Riving knife on sale - highly recommended

[reible]

I have never used the riving knife while cutting dado's. In fact I think there are a couple of problems attempting to do so. I'll go get some pictures and see if I remember the issues and can document them.

Ed

[reible]

OK here is the story sad as it is. Starting with the stock dado table insert. You can not mount the riving knife with that insert. The opening is smaller and unless you have modified yours it simply can't fit. Here is a picture showing the knife in position and the standard saw insert in front showing the cut out goes far enough back to allow the knife to fit. The dado insert is not even close.

IMG_3633sc.jpg (391.42 KiB) Viewed 4878 times

So you have to make your own insert. Sure that can be done but don't get your hopes up as it gets much worse.

Here is the standard 10" blade with the riving knife mounted. I didn't actually measure but I'd guess at the knife being about a 1/4" shorter then the blade and that is fine as the blade is taller and so no issues. Here is that picture:

IMG_3634sc.jpg (268.81 KiB) Viewed 4878 times

Now lets see what happens when you mount an 8" blade, like a dado blade. The riving knife remains at the same height but now the blade is an inch short(2" smaller diameter, 1" smaller radius).

IMG_3636sc.jpg (322.29 KiB) Viewed 4878 times

Now the knife is about 3/4" taller then the blade, makes for a pretty hard non through cut!

Now what do expect to see when we go to the 6" size blade that shopsmith sells? The knife is still as tall as ever and the blade has gotten even smaller.

IMG_3638sc.jpg (319.5 KiB) Viewed 4878 times

Now unless some magic is involved I think we can conclude that this is not for non-through cuts unless you have a 10" dado blade set and make your own table insert.

Got to just love this stuff.

Ed

[dusty]

Dusty I like your kerf idea. After you have used it a while how about a report back on how you have adapted to the idea.

Some one mentioned not having room for the upper guard when ripping thin stock. You need to make this "L" shaped piece to be able to use the guard. It is in the book. Online you can see it under "Ripping Narrow Stock"

http://www.shopsmith.com/academy/tblsaw ... /index.htm

Ed

Ed, I have been marking my home made ZCI that way almost from the beginning. Back at that time, I was cutting ZCI whenever I needed one. That became frequent enough that I started making then in batches. I built a sled that allowed me to cut the kerf, extend the kerf to facilitate the riving knife and to drill the table insert screw holes (I move the sled to the drill press). When I am cutting the kerfs, I just flip the blade over, rasise the table and score the insert.

It works well and exactly as described provided that the blade is truly centered in the cutout. If that is not the case, I get an immediate indication when I flip the insert over after doing the score. The kerf and the score will not be aligned.

When I install a new ZCI or any time I reinstall a ZCI or anytime I have changed the relationship between the carriage and the headstock, I remove the ZCI, set the ZCI over the blade and let it fall to table height. If everything is in order, the ZCI drops right into the table cutout. Reinstall the two screws and go for it. If I have done anything to upset the blade to table relationship, the ZCI will not hit the cutout - telling me that something is not positioned where it should be. Most often, when that happens, I find that the carriage and the headstock are not where they are suppose to be.

[jms]

Ordered one of the RK that are on sale yesterday. Got my receipt -- that part is out of stock, not expected back in stock until 3/10/17.

How in the heck do you run a sale special and then not have enough stock to meet demand (which couldn't have been THAT large). Some things about the way the MS operates just doesn't make good business sense to me - in an era where an order from Amazon or eBay will be at my door in 3 days or less, it usually takes SS 3-5 days just to get my order in the mail, and thats assuming they have all the parts. Honestly I would buy many more parts new from them instead of scouring eBay, if they could get them to me in a timely manner.

[Sazerac81]

Ordered one of the RK that are on sale yesterday. Got my receipt -- that part is out of stock, not expected back in stock until 3/10/17.

How in the heck do you run a sale special and then not have enough stock to meet demand (which couldn't have been THAT large). Some things about the way the MS operates just doesn't make good business sense to me - in an era where an order from Amazon or eBay will be at my door in 3 days or less, it usually takes SS 3-5 days just to get my order in the mail, and thats assuming they have all the parts. Honestly I would buy many more parts new from them instead of scouring eBay, if they could get them to me in a timely manner.

Agreed, they run an efficiently slow operation! I got the same e-mail as well. Let's hope that they get it in a bit sooner than 2 weeks out.

I have a general rule of thumb with them, order and expect to receive in a 3-4 week window regardless of what you purchased. Haha

[dusty]

Shopsmith is not Amazon. Operations like Amazon maintain an enormous inventory. In fact, much of there inventory is not even with them. It is with the company that manufactures what they are selling.

Shopsmith, on the other hand, can not maintain an inventory that is large enough to support rapid fire deliveries. They really mean it when a part is identifed as "May Have to Be Manufactured".

Now, should they run sales on parts that they cannot deliver until someone else makes it. I'll not defend that. But, would you be purchasing a riving knife if they had not.

Use your riving knife; either the upper saw guard or the other. Whichever suits your needs. Jusy acknowledge that you really need a riving knife.

[dusty]

OK here is the story sad as it is. Starting with the stock dado table insert. You can not mount the riving knife with that insert. The opening is smaller and unless you have modified yours it simply can't fit. Here is a picture showing the knife in position and the standard saw insert in front showing the cut out goes far enough back to allow the knife to fit. The dado insert is not even close.

IMG_3633sc.jpg

So you have to make your own insert. Sure that can be done but don't get your hopes up as it gets much worse.

Here is the standard 10" blade with the riving knife mounted. I didn't actually measure but I'd guess at the knife being about a 1/4" shorter then the blade and that is fine as the blade is taller and so no issues. Here is that picture:

IMG_3634sc.jpg

Now lets see what happens when you mount an 8" blade, like a dado blade. The riving knife remains at the same height but now the blade is an inch short(2" smaller diameter, 1" smaller radius).

IMG_3636sc.jpg

Now the knife is about 3/4" taller then the blade, makes for a pretty hard non through cut!

Now what do expect to see when we go to the 6" size blade that shopsmith sells? The knife is still as tall as ever and the blade has gotten even smaller.

IMG_3638sc.jpg

Now unless some magic is involved I think we can conclude that this is not for non-through cuts unless you have a 10" dado blade set and make your own table insert.

Got to just love this stuff.

Ed

You do make some very importatnt points here, Ed. Now that is not a surprise as you always do. I had never given it a thought that the Shopsmith inserts do not facilitate a riving knife. Maybe this is why I began so very long ago making my own.

[rpd]

Ordered one of the RK that are on sale yesterday. Got my receipt -- that part is out of stock, not expected back in stock until 3/10/17.

How in the heck do you run a sale special and then not have enough stock to meet demand (which couldn't have been THAT large). Some things about the way the MS operates just doesn't make good business sense to me - in an era where an order from Amazon or eBay will be at my door in 3 days or less, it usually takes SS 3-5 days just to get my order in the mail, and thats assuming they have all the parts. Honestly I would buy many more parts new from them instead of scouring eBay, if they could get them to me in a timely manner.

I think you misunderstand the purpose of these sales. When Shopsmith runs out of inventory on a part like this they need to order a minimum quantity from their supplier. This quantity is larger than is economic to keep in stock. The solution is to run a sale so that they have pre-sold the excess.

[dusty]

Ordered one of the RK that are on sale yesterday. Got my receipt -- that part is out of stock, not expected back in stock until 3/10/17.

How in the heck do you run a sale special and then not have enough stock to meet demand (which couldn't have been THAT large). Some things about the way the MS operates just doesn't make good business sense to me - in an era where an order from Amazon or eBay will be at my door in 3 days or less, it usually takes SS 3-5 days just to get my order in the mail, and thats assuming they have all the parts. Honestly I would buy many more parts new from them instead of scouring eBay, if they could get them to me in a timely manner.

I think you misunderstand the purpose of these sales. When Shopsmith runs out of inventory on a part like this they need to order a minimum quantity from their supplier. This quantity is larger than is economic to keep in stock. The solution is to run a sale so that they have pre-sold the excess.

Thanks. With all my manufacturing experience, I never thought of this like that. Makes sense - even to the old guy.

[jms]

I think you misunderstand the purpose of these sales. When Shopsmith runs out of inventory on a part like this they need to order a minimum quantity from their supplier. This quantity is larger than is economic to keep in stock. The solution is to run a sale so that they have pre-sold the excess.

That makes a lot of sense !