igor wrote:

I have many hundreds and hundreds of 1" cut-offs to make from 48" lengths
of 1x2 stock. After thoughts about ganging the cuts, as I've done these
over the past months I have found it is not too bad to cut them one 48"
strip at a time with an Incra 1000 miter gauge on my TS -- like the guy
slicing meat at the deli counter. .

Anyway, numbers are going up for how many I have to do and I am again
thinking about some gang set-up. Also, I think I could get smoother cuts
- I think the stock is not staying solidly against the miter gauge in
relation to the blade as I make the cross-cut.

My safety concern is about the cut-offs getting jammed against the stop
that is 1" away from the far side of the blade.

At present, doing 1 strip at a time, no problem: I slide the stock to the
stop which is attached to the opposite miter slot and then use the miter
gauge to push the stock through the blade. The stop stays where it is so
the cut-off is free as it is sliced off.

I could build a sled so I could gang cut maybe 7 strips at a time. But, I
think that the sled could only ride in one slot since it would seem safer
to have the stop for the multiple strips stay in front of/before the blade
as the strips get pushed into the blade -- so they do not get jammed and
start flying. IOW, push all of the strips up to the stop and the strips
are no longer in contact with the stop as the cut-offs are made. So, I
could not use a sled that slids in both miter slots. I am wondering if
using only one miter slot will be stable enough for 4' stock/

I thought of using my RAS. It's easier to pull/push the blade on its
carriage hundreds of times than it is to push a 4' long sled with stock on
it back and forth But here I am also concerned about the cut-offs
getting
jammed against the stop. I would have a long-projecting stop from the
fence that would stop all of the strips for 1" cut-offs. If I have 12
strips -- so 12" total from the fence of my 10" RAS -- as the blade is
cutting the strips farthest from the fence, and as the blade is returned
back after cutting, I am concerned that the cut-offs will jam between the
blade and the stop and become airborne.

If you have a radial arm saw that is the tool to use for just about any kind
of cross-cut. The likelihood of the cutoffs getting jammed between the
blade and the stop is small--they'd have to move after cutting and
something would have to fall between the end and the stop to keep the piece
from moving back and even if they do then they get thrown away from you so
there's no real safety issue unless someone is standing behind the saw in
the line of fire. Do, however, tune the saw before you do this--if the
blade is skewed then the teeth at the back are going to engage the stock
and lift it. I once had mine throw the entire fence across the shop (yes,
I did do something stupid)--the only damage was to the fence and I never
had the feel of a "close call". If you want to be double safe you could
make a clamping arrangement with a handle that you hold down to hold the
cutoffs in place--hinge a piece of stock to the top of the fence with a
floating shoe to bear on the workpiece and maybe a little foam on the shoe
to account for slight irregularities in thickness would be one way to do
it, then move the stock, pull down the handle, and while holding it down
move the blade--that will also keep both your hands out of harm's way.
Someone suggested a jig that drops the cutoffs--this also wouldn't be
difficult to do--just use an auxiliary table and let the ends drop off the
edge. You might be able to arrange a dust collection port underneath the
aux table with a piece of screening and use the dust collector to keep the
slot clear so you could do repeated cuts without having to stop every time
to remove the pieces.

Simplest thing to do with the RAS is try the cut with some scrap--at worse
you'll have some scraps of scrap bouncing off the back wall, but in my
experience, such as it is, you won't have a problem as long as the saw is
tuned right.

Any thoughts on this? Are the safety concerns real? Any clever jig
ideas?
TIA. -- Igor

PS: If any of this is not clear, I can post some pictures at binaries.

--
--John
Reply to jclarke at ae tee tee global dot net
(was jclarke at eye bee em dot net)