Using your fence

Ed in Tampa · Post by **Ed in Tampa** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 4:00 pm

I have a question, when you cut with the fence do you set up the cut so the piece you want is the piece between the fence and the blade or is it the free piece the one on the other side of the blade.

Let me state the my question this way, say your cutting ply and your going to rip multiple 7 inch pieces off.
Do you set the fence seven inches from the blade and make your cut, resulting in your piece being between the blade and fence.

Or do you move the fence over so that it is 40 7/8 (sawkerf) inches away and make the cut, resulting in the cut off or free piece being 7 inches, then set the blade again and make another cut?

The first way lets you set up the blade and fence once, however any error such as coming off the fence slightly will ruin the desired/working piece.

The second requires a new fence blade adjustment for each piece but you can always run the same/factory edge against the fence and any mistake like coming off the fence goes on the waste so you can fix it.
Ed

dwevans · Post by **dwevans** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 4:42 pm

For repetitive cuts, I always set the fence to the dimension I want. Less math that way

john · Post by **john** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 4:55 pm

I'm with dwevans on that one.

John

a1gutterman · Post by **a1gutterman** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 8:32 pm

That goes for me too.

charlese · Post by **charlese** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 8:35 pm

Ed in Tampa wrote:I have a question, when you cut with the fence do you set up the cut so the piece you want is the piece between the fence and the blade or is it the free piece the one on the other side of the blade.
Ed

Hi Ed! I feel you kinda loaded the original question with the added parts about the "multiple identical pieces" so I chose to answer only your first question. (In the above quote)

It all depends on what size piece I want - and the size of the piece I'm ripping from. The rip fence will be to the left or right of the blade - depending on where I have previously placed the main table and headstock.

Multiple pieces of the same width; I use one set up.

Narrow piece (3/4" or less) off of a wider board; I set up to use the cut off.
The reason for this is, I like to use the upper saw guard and find it does not work too well to use the fence straddler beneath the upper saw guard. If multiple narrow pieces are wanted - I'd rather re-set the fence than do without the upper saw guard and splitter/stop cauls.

Ripping from sheet goods; I just don't like to use the rip fence too far away from the blade. So will trim off a small piece between the fence and the blade - using the cut off.

Ed in Tampa · Post by **Ed in Tampa** » Tue Jul 31, 2007 12:33 am

Chuck
I did load the question a bit.
One thing I like to use a factory edge on sheet goods and jointed edge on boards. Therefore I always put that edge against the fence. If I'm making multiple cuts I position my fence so the that edge is always on fence so each piece has the same frame of reference.

Also when doing sheet goods I have found even a slight movement of the sheet gets translated to the cut. I was cutting 3/4 MDF and put the factory edge on the fence and kept moving the fence adjusting for the width of the cut off I wanted. My son in law was watching and thought I was crazy. So I had him cut the last sheet using the the cut off that was between the fence and the blade. What we found was no matter how careful either of us were there was still slight variations in the cut.

I then set the fence to the exact desired width (distance between the blade and fence) and ran each piece throug. All of my pieces either were in full contact with the blade or the blade shaved a whisker off. On my son in laws pieces his were nearly right on but almost all left a slight gap against the blade somewhere on the cut.

Using method where the desired piece is not between the fence and the blade will always result in the correct width with any wiggle adding to the width which can then be fixed. Using method where the desired piece is between the blade and the fence, any wiggle will result in too narrow of a cut which can't be fixed.

fixit · Post by **fixit** » Tue Jul 31, 2007 12:34 pm

Ed,

A very interesting post! On occasion I've noticed the problem of having a piece a "bit" too narrow if it had been cut between the fance and blade. But I never thought about cutting it to the "outside" of the blade and then trimming to the correct size. Now I have another tool in my bag of tricks when working with critical cuts.

Thanks for sharing your technique. It has certainly helped this old retired guy. I'm sure my woodwork will improve based on your observations. It just proves you are never too old to learn new tricks!

charlese · Post by **charlese** » Tue Jul 31, 2007 9:12 pm

Ed & Leonard- Yep! I also have found a slight narrowing in some pieces I ripped between the fence and blade. Feather boards will eliminate the issue if they can be used however, here's another technique I have used to remedy that problem - it may help you as it did me: (I've used it on plywood and MDF, with very small increments of planing, as well as lumber)

When ripped boards just have to be exact width - with no variation - I have been known to joint, then rip oversize - then run the edges through the thickness planer. Of course this works only with boards of slightly over 6" width or less because that's the widest mouth on my planer. While planing the edges of a single 6" wide board is not a good idea. I will gang plane such pieces while clamped together face to face. Boy! They come out exactly as desired.

As for another "fix" for errors in ripping - I have sometimes jointed the bad edge then glued on a strip - then re-ripped. This all boils down to the fact that there is no "fixed recipe" that can be followed to make wood parts. Some times the problem isn't a "wow" in the cut. It is a splintered piece along the edge that would look bad if exposed or filled. We simply gotta safely do what is needed to get the desired result.

reible · Post by **reible** » Wed Aug 01, 2007 7:29 pm

Ed in Tampa wrote:Chuck
I did load the question a bit.
One thing I like to use a factory edge on sheet goods and jointed edge on boards. Therefore I always put that edge against the fence. If I'm making multiple cuts I position my fence so the that edge is always on fence so each piece has the same frame of reference.

Also when doing sheet goods I have found even a slight movement of the sheet gets translated to the cut. I was cutting 3/4 MDF and put the factory edge on the fence and kept moving the fence adjusting for the width of the cut off I wanted. My son in law was watching and thought I was crazy. So I had him cut the last sheet using the the cut off that was between the fence and the blade. What we found was no matter how careful either of us were there was still slight variations in the cut.

I then set the fence to the exact desired width (distance between the blade and fence) and ran each piece throug. All of my pieces either were in full contact with the blade or the blade shaved a whisker off. On my son in laws pieces his were nearly right on but almost all left a slight gap against the blade somewhere on the cut.

Using method where the desired piece is not between the fence and the blade will always result in the correct width with any wiggle adding to the width which can then be fixed. Using method where the desired piece is between the blade and the fence, any wiggle will result in too narrow of a cut which can't be fixed.

Hi,

When I got to this part of the post I got a little mixed up about how you are doing this. It seems that no matter what way you cut it you will end up with problems if the cut is not true. What turns out to be an extra amount on one piece is then a problem on the next piece... well you could joint between each cut but you didn't mention that.

So take a look below and tell me where my error in thinking is coming from. I made the error very large for the purpose of making this easy to see. I think by looking at the images it should be clear what I think is happening, but if you want I can add some more words later....

Ed

I somehow got the attachments in the wrong order so please look at them in the numbered order rip1, rip2, and then rip3... don't see a way to fix this with out deleting and uploading again???

a1gutterman · Post by **a1gutterman** » Wed Aug 01, 2007 7:55 pm

Hi Ed,

I am sure that everyone can see where you are going with this but, I am sure that the other Ed would take the bad cut into consideration when remeasuring for his next strip, allowing more for waste. And of course, like you said, the waste amount would not be as much as your illustration shows.

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