too, as do some others I understand. In this case the gap at the top diminishes but the gap at the bottom opens a bit. However, the widest gap is then reduced to around 1/4". But this tipping-forward makes the top of the knife higher than the blade-top, so I can't do over-the-top (hidden) cuts then. This is a very minor inconvenence though.
Incidentally, I believe riving knives in Europe are typically sized to be 0.2mm thinner than the blade they are intended to be used with. (Mine is). This is just sufficient to prevent the kerf sticking on the knife whilst still allowing no significant sideways movement. Of course, some kerfs close anyway and then you must resort to a wedge.
I believe there is also a standard for riving knife stiffness, although how they measure it I don't know. Presumably a bendy riving knife, especially if it goes beyond its elastic limit easily, in not much use. Should you make one for yer Grizzly, perhaps tank armour is the best stuff and that coca-cola tin should be cast aside. :-)
Lataxe
To give a feel for the magnitude of the mismatch: A 12" blade positioned for a 3" depth of cut extends about 16mm (~5/8") further back than a 10" blade at the same depth of cut. So that's about the size of the "excess gap" that you'd get.
-Steve
Thanks.. Makes sense to me.
perhaps tank armour is the best stuff ..Yes but then I'd have to install a steel I beam over my saw to support a Milwaukee 1-Ton chain lift when installing it. Is it OK to have a hole in the riving knife to put the chain hook into?The Model# 9568 has pushbutton controls so that should ease the job a bit.
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