On 21 Jun 2006 06:49:59 -0700, wrote:

I just purchased my first table saw this weekend and I'm trying to get
a better handle on how to most effectively (and safely) use it. I need
to rip some 2" wide pieces of 3/4" plywood and I'm trying to figure out
the best way to do it where I don't end up wasting a bunch of wood.
Say the plywood is 4' x 4' and I want to cut (4) 2" x 4' strips from
it. It would seem the most accurate way to do this would be to set the
rip fence (which is to the right of the blade) 2" from the blade and
then run the board with the majority of the board to the left of the
blade. My concern is that I'm asking for kickback with the waste side
being so much larger than the piece I'm trying to create. On the other
hand, I've never heard of someone (but I'm new so this doesn't mean
much) putting the waste on the fence side. What's the proper way to
make these cuts?

One thing to do is make sure your saw is accurately setup. Following
the manual on my Ridgid 3650, I lined everything up accurately using a
T-square. Blade was 90 degrees and lined up accurately with the
t-slot for miter gauge. But when I was using saw, sometime felt a
tendancy for wood to pinch right at end. Solution: I went to Harbor
Freight and got their caliber device (thingy abob...what every you
call it... http://tinyurl.com/ro86g ), made a wooden holder and
bolted it to it to run along miter slot. Found out my saw was
slightly off. Worked and got it lined up correctly now. No more
tendancy to pinch and kickback. Another thing to do is put the guage
onto other miter trac against fence and make sure fence is perfectly
parallel to the track as well.


- Clayton