A few days ago there was a thread on the problems associated with getting a straight cut on sheet goods. There was one post which did not register with me till later that night, (I wish I had an 8-hour bladder!) but I can’t find it now.
As I recall, the suggestion was to slide back the fence (a Unifence in this instance) so that the outfeed end was around the centerline of the blade. This way the maximum support and alignment was available BEFORE the material hit the blade. Who cares what happens after the cut is made? The fence on the outfeed side can only cause mischief.
I’m sure all of us spend our maximum effort getting the material tight and aligned to that short piece of infeed fence before we start the cut. Do we really need any fence contact after the material leaves the blade IF the material is kept tight and aligned with the infeed end. It seems the approach suggested by ‘???’ is a good one. Any comments?
Frosty
Replies
I,ve heard its common on euro/german table saws to have very short fences after the blade. I think you are right and it only makes seance that after the cut, let your wood go where it wants.
Paul
Standard operating procedure on European saws from what I understand (Richard, where are you?). A flat piece of stock attached to the long fence, ending at (or just before) the center of the blade will work. I've seen them with a corresponding arch cut in the end (corresponding to the arch of the blade) but can't find a picture.
forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
Edited 3/25/2007 12:00 pm by forestgirl
I believe I am the poster you are refering to Frosty.
Take a look at the following link for a bit more discussion of setting rip fences short. Remember, the fence isn't actually any shorter than the US style, it's just set so that most of it sticks back towards the infeed side of the saw. Slainte.
http://www.woodcentral.com/cgi-bin/readarticle.pl?dir=powertools&file=articles_108.shtml
Richard Jones Furniture
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