i have a PM66 (left-tilt, not that it matters). When cutting narrow but long (say 6 inch wide x 8ft) strips from 4×8 plywood or mdf, from the standpoint of safety do i want the narrow or wide part between the blade and fence?
if i set the fence at 6 inches, then i can repeat the cut without adjusting the fence from 42 to 36 to 30 to 24, etc.
i guess my real question is which way is safer? and why?
thanks in advance.
similiar question: if i have a 4×8 with a beat up edge that i want to trim off, then it seems i necessarily have to put the majority between blade and fence, correct?
Edited 8/7/2008 3:46 pm by stpatrick
Edited 8/7/2008 3:48 pm by stpatrick
Edited 8/7/2008 3:50 pm by stpatrick
Replies
It's not clear from your description whether you're cutting an angle on the edge of the 6" strips. If not, the direction of tilt doesn't matter. I'd set the fence at 6" and rip away - after creating good outfeed support for both pieces, of course.
In the case of the mangled edge, I'd flip the board so that's the last remainder strip, i.e. the waste piece.
thanks, Ralph. It would be a 90 degree cut.
I recall that if i am cutting the plywood on the 4 foot end, then i want the longer section of the board between the blade and fence (hence, if i am cutting 12 inches off, my fence is going to be at 72), and that started me wondering if there was a "right" way to do it with a longer piece, even though the "racking" issue is not the same.
thanks again
I should have prefaced my comment to the effect that I'm just a long-time wood hack. For example, I use a 9" Delta contractor's saw because that's all I have room for, and often have to use the old Delta peddle-operated caster set to move it into position to make a cut. Most of this stuff strikes me as common sense, however. The ideal is to do what makes sense for the intended process, but first make it safe to do it that way.So, in the case of having the majority of the original stock to the left of the blade, that might require adding an auxiliary side table, as well as the necessary outfeed support. Absent being able to do that, I'd let the fence system support the work, and adjust the fence position for every cut. Then, after cutting a couple of sheets, I'd probably re-think building the auxiliary side table. ;-)My understanding of the whole left-tilt revised-design thing was to keep the tilted blade away from the fence to reduce kickback and/or proximity to fingers. Of course, to some degree that's also just good marketing - making us all want new saws when the old ones we have will continue to do just fine. ;-)When I recently bought a new Delta T² fence/rail system, I (as expected) found the pre-drilled holes didn't match those on my table. Once it was in front of me, I also realized that having the entire rail system hang to the right of the blade would have made the assembly too wide to fit in the saw's limited space. So, I put about 2/5ths of the rail to the left of the blade, enabling me to rip with the fence on either side. For what I do, and in the space I have, that compromise works for me. It probably wouldn't work for lots of others, though.
The safest and easiest way to take narrow rips from a sheet of ply is to rip the sheet in halves or near halves if the multiples of rips won't come off the sheet in even numbers. Then narrow rips are much easier and safer to cut.
Let me preface my remarks by saying that I no longer cut sheet goods on my table saw but am much more comfortable and happier using the Festool 75 and bringing the tool to the work. However, I would believe that handling a large sheet on the left side of the blade to cut off 6" on the right would lead to large amounts of torque and either poor cuts or binding to the blade and disaster.
Edited 8/7/2008 7:53 pm ET by dherzig
thank you. patrick
If you have a PM66, then you can move the fence to the left of the blade for up to about a 15" cut, or so.
This gives you plenty of bearing surface for the big (and getting smaller) sheet, especially if you have the 51" capacity to the right of the blade.
kreuzie
color me embarassed! although i guess i should have "known" that, at least on an intellectual level, it just never occurred to me . . .. . . .but now said, it seems embarassingly obvious.
thank you, patrick
Don't feel bad. It took me a while to learn why they put that second slot there!
kreuzie
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