robinson46176 wrote:Dusty, that shop is waaaay too tidy.
This discussion reminds me of a couple of young recent college grad guys I worked with some years ago while I was farm manager of a seed corn research farm. You couldn't have asked for two nicer guys to work with and really good at their job (agronomy majors) but they couldn't saw a straight line with a hand held power saw to save themselves. We all wore a lot of hats at that installation but their carpenter hats didn't fit well. They were trying to cut 1/4" plywood into strips about 3" wide. They would get over 1/4" off of the line on first one side then the other sometimes crossing the line half a dozen times in the length of a sheet. When I sawed a couple of sheets into strips they were absolutely dumbfounded. They had decided that the saw just wouldn't cut straight and were blaming it until I cut those strips. I do sometimes use a guide strip but most of the time I just cut to a line. On carpentry work I often use a chalk line.
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I have ripped a herd of sheets of plywood lengthwise on table saws and have absolutely no qualms about doing so (with supports). I had a 12' table on my old original RAS and a full length fence on it. I really liked ripping sheet goods on it. I am more cautious when cross cutting sheets and if it is needing cut pretty far toward one end I am pretty quick to use a hand held saw and sawhorses (often 3) to get it to size. I find that two Shopsmiths sat with my 510 in front and about any of the others sat behind it as an out-feed table is fine for ripping a full sheet. I use an extension table on both ends of both SS's and fences on both SS's. 3/4" stuff is about my comfortable limit but I can't really recall ever cutting any thing thicker anyway.
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For some reason I have never had the kind of problems that most guys describe about wood getting away from them. I guess that much of it is because I (besides being pretty careful) am pretty much of an ox... I am very heavy but also very strong. I never hold anything casually, usually in a death grip and if I have a good grip nothing is going anywhere. If it can't start moving it can not keep going. Once it gets away at all you have already lost control. I'm not as strong as I used to be but at 67 I can still stack 50 pound hay bales 4 layers high on a hay wagon while standing on the ground.
I love watching Norm in his shop but I am often amazed at how many times I see him making a cut and I can see from the camera's angle that the wood has lifted from the saw table on the out-feed end sometimes by almost 1/4". That is a good way for a narrow piece to get in a twist and bind. I want the wood to stay down flat on the table even if I have to stand on it...
Francis, I've noticed that too about Norm's cuts. Sometimes the workpiece is not against the fence as well as lifted off the table, but his projects all seem to turn out just fine. The miracle of TV I suppose!
I have cut a full sheet of plywood on my tablesaw once. My shop is too small and it is just too much of a hassle. I clamp a straight edge to the sheet and use my circular saw. I have great results with this. I like the foam sheet idea and have thought about doing it that way, but I would still need to elevate it off the floor because my knees are shot.
I really don't see any problem with using a table saw if and only if you are experianced, and you have a good infeed and outfeed table. I just don't think it is worth the hassle.
dusty wrote:I can cut full sheets of plywood or MDF on my Mark V too but I don't like doing it and I think that when I do I am just begging for tractor tread marks.
Until some one gives me a Festool setup, I'll just have to continue using my circular saw and home made ripping guide.
I have cut full sheets on the SS. That's exactly why I built my own tracked guides long before I ever heard of Festool. If that system had been around 30 years ago, I probably would have bought it.
Gene
Gene
'The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him.' G. K. Chesterton
Just remembered - When I have bought a sheet of plywood from our local source of KC Moulding, they will slice it in two for me when asked. They use their table saw.
Of course their saw table is about 9 feet wide and 9 feet deep. It's really a huge table with a saw blade sticking up from somewhere near the middle. There is a really long extension on their fence which I think is a Bessemeyer.
Nice set of saws, Dusty! Wish I still had mine! Various moves have left them behind. Think our son picked them up before we went full timing in the MH.
Octogenarian's have an earned right to be a curmudgeon.
Chuck in Lancaster, CA
i have been a carpenter all my working life. and yes i have screwed up some trying to cut plywood on a table saw. never again ,no matter the quality of the saw set-up. can cut the straightest line with a chaulk box no problem. but the most important thing to remember is SAFETY FIRST. cut plywood that is manageble first thing. thencut to fit . i love reading this forum . sorry but i dont have the gift of gab. i am normally quite natured don't say much. but my work as always been in demand here. quality first. and i read another post earlier that i believe in what dusty says and i want my equipment cutting properly and accurately first ,maybe not to .001 but dang close . we all have 1 thing in common here no matter what are skill level is. is our love of working wood . i am not a religous person but remember jesus was a carpenter. my shop is therapy to me i can get lost in there and not come out. rambling on sorry hagd papahammer
jim bandy lafayette alabama 79 model 500 /80 model 500/94model 510 mini/ planer/dc3300/bandsaw/jointer/ lathe duplicator/ router table with a porter cablerouter.
papahammer8 wrote:i have been a carpenter all my working life. and yes i have screwed up some trying to cut plywood on a table saw. never again ,no matter the quality of the saw set-up. can cut the straightest line with a chaulk box no problem. but the most important thing to remember is SAFETY FIRST. cut plywood that is manageble first thing. thencut to fit . i love reading this forum . sorry but i dont have the gift of gab. i am normally quite natured don't say much. but my work as always been in demand here. quality first. and i read another post earlier that i believe in what dusty says and i want my equipment cutting properly and accurately first ,maybe not to .001 but dang close . we all have 1 thing in common here no matter what are skill level is. is our love of working wood . i am not a religous person but remember jesus was a carpenter. my shop is therapy to me i can get lost in there and not come out. rambling on sorry hagd papahammer
VERY well put papahammer!! Your an inspiration to all to focus on working ACCURATELY and SAFELY. Don't hesitate to put in your 2 cents more often.
You said a dollars worth in the space of your 2 cents. You are the first one that expressed so well the feelings I have when woodworking. I just wish I had time outside of my job to be able to do more. Thanks.
We all wore a lot of hats at that installation but their carpenter hats didn't fit well. They were trying to cut 1/4" plywood into strips about 3" wide. They would get over 1/4" off of the line on first one side then the other sometimes crossing the line half a dozen times in the length of a sheet.
When I sawed a couple of sheets into strips they were absolutely dumbfounded. They had decided that the saw just wouldn't cut straight and were blaming it until I cut those strips. I do sometimes use a guide strip but most of the time I just cut to a line. On carpentry work I often use a chalk line.
