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mitre saw help!
hulkster:
well that $100 table saw isnt a bad price, plus i cut things a lot easier, and i wouldnt have to use a saw guide or anything right? doesnt it allow me to kinda set up the wood on the table saw with the built in guide itself, and then just run it through? ive never really used one before, so im in the dark as far as the benefits of using it. help?
hulkster:
its the Ryobi 10in. table saw. its the only one that is $99.
FractalWalk:
--- Quote from: hulkster081 on February 23, 2004, 11:14:38 am ---doesnt it allow me to kinda set up the wood on the table saw with the built in guide itself, and then just run it through
--- End quote ---
Yep. Way easier. You can tilt the blade to make your beveled cuts and it should also come with a mitre guide to make your mitre cuts.
One advantage a circular saw has over a table saw is that it isn't a fixed blade. So if you need to cut a large piece of wood (e.g. 4' x 8' MDF) then you can run along it easily with a circular saw but you can't really feed it through the table saw. Also a table saw is an open blade and is very dangerous.
The $100 saws are called bench saws and have cheaper motors, but for this hobby they do just fine. I use my table saw for everything except cutting my side panels. Try to get one with a stand. A standard workbench is too high (safety-wise) for cutting with a table saw. Ideally, you want the table to be around your waist level.
hulkster:
okay, im confused on your terminology....what are "miter cuts" are those the angled cuts i want? do you have a pic of what the top of a table saw looks like? i mean, i want to make sure there is a guide for me to run the wood through so it will cut on a straight line.
FractalWalk:
Sorry for the confusion. I don't have a pic, pu maybe I can describe it in ASCII.
A table saw is just a flat surface (table) with a blade sticking up in the middle. It comes with an adjustable fence that you can position however far away from the blade you want. Looking at the table from the edge it would look like this:
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^ ^
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blade fence
From the top it looks like this:
|---------------------------||--------|
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|---------------------------||--------|
^ ^
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blade fence
So if you want to cut a board 6 inches wide, then you move the fence 6 inches away, lock it down and just run the board over the table surface. The blade cuts in a fixed position.
If you want to make a bevel cut (which is what you have been describing) , you can swivel the blade so that it makes an angle with the table surface.
\
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\
^ ^
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blade fence
Think of the front edge of the table as the x-axis, the depth of the table as the y-axis and a perpendicular to both (height) as the z-axis. This cut is angled relative to the z-axis. So when you run the board through instead of a perpendicular edge, you get a beveled edge. However both the x-axis and y-axis are still straight (look down on the board and its still a rectangle). Bevels can be anywhere from 0 to 45 degrees. If you want a 50 degree bevel then that is the same thing as a 40 degree bevel made on the board when it is flipped over.
Additionally, you can make mitre cuts. Both of the cuts described above have been straight cuts (relative to the x and y axis). A mitre cut is a cut that is angled relative to the boards x axis. Looking down on a table saw, a mitre cut might look like this:
|-----------------------------------|
| / / |
| / / |
| /| / |
| / | / |
| / | / |
| / / |
| / / |
|-----------------------------------|
The diagonal lines represent a 2 x4 laying flat and the 3 straight lines in the middle is the saw blade. Notice that this cut will not leave a straight end on the board like the other cuts. When you look down on it, it is no longer a rectangle. For this cut you don't use the fence, but rather a mitre guide that comes with the table saw.
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