Shopsmith Forums

On what seems to be a fairly regular basis, I find myself ripping materials (cutting bevels) with the table tilted.

This works fine with one small exception. With the table tilted (normally to the right), the piece on the upside of the blade tends to drop into the blade. If you have a helper there is no issue with this but without a helper one could easily give speared when the cutoff kicks back.

This can be prevented by simply preventing that piece from dropping down into the blade.

Until yesterday I treated that as more easily said than done but with many linear feet to be cut, I had to do something.

Here it is. This works like a charm. I'm going to make it wider for increased stability and while doing that make the bends more crisp (especially the 45° one). While cutting, I'll probably make three or four blanks, just in case. The only issue I foresee is that each one is for a specific angle. How many different bevel cuts might I need?:eek:

[ATTACH]20760[/ATTACH]

PS: I have a "rip fence" for use on the OFT that had not been installed when this shot was taken.

Dusty:

You might wish to re-visit the Sawdust session on the out feed table where your specific issue is addressed. Here Nick and Drew had used an adjustable "outboard riving knife" to achieve what you are working on. And yes, they indicate that you will need different ones for different bevel angels. But theirs seems easy to install and adjust.

Check it out. The Riving Knife portion begins at about the 5 minute position:
http://www.shopsmithacademy.com/SS_Arch ... Bevels.htm

Neat solution.

But, pieces whose mid-point ends up short of the "helper" you have added would still have the trailing end fall into saw blade when freed from the rest of the work piece. So one would need to be using longer than the normal minimum length workpieces for ripping. (Normal minimum is 10" per lesson 1 assignment 2 item 17 of my copy of Self Study Guide. Took me some time to find the reference, but I knew I had seen it in SS material somewhere:D ).

I've only occasionally cut long bevel rips but I do not understand why an extra splitter positioned on the outfeed table is necessary if there is already a splitter right behind the blade (like Shopsmith's stand alone riving knife). As gravity closes the kerf beyond the riving knife on the outfeed side, won't the very last bit of the strip being cut off rotate slightly upward and away from the blade when it is cut free? I defer to those who do this all the time.

Al

algale wrote:I've only occasionally cut long bevel rips but I do not understand why an extra splitter positioned on the outfeed table is necessary if there is already a splitter right behind the blade (like Shopsmith's stand alone riving knife). As gravity closes the kerf beyond the riving knife on the outfeed side, won't the very last bit of the strip being cut off rotate slightly upward and away from the blade when it is cut free? I defer to those who do this all the time.

Al

Now that I think on it, I expect you're right:)

Well it was good to go looking for that minimum length for a rip cut to be safe, saw some other while searching that I needed to re-read.

The splitter (if there is one) controls that end of the board near the blade but it does nothing for what is out on the OFT.

Yes, the upper saw guard (if it was installed) might eliminate the need for this little fixture all together (if it was installed). Please keep that little tip in mind.:)

BTW: That piece of aluminum is much too thin to be considerede a splitter. It was put there for the sole purpose of keeping the uphill materials from sliding down into the blade (not to keep the kerf from closing on the blade).

In reading the interesting posts on this forum, I find myself in need of asking a question. What is OFT?

hiramelu wrote:In reading the interesting posts on this forum, I find myself in need of asking a question. What is OFT?

OFT = Out Feed Table probably not found in any book of acronyms. We here on the forum make a lot of these up on the fly.

Thanks for reading and thanks for asking.