On Fri, 19 Nov 2004 23:52:43 +0000, LRod wrote:

You've hit on the problem. Almost all of the scare posts I've seen about
RAS' wind up with the user having been so frightened (unwarrantedly so) by
the teeth moving toward them that they fed the wood from the other side
(climb cutting) which is at least 20, maybe 50 times more dangerous.

I, too, find it no problem...even without holddowns, although I always
used the splitter and anti-kickback device (all in one on my saw).

I can't understand why TS teeth moving towards the operator are OK, but
RAS teeth are scary? Feeding with the rotation isn't just scary,
something or someone is going to be severely damaged!

The holddown I was referring to is the one on the rear of the blade guard.
On my old PowrKraft RAS, it was adjusted by rotating the guard until the
holddown was just above the workpiece and then locking the guard in place.
On the current Craftsman RAS, the holddown on the rear of the guard has a
lock knob that allows it to be adjusted just above the workpiece and
locked - the guard itself doesn't move. In either case, the holddown
prevents the workpiece from being lifted by the rising teeth when starting
the rip as the workpiece is fed from what is the rear of the guard for a
crosscut operation.

-Doug

-Doug