Having trouble making good rabbet

[hazmat]

I'm trying to rabbet the trim to fit over the 5/16" wainscotting in the DR. I am making two cuts, stock flat 1st & on edge second. My on edge cuts aren't coming out square. Trying to make a 5/16 by 1/2 rabbet.

Any technique tips? I'm following the instructions in Cliff's tables saw book. Will a zero clearance throat plate help? Should I suck it up and lay out the $$$$$ for a dado head?

Thanks!!!

[Argee]

Make yourself a feather board to hold the stock securely against the fence. That should take the movement of the stock out of the equation. You may also have to extend the height of your fence so the material is fully supported against it when making the on edge cut.

[pbenven]

Not much experience here, so take my suggestions under advisement.

Don't have a router table? Without a dado blade, that would be my second choice. Don't know how much you have to do, but another option (after Argee's feather board suggestion) would be to use your regular blade as a dado. Install a sacrificial strip on your fence, and move the fence in 1/8" after each pass.

[Hank]

I would always make the on edge cut first, esp on trim, because more of the edge is still there to ride on the table. If you make the flat cut first, then when it later passes through on edge, the rabbet is actually being formed and you lose half of your edge.

And use a featherboard to keep the stock against the fence.

You can make another insert for your table saw out of wood, wind the saw up through it and you have the zero clearance plate you describe.

[egon]

Use a taller fence for more support. Make sure it is at 90 degrees to the table and parallel to the blade. Also check and insure the blade is at 90 degrees to the table.
The dado blade is worth it if you are going to make many rabbets.

Egon

[lblair]

Hank says it all. Make your own zero clearance plate. Then leave the wider part for last so there is more support under the piece. I cut many of rabbets this way. Good luck practice helps also, Larry

[hazmat]

Thanks guys, I will give it another shot tonight cutting edge first & flat second.

I don't have a router table. The stock is narrow (2 1/4") so the fence is plenty high. I just bought the saw & spent friday evening putting it together & making sure everything was parrallel and square.

I made a featherboard, but need to devise a better way to mount it. the C-clamp I used was too difficult to adjust. I need to figure a way to mount it in the miter slot. I've seen some commericial featherboards that do this, hope to copy their design.

Question on the zero clearance plate. Do I need one for each different height ie the length of the slot, or is just having it sized for the blade (width) provide enough support?

[Hank]

<font color="purple"> Question on the zero clearance plate. Do I need one for each different height ie the length of the slot </font color>

You would want to wind the running blade up all the way to begin with, so you don't surprise yourself later on [img]/forums/images/icons/wink.gif[/img] , when you don't have anything holding it down.


<font color="purple"> I made a featherboard, but need to devise a better way to mount it </font color>

The C-clamp definitely needs to have the proper reach. Securing the featherboard using the miter slot is one way. A simpler way is to C-clamp another board, just a plain 1x2, so the end of it butts up against the featherboard at approx. a 90 degree angle. If the featherboard is running SW -&gt; NE across the table, then the second board would be NW -&gt; SE.

Get all the angle and tension of the featherboard set up, and use the second board to keep it from moving.

[RobS]

This shouldn't be that hard and you shouldn't need a zero clearance insert. Make sure your fence is perpendicular to your table. Same with the blade. Keep your stock tight to the table and fence (featherboards would help). Is your insert flush to the table?

Don't forget to keep track of your fingers [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[hazmat]

Hank,

Thanks again for the tips,

Rob,

<font color="blue"> you shouldn't need a zero clearance insert </font color> I plan on giving it a shot w/o the zero clearance first. The reason I asked about that is I am cutting a piece of baseboard on the molded edge, when on edge it doesn't span the opening in the stock insert.

<font color="blue"> Don't forget to keep track of your fingers </font color> 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,9-1/2 d'oh [img]/forums/images/icons/crazy.gif[/img] (actually still have 10). Thanks for the reminder, we can never give safety enough thought.