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Table saw getting wedged - What am I doing wrong here?

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3K views 42 replies 21 participants last post by  CaptainKlutz 
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
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Trying to rip a piece of ~2 inch ash to width on my 3hp table saw…. And the wood had gotten wedged twice, causing the above burns.

The other side is planed flat. The fence appears perfectly square to the blade. Thoughts?

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Tips suggested. This thing worked fine yesterday, as far as I could tell.
 

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#5 ·
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It's not the wood, since it's also happening on random scrap as well…. Just tried it with a 2×6 (above).

It's notably mostly the part of the wood near the bottom. It seems like it only happens when the blade is pretty high out of the table. I wonder if the speed holes (whatever they're called, the slits in the blade) near the center are adding friction, they feel a bit rough on the fence side of the blade .
 

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#6 ·
What does appear mean to you.
The blade should be parallel with the miter slot on the right. Then the fence should be adjusted to be either parallel with the miter slot or out slightly. If it's inward even a little that's not good.
From the looks of the blade it needs to be cleaned and your saws alignment checked.
If you need suggestions how to do the alignment. Feel free to ask there's nothing wrong with not knowing how.
Good Luck
 
#10 ·
Yes, happy to have someone tell me how to ensure the fence is perfectly parallel to the blade. I m sure there s a trick I don t know.
- Nate Finch
Align miter slot to blade. Plenty of methods and super easy on a cabinet sat.
Align fence to miter slot. See documentation for your fence on how to do that.

Cheers,
Brad
 
#11 ·
Yes, happy to have someone tell me how to ensure the fence is perfectly parallel to the blade. I m sure there s a trick I don t know.

- Nate Finch
I use a combination square. Heres a pic.
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Use the miter slot between the blade and fence. Check the blade first and make any adjustments before setting the fence. Last adjustment is the blade square to the table.

Good Luck
 

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#12 ·
Nate,

I prefer to align the fence to the blade using a dial indicator with the base registered against the fence. You can also use a reference block and feeler gauges. The gap at the back of blade should be a bout .003" wider. Be sure to measure off the same tooth.

My first thought was what MadMark said. Before you do anything o you need to clean the blade. Krud Kutter works great.
 
#15 ·
Are you trying to rip the wood to width or resaw it to the desired thickness? For safety, on a tablesaw the surface of the horizontal surface of the wood touching the table should be greater than the vertical wood surface touching the fence. It almost looks like you are attempting to resaw the wood which is better suited for a bandsaw. When aligning your saw there are two factors - 1) make sure your blade is parallel to the miter slot, tolerance of 0.010 max, and then make sure your fence it parallel to the miter slot as well with the same or even tighter tolerance. I personally like the total of these tolerances less than 0.010 when added together. See your owners guide for how to adjust the trunnion and the fence for proper alignment. My table saw doesn't get used much but I still check the alignment at least once a year. Some people might think that the alignment should be closer than 0.010 but I'm just going with what my owners manual states for my Saw Stop.
 
#16 ·
I did something that didn't occur to me last night - I checked to see if the blade is flat - it's not.

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It's convex in the fence side, so the center of the blade is closer to the fence than the edges, which is why it only showed up when the blade was very high.

As for what I'm doing, I'm just making 1.75" square posts out of ~2" stock. So I flatten one face of the stock, joint an edge square and then rip the other two sides.
 

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#18 ·
With a 3HP saw, you won't have any problems with a full .125 kerf blade. That will help the quality of your cuts. I would get a dial gauge indicator and a flat plate to tune up your saw along with a new blade. Most of us set the back side of the fence .002 to .003 out away from the blade to help eliminate kick back. Safer for you that way.
 
#21 ·
Yeah, new blade for sure. Thanks for the advice on the type and getting a gauge.

I like the smooth surface this blade leaves, but it's no good if it burns up the edge (and/or is unsafe).

It seemed fine on thinner stock, but 2"+ is evidently asking too much (also the non-flatness).
 
#22 ·
You can make your own set up gauge dedicated to this. I built mine over forty years ago and wouldn't be without it.

Here are directions I wrote for making your own, which can, also, be used as depth gauge or a L square stop.

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If you want real simple, just make one of these and cut the wood to the width of your miter slot:

https://www.instructables.com/id/L-square-Edge-Stop-Depth-Gauge-Set-Up-Gauge/
 

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#23 · (Edited by Moderator)
Ok, you are getting a new blade. I'd still suggest going over the saw to make sure you are parallel, blade to miter slot, and fence to miter slot. Something made that blade get un-flat.

I suspect LeeRoy has it right, dull, wrong blade for the chore, and too fast a feed rate = burning, heat does strange things to metal, but make sure the rest is ok before going further. It only takes a few minutes.

This is safety stuff, not just a bad cut PIA.
 
#25 ·
15 years ago when I bought a new Unisaw, I got a magnetic base and a dial indicator, just Harbor Freight quality, and used them to check the alignment of the blade and the fence to the miter gauge groove. The saw still works as good as you could ask. I watch for sales on saw blades, use rip blades for ripping, and fine tooth blades for crosscutting, and buy blades that will work on my miter saw as well as the uni. General purpose works great for cutting 2×4's on the miter saw, as long as they are specified as use for a miter saw. Once bought a blade not rated for miter saw, and it threw a scrap of wood through a window.
 
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