Two blades with a spacer on arbor to get thin strip
Highdesertwoodworker
| Posted in Jigs, Fixtures, Tips & Tricks on
I am thinking about putting two thin kerf 7.25 inch blades on the arbor of my 10 inch TS with a spacer to easily get thin strips. I will consider tooth-offset when determining the thickness of the spacer.
I think the waste is actually rather small because I can eyeball so that the outside blade needs to just shave the wood a bit, as small as 1/64 inch thick shaving will result as waste.
Is this done often?
This is to get 3/4 inch wide 3/16 inch thick strips for spline joinery.
Thanks
Replies
I think it might work IF you DON"T cut all the way through the piece you are cutting the strip from. Start with a board thicker than the width of strip you want so that the strip stays attached. Then trim it off by hand or another safe way. Cutting it off in one pass may result in the blade grabbing and/or shattering the strip and throwing it back at you violently. To be safe, wear glasses and stand to one side while cutting.
It would be a lot safer to just cut off 3/16" at a time and let it drop off on the waste side. Also, look up "horizontal fence" (I think that is what it is called). This clamps a straight board to the fence horizontally at a distance off the table just lower than the thickness of the board you are cutting. You then set the distance from the edge of the "horizontal fence" to the blade (3/16" in your case). You can then cut your strip and it falls safely under the horizontal fence. This allows multiple cuts of the same thickness safely.
Yes I will saw on the waste side so that the strip will just be detached and not trapped between the fence and the blade.
I know those who use such a setup to cut tenons. I'm not brave enough to attempt it.
I would NOT use it to cut thin strips. You will have very thin strips trapped between 2 blades, and I consider that far too dangerous. There are plenty of methods out there for ripping thin strips without trapping stock between blades. Use one of those methods, please.
I want a method that does not require any adjustment/measurement for each setup so that I will obtain strips of the same thickness every time. I have not seen any instruction on this.
I will also have a fixed width for the groove that accept the spline. I will use the same setup for grooving every time.
I will cut on a .75 inch thick partially elevating board (substrate) that supports only the uncut side so that the strip will not be trapped with the table. Thank you for the caution.
It's your body, but this is a dangerous method. There are thin strip ripping jigs all over the internet that will rip any size strip with great accuracy and repeatability. Fine Woodworking has had several methods over the years. At least one commercial jig from Rockler does the job well, and inexpensively.
Be safe.
Thanks.
May be I will use a once-adjusted permanent stop on my RAS to cut the spline.
Thanks again
I use a Grr-Ripper with an 1/8” leg for these operations. No adjustments, just rip strips from a prepared blank.
How many feet of spline material do you need? One 8' length of stock will yield easily 60 splines. The time spent rigging this all up isn't worth the safety trade off for sure.
Option 1: Think bandsaw. Infinitely safer.
Option 2: Place either a mag-switch or stop block clamped to the table 3/16+ on the off cut side of the blade (in front of the blade please!), put your stock against the fence and slide over to the mag-switch/block, and rip away. Your spline falls away from the blade safely and is easily repeatable. Use your block plane to fine tune to thickness.
Option 3: Go with GeeDubBee's suggestion. Sound advise and safe.
Thanks all for your inputs. I think I have given up on the idea of having two blades and a spacer.
I think I can cut without moving any stop or fence for each cut.
I will cut on my RAS with a fixed stop that is more a point than a flat surface as a stop, namely the head of a machine screw. I will put a threaded insert on the permanent part of the table of my RAS; then I will attach that block onto that table, so every time it will be positioned at the same place, quite near to the cut of the blade but not too close.
Ripping 3/16 strips on a radial arm saw is extremely safe.
Highdesertwoodworker, Most of the time I would rather move on to something else rather than criticize. In this case, I must chime in. I don't know why you bothered to post a question here as you seem to insist on doing your task your way regardless of the hazards involved and the excellent advice and instructions you have gotten. Your responses indicate that you are not reading or understanding what is being offered to you. I wish you well and I hope you succeed with all your fingers and eyes intact
The only way I would even attempt what you are suggesting is if I had the ras pulled out and then started to cut moving back in so when the cut was complete the blade would be behind the stock. That being said, I think it is a bad idea.
Yes, this is the way I intended.
Actually as I said I have given up on the idea of using a spacer with two blades. Thanks to the inputs.
The way I have decided is just cross-cut with the RAS, only with a point stop attached repeatably on the permanent part of the table. This is as safe as any cross-cut with the RAS.
I cut strips to 0.040" for inlay on my table saw. It's quite simple, and safe. Watch how Steve Latta does it, quite safe and very repeatable.
Use your tablesaw with one blade only. Either use an L-fence (look it up) or Rockler-type thickness setter from the miter gauge.
This forum post is now archived. Commenting has been disabled