Shopsmith Forums

For a while I was using the same table insert for many things , I bought those aluminum dado inserts , I found using the same dado inserts didn't perform as I wanted ,, I wanted to improve of safety ,quality of work ,,,,,,,, non zero clearance inserts were causing uncomfortable situations for me,,,,,,, some I even felt were unsafe ,,,,,, so now I make my own,,,,,,, using the SS it is a piece of cake , zero clearance inserts are much more safe in day to day operation and can be custom made for any situation ,,,,,,they can be a huge advantage in work quality, IMO.

I bought my SS jig saw and it was missing the insert,,,,, so I made one ,, cutting angles with a sled feels more safe to me then using a insert that has a gap between the blade and the table,, I have personally had slivers of wood get hung up between the blade and the table ,


On all saws .


I have bought those inserts from the web ,, they don't work any better then what I can make ,,,,, for what it is worth ,,,IMO when it comes to safety and good work ethics ,,quality work ,,, there is no substitute a custom fit zero clearance insert .

JMO

Hobbyman2

sorry for the double post !!

Hobbyman2

Hobbyman2 wrote:sorry for the double post !!

Hobbyman2

So go back, edit it to remove em.

Thanks!

There are a couple tricks to making these , one is ya should clamp a piece of wood over the insert to the table when ya make your first cut.
2 they need to be flat and 3 I suggest using hard wood , those are ash.


Hobbyman2

I do the same thing. I found that precut and planed 1/4" wood makes the job much easier. I have left over pieces of aromatic cedar which are exactly the right thickness, and the soft wood is easy to work into shape. It saves on cash outlay if I can make things like this out of scraps of wood.
Make up enough of them at one time so you have unused ones hanging on the wall for the next time you are in the middle of a project and need one.

I had a surplus of ash for a while ,,,,,I got the tree after the ash bores killed it and had it milled ,,, I have used mostly oak and ash with my dado blades and table saw ,,the insert on the jig saw ,,,,might,,,, be pine it,,,, has ,,,held up fairly well for the amount of use .

It was a bit trickier to make , I had to do some work on the underneath to keep it down.

Hobbyman2

Hobbyman2 wrote:I had a surplus of ash for a while ,,,,,I got the tree after the ash bores killed it and had it milled ,,, I have used mostly oak and ash with my dado blades and table saw ,,the insert on the jig saw ,,,,might,,,, be pine it,,,, has ,,,held up fairly well for the amount of use .

It was a bit trickier to make , I had to do some work on the underneath to keep it down.

Hobbyman2

Which was????

I had a period of time when I was using ZCI rapidly. So rapidly that I decided to make a jig. The jig slides in the miter tracks so that I can extend the KERF cut bac for the riving knife while at the same time making certain that it is centered in the cutout. I then move the jig over to the drill press where with the aid of a couple stops I can drill the holes right where they need to be.

I now use 1/2" baltic birch plywood to make my zci.

http://www.shopsmith.com/ss_forum/viewt ... ed#p171466

JPG wrote:

Hobbyman2 wrote:I had a surplus of ash for a while ,,,,,I got the tree after the ash bores killed it and had it milled ,,, I have used mostly oak and ash with my dado blades and table saw ,,the insert on the jig saw ,,,,might,,,, be pine it,,,, has ,,,held up fairly well for the amount of use .

It was a bit trickier to make , I had to do some work on the underneath to keep it down.

Hobbyman2

Which was????

======================
I added small pieces to the bottom , the first one rattled around and snapped in two , so far this one has been fine and now has over 2 hrs use .

Hobbyman2

dusty wrote:I had a period of time when I was using ZCI rapidly. So rapidly that I decided to make a jig. The jig slides in the miter tracks so that I can extend the KERF cut bac for the riving knife while at the same time making certain that it is centered in the cutout. I then move the jig over to the drill press where with the aid of a couple stops I can drill the holes right where they need to be.

I now use 1/2" baltic birch plywood to make my zci.

http://www.shopsmith.com/ss_forum/viewt ... ed#p171466

====================

Very nice!!


Hobbyman2