On Tue, 13 Sep 2005 11:00:22 -0500, Patriarch
wrote:

Dave Hall wrote in
:


It's actually pretty simple and inexpensive. I've got an Old (~8yrs)
Ryobi BT3000 that came with one and All the Ryobi BTXX saws have them.

As do shopsmiths (Models 510 and 520 since the mid 1980s, not the old
no longer made model 500s).

Dave Hall

I'm not certain how this applies, regarding the Shopsmith. The Shopsmith
uses a tilting _table_, rather than an arbor, and otherwise has a blade
guard just as clunky as any US-delivered Delta or Powermatic. The tilting
table arrangement makes for some high pucker factor mitered cross cuts, and
effectively precludes its use on anything longer than about 12".

Patriarch,
embarrassed owner of a Model 520, who learned better...

While I understand that you do not like your Shopsmith there are lots
of people who have made very nice furniture and other projects with
them. I can assure you that they often have to make mitered crosscuts
on boards longer than 12". My crosscut sled is wider than 12" and it
works quite well on mitered crosscuts. In fact I would not be
concerned in the least in making a 45 degree mitered crosscut on
boards 4 or 5 foot long. After that the physics do limit you since the
other end of the board might drag on the floor or hit the ceiling, so
I use either my compound miter saw or my RAS. Contrary to popular
belief, you can also make mitered rip cuts on long boards quite well
on a Shopsmith. In any case, the issue was riving knives - and
Shopsmiths have them. They stay the same distance from the blade no
matter the depth, they are in place for all miter cuts and they are
extremely easy to take off and reinstall as needed. If a tool as lowly
in some people's eyes as a Shopsmith can have a functioning riving
kinife, then why can't a $2,000 Powermatic? (Said with a wink since a
new Shopsmith costs more than $2,000).
Dave Hall

"The power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism by those who
have not got it." -- G.B. Shaw