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I have a LT table saw, and was cutting some 45 deg miters for the sides of a box.
I did the cuts with my miter gauge with a longer (sacrificial) auxiliary fence and a stop block. So the piece was trapped between the tilted blade and the stop block.
The pieces were 8" to 14" long, so my fleshy bits were far from the blade.
Everything went smoothly, and the miters were the best I ever cut, but I had a nagging feeling I was doing something dumb, kickback-wise.
Was I? Should I have rearranged the cut by using the miter gauge on the right side of the blade, and the blade tilted away from the "keeper" part of my workpiece?
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(03-18-2025, 08:01 PM)Ridgeway Wrote: I have a LT table saw, and was cutting some 45 deg miters for the sides of a box.
I did the cuts with my miter gauge with a longer (sacrificial) auxiliary fence and a stop block. So the piece was trapped between the tilted blade and the stop block.
The pieces were 8" to 14" long, so my fleshy bits were far from the blade.
Everything went smoothly, and the miters were the best I ever cut, but I had a nagging feeling I was doing something dumb, kickback-wise.
Was I? Should I have rearranged the cut by using the miter gauge on the right side of the blade, and the blade tilted away from the "keeper" part of my workpiece?
In my experience, I always want the waste on the 45 degree side of the blade rather than the 135 degree side. Seems safer that way.
Doug
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(03-18-2025, 08:01 PM)Ridgeway Wrote: I have a LT table saw, and was cutting some 45 deg miters for the sides of a box.
I did the cuts with my miter gauge with a longer (sacrificial) auxiliary fence and a stop block. So the piece was trapped between the tilted blade and the stop block.
The pieces were 8" to 14" long, so my fleshy bits were far from the blade.
Everything went smoothly, and the miters were the best I ever cut, but I had a nagging feeling I was doing something dumb, kickback-wise.
Was I? Should I have rearranged the cut by using the miter gauge on the right side of the blade, and the blade tilted away from the "keeper" part of my workpiece?
That's an odd way of doing it, if I understand you correctly, but as long as the offcut has a place to go so it doesn't get trapped it should be a safe operation. People use stop blocks with their miter gage all the time. That said, I would put the miter gage on the right side if that's where the workpiece is.
John
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I've always wanted the blade tilted away from the miter gauge.
I started with absolutely nothing. Now, thanks to years of hard work, careful planning, and perseverance, I find I still have most of it left.
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Usual recommendation that I see is to put the stop block on the rip fence so that the work piece is clear of the stop block well before the cut is complete.
"the most important safety feature on any tool is the one between your ears." - Ken Vick
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(03-19-2025, 03:08 PM)iclark Wrote: Usual recommendation that I see is to put the stop block on the rip fence so that the work piece is clear of the stop block well before the cut is complete.
The trouble with that is that despite my best efforts, the workpiece creeps a little along the miter fence if I just use fingers to hold it in place.
The cuts I was making were about 5" long, so even a little creep led to the cut being noticeably off from 90 degrees (as if the piece were skewing a bit as I pushed it through the cut). The stop block let me put some pressure away from the blade and into the block, which, since the block was nicely secured, led to a nice true cut.
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(03-19-2025, 03:52 PM)Ridgeway Wrote: The trouble with that is that despite my best efforts, the workpiece creeps a little along the miter fence if I just use fingers to hold it in place.
The cuts I was making were about 5" long, so even a little creep led to the cut being noticeably off from 90 degrees (as if the piece were skewing a bit as I pushed it through the cut). The stop block let me put some pressure away from the blade and into the block, which, since the block was nicely secured, led to a nice true cut.
If the workpiece is creeping, your blade probably has some heal - ie- it's not parallel to the miter slot. If your workpiece is on the right side of the blade, and it's being pushed to the right, then rear of the blade is skewed to the right. If it's pulling the workpiece to the left, then the rear of the blade is skewed left. Fix that and it should cut w/o creep. Adding a piece of 100 grit sandpaper to the fence also helps to keep the workpiece from creeping.
John
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It's one of those butt pucker cuts & you can do it, so long as everything is lined up and the board is securely held down on the table. Turn the motor off as soon as the cut is done. I'd have my knee on the switch.
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(03-19-2025, 03:52 PM)Ridgeway Wrote: The trouble with that is that despite my best efforts, the workpiece creeps a little along the miter fence if I just use fingers to hold it in place.
I glued some 80 grit onto the face of my miter gage to stop that from happening
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