Replies

1. 
   dkellernc | Jun 26, 2008 07:12pm | #1

   Your riving knife may not be correctly aligned - it should not necessarily be in the center of the blade - I typically align mine so that the edge of the splitter corresponds to the inside edge of the blade.  Putting a compression-type featherboard after the blade on a tablesaw will likely close the kerf on the backside and result in a violent kickback.

1. 
   powermatic66 | Jun 26, 2008 07:53pm | #2

   I suspected that, it's almost like the wood is being pulled away from the back of the fence rather than pressed against. 

    

   I assummed that the knife was supposed to be centered on the blade (a Forrest Woodworker II) and verified that by eyeballing it.  But I guess it would make sense to align it with the inside of the blade.  I'll try that and see if that works.

    

   Thanks,

1. 
   Jimurock | Jun 26, 2008 08:51pm | #3

   The manual as usual doesn't say much but it does show blade and knife being aligned on the right hand side.  I have a SC, not a PM, and they give you 2 riving knives, separate from the guard and splitter.  One is 2.5 mm thick, and the other 3mm, so I imagine that alignment of different blades is finicky.  So far I haven't experimented with other blades.

   Jim

2. 
   CajunDan2 | Jun 26, 2008 10:18pm | #4

   It could be caused by using a thin kerf blade with a standard riving knife. The wood MUST NEVER contact the splitter.

    

   Dan

3. 
   SgianDubh | Jun 27, 2008 02:48am | #5

   The symptoms you describe are typically caused by excessive toe out of the rip fence. Check it again. Set it parallel with the blade, or as near parallel as you can get it. A slight toe out, 2 or 5 thou,  is better and safer than a toe in though.

   Set the thickness of plate of the riving knife centred on the corresponding thickness of the sawblade plate. It should not be set out of line with the sawblade plate. Slainte.

   Richard Jones Furniture

4. 
   RW | Jun 27, 2008 03:06am | #6

   Agree ^^^ and I have a PM2000. The knife is a bugger to dial in, but well worth the little bit of frustration with those allen screws. But man, they are knuckle bangers. The knife and fence alignment, the only two things it even can be.

   Real trucks dont have sparkplugs

5. 
   flairwoodworks | Jun 27, 2008 11:47pm | #7

   I think you need to change your username.

   Chris @ www.flairwoodwork.spaces.live.com

    - Success is not the key to happines.  Happiness is the key to success.  If you love what you are doing, you will be successful. - Albert Schweitzer

6. 
   dkellernc | Jun 28, 2008 08:23pm | #8

   One other suggestion - buy/make a fence featherboard that will hold the board down on the saw table.  I have one of the magnetic ones that both hold the board against the front side of the fence and down on the table before the blade, and one mounted on the fence that holds the board down to the table directly across from the blade.  Both markedly improved my ability to get a straight "glue-line" rip.

   One of the other posters stated that the splitter should never contact the wood - I don't think that's true.  The splitter/riving knife's purpose is to hold the kerf open behind the blade, which necessarily means that the splitter will be contacting the wood on occassion.

   The reason I aligned my splitter on the right side of the blade (it does not, however, extend beyond the teeth on the right side) is so that a board cannot be pinched between the rear teeth and the fence.  That scenario will lift the board and throw it back at you.  I'm less concerned about the left side.  Though it's still possible for the rear of the blade to contact the board on this side, there's not nearly as much leverage for the saw to throw it back at you.

   From a safety perspective, having the fence hold-down is really more important than the splitter alignment (so long as a splitter is there!).