Hi Bob:
These are great questions.
1/ Totally blowing my own trumpet, my new article in Australian Wood Review (coming out early next year) is on Methods of Work focussed solely on the sliding table saw. That will definitely help, with prose and pictures. In the meantime, there is definitely a risk of ¡°offcut entrapment¡± when using the rip fence as a bump stop, especially when doing crosscuts for length. For such operations, you must pull back the rip fence so that it is in-line or slightly in front of the leading edge of the saw blade.
But in re-reading your question, I¡¯m not sure you¡¯re talking about crosscuts. You may well be thinking of breaking down plywood? For that operation, the same procedure of pulling back the rip fence is desirable. If your fence does not pull back, then Brian¡¯s suggestion of using a 1-2-3 block is useful. You can also just clamp a piece of timber (preferably of known thickness) to the rip fence. Do a test cut, and then use that reference point as a bump stop for uniform cut sizes to the right of the blade.
Something to keep in mind is that the rip fence has toe-out (if it is properly calibrated). On the topic of calibration, you might like to see my article on Sliding Table Saw Calibration in Australian Wood Review, Volume 113. The ¡°top-shelf¡± way of dealing with the discrepancy of toe-out when using the rip fence as a bump stop is to compensate for that toe-out using a method that eliminates that couple of thousands of an inch: blue tape is easy, added between the back of the rip fence and where it mounts/clamps; even better would be tapped grub screws so that you can adjust the toe-out to zero when needed.
An easier but less precise way of dealing with toe-out is to reference your stock for cutting to the exact same spot on your fence. For example, when using this method, I reference the stock against the rip fence at the leading edge of the cast iron table of the saw. Or use a pencil and mark a spot directly on the rip fence. Such consistency effectively eliminates the variability that toe-out can bring.
2/ Your second question is about dust extraction. This subject can be fraught with danger in that everyone has an opinion, but that opinion is not necessarily based on science (including mine)! Enter here the age-old arguments around theory and experience, and add in the proverbial pissing contest and you get the drift.
I would make three points:
a) If you are unfamiliar with Bill Pentz and his website, then you can do a lot worse than going there and reading for an hour. Sure, he might not have all the answers, but he has most of them.
b) You express concern about dust leaking out of the cutouts for the cabinet. Usually, the extra holes and slots and ¡°gaps¡± in a machine base are of no concern because most machines (including Felder machines) are not designed for good airflow and so often the dust shroud chokes dust extraction through loss of airflow. Such gaps you refer to often enhance and improve the dust extractability of most modern machines because they allow more air to be drawn into the dust extraction piping. Again, Bill Pentz goes on at length about this.
c) I think you too quickly discount the 4¡± hose and your 5HP set-up. Suction is definitely the issue in my opinion. I¡¯d be very surprised if the K700 had a genuine 100mm below-table extraction point. It is usually 120mm. Can you confirm that your extraction outlet is really 4¡±? Since you have an 8¡± mainline, if possible you really need to increase the size of your extraction ducting to the saw. The difference between 100mm and 120mm is very significant: 100mm pipe has a cross-section of 78cm2, whereas 120mm pipe has a cross section of 113cm2, which is nearly 45% bigger. In this instance, size does matter.
I sincerely hope the above commentary helps. Feel free to ask more questions. There¡¯s lots of people here who are eager to help.
On 24 Dec 2021, at 3:20 am, Bob Wise <
bob@...> wrote:
Am new to the slider saw...
1/ What is considered best practice for doing cuts where you? use the fence on the right hand side to set the cut width for long stock. After clamping piece to slider, do you leave the fence in place while making the cut, or slide the fence back out of the way having used it to set the cut length? I'm wondering if there is risk of the piece being trapped between the blade and fence and having a kickback incident.
2/ Various bits of dust leak out from the cutouts in the cabinet. I have it hooked up with a 4 inch hose to my 5hp (4 inch hose to 8 inch mains), so I don't think suction is the issue. Am thinking about taping them up. Any reason?not to do this? My main concern is cooling flow for motor. That said, I'm a serious hobbyist, not a production shop, so the saw runs in short spurts.
-Bob
David Luckensmeyer