On Sun, 24 Oct 2010 09:17:55 -0500, Swingman wrote:

On 10/23/2010 11:44 PM, Leon wrote:
"Larry wrote in message

At a steep bevel angle the saw will lift off of the sled, IF you let go.
Under normal operating conditions it has no suprises.

OK. It had appeared to be a useful function...and may be to someone
else.


It probably is a good idea, but not a necessary one.

I'm of the opposite opinion ... Anti-tilt on the Makita is totally
unnecessary when the saw is operated properly, and most dangerous when not.

The "anti-tilt" is a good idea ONLY on very short bevel cuts, ONLY if
the guide rail is clamped to the work piece and the underlying
cutting/table surface, ONLY if the saw is being improperly operated on
the short cut, and, more to the point, ONLY because it has no riving knife.

In the middle of a _long_ bevel cut, and since guide rails are clamped
only at the ends, no anti-tilt lever made will keep a long guide rail
from flexing slightly and lifting off the work piece without proper
handling by the operator.

This flexing of a long guide will guarantee kick back (yes C-less, even
in sheet goods) and particularly so on a saw with no riving knife.

(simply holding either saw securely, and with a consistent down and
forward motion it proper operation, and is all that is necessary with a
saw equipped with a riving knife)

Any piece of equipment must be operated properly, and anything that
gives the operator a false sense of security often ends up extremely
dangerous.

My opinion is that you're overstating things along this line. Safe and
proper operation should be a "given" hypothesis.


You can bet that this is one of the reasons you rarely hear about a
kickback problem with either Festool plunge saw.

Either that or they think "Dayum, this saw cost so much, it couldn't
have kicked back unless I was doing something wrong. I won't say
anything about it because it's _all_my_fault_!" snort

--
An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile,
hoping it will eat him last.
-- Sir Winston Churchill