On 2/5/15 11:22 AM, Leon wrote:
On 2/5/2015 9:59 AM, Mike Marlow wrote:
Leon wrote:
Can you expand on that a bit, the finish of the material? I have
no sheen so to speak. Buy yes rust only matters if you let it
get out of hand.
Sure - most surfaces like a table saw top have some degree of a
polished surface. It may be flat or it may have milling but it's
often (or maybe usually...) polished to some degree. Softer
materials can "scratch" that polished finish - scratch the
burnished surface, I guess. Polish to a mirror finish and watch
how something as soft as a rag can put those tiny scratches in that
mirror finish.
Until I got to considering and buying a better TS than my old iron
top Craftsman I was not aware that manufacturers provided slick
polished top surfaces. I recall looking a the old PM64~66 table saws
and still recall the almost mirror finish on the tops. I finally
bought a Jet cabinet saw and it had a polished top but not to the
degree of the Powermatics. Boy was I disappointed with the "effects"
of having a ridgless and polished top. While smooth would seem to be
a show of higher quality machining, it does not translate well as far
as providing a surface with less friction. With TopCote on my old
Craftsman you could toss a small piece of oak to the TS top from 2
feet away and the piece would slide off the back side of the table.
With these polished top saws I have not seen anything come close to
the slipperiness as the old Craftsman top. I think a polished top is
more of a sales gimmick.
If you look at the better European machines most do not have a
polished top.
I don't know the science behind it but it's like when you go to pick up
one plate from a pile of stacked plates and even though you only grab
one plate, the one beneath it comes up with it. There's some sort of
suction that happens when two very smooth and very flat surfaces are
close together.
When I have a section of smooth plywood sitting on my melamine out-feed
table, it's difficult to lift it straight up and off until that suction
"breaks."
--
-MIKE-
"Playing is not something I do at night, it's my function in life"
--Elvin Jones (1927-2004)
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http://mikedrums.com
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