Having trouble making good rabbet

[AndyF]

<font color="blue"> The fence is a rectangular aluminum extrusion. I don't want to bolt all the way thru it as this will compress the center of the tube &amp; distort it. Should I tap the aluminum &amp; use a counter bored or counter sunk screw thru the wood into the aluminum? Or make a relief hole on the other side of the fence and screw thru the fence into the wood?
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A simple way to do it is to get some masonite either 1/4" or 1/8" and use a double back tape to stick it to the fence. It'll work well and when it gets dinged up peel it off and stick on a new one.

[Argee]

I've used a piece of laminated particle board (backsplash). Allows the stock to run by it smoothly. Pretty durable too.

[Hank]

<font color="purple"> some masonite either 1/4" or 1/8" and use a double back tape </font color>

The simplest ideas are often the most elegant!!

[gobbler]

<font color="blue">some masonite either 1/4" or 1/8" and use a double back tape </font color>


1/8 or ¼ inch material wouldn’t be thick enough to safely bury the dado blade, you need at least ½, ¾ is better. I use MDF for nearly all my jigs, not only is it cheap, it’s very flat and smooth. When working with MDF, you must pre-drill for any screws and wear a dust mask as the dust if very fine.

Double stick tape has it’s place, but not stuck to your metal fence (like the Jet Fence you have). If you leave it on for a couple of days, you’ll have a mess to clean up on your fence. If your fence has laminated sides, like the Biesemeyer, or HDPE like the Jet Xacta Fence, you might be ok, but I still wouldn’t use it.

Jim

[Hank]

<font color="purple"> 1/8 or ¼ inch material wouldn’t be thick enough to safely bury the dado blade </font color>

I never like to bury anything in my auxiliary wood fence anyway, because it messes it up, yeilding a void that stock could catch on. Would always tack another piece of wood to the wood fence for that purpose, and hung on to several common ones for reuse. My thought is the primary wood fence is there to prevent incidental/accidental contact between the blade and the metal fence, esp when working close.

[gobbler]

Hank,

I agree with you and “bury’ might have been the improper term, maybe “kissin it” would be more appropriate. But I still think 1/8 to ¼ inch material is too thin to prevent accidental contact with the fence.

Jim

[Hank]

<font color="purple"> I agree with you and “bury’ might have been the improper term </font color>

Not to worry. "Burying" is the right term, and is often necessary for a clean cut [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]. We kept racks full of fences for various buried cuts, not only for table saws, but also for jointers, shapers, mortisers, etc.

[Pat]

Sorry I'm chiming in so late but wondered if the extruded fence problem was solved. I thought maybe if the extrusion was open at one end you could drill a holle on only the side next to the blade and slip a washer and nut or washer-nut combo (whatever they are called) into the hollow extrusion by sticking the hardware on a long handle made from a scrap or wire or one of those long flexible remote grabber thingies. I have done about that same things with a small box end wrench and some goo (glob of partially hardend ruber cement or similar and a temp extension handle (wood scrap) taped to the wrench. the screw or bolt goes through the partially counterbored hole in the wood fence cover first then throught the extrusion into the nut inside the extrusion.

Once with a particularly dificullt to get to installation, I drilled a hole to clear a thin wall socket in the side away from the action and could tighten the bolt from there as tight as I wanted and of course not collapse the extrusion. The thin wall socket was a cheapie that I had ground down on a bench grinder to be able to get to the nuts holding on a carburettor on an old Jeep.

All this wood butchering talk makes we wish I were doing something in wood. Soon, after the house starts going up!

Best of luck to you,

Pat

[OkieG]

hazmat,

My contribution is a bit late, but here's my thought. Edge cuts are always more difficult than when stock is flat in the saw table. But, whether the stock is flat on the table or on edge, if the waste material part of the cut is between the fence and blade you can't screw up your desired piece. If the stock drifts away from a snug ride along the fence, the blade will be cutting off line into the waste material, not the piece you wish to keep. Multiple passes will be possible, if required, and still not mess up the trim. It the waste is on the side of the blade away from the fence, and the stock drifts from the fence a bit, the errant cut is into your desired piece (not good).

You see, it sounds to me that if your first cut was OK, but the second one was not, then maybe the stock was not tight to the fence while passing the blade on edge. Feather boards work OK, but the C-clamp set up can be awkward and time consuming. Magnetic base type feather boards are available that can be set up in a snap.

Now, the reason the stock was not tight to the fence could be technique related or because the stock is warped a bit....or both.

My solution to this cut would be with two cuts (as you did originally) with a standard blade. With the dimention of stock and rabbet you described, either the flat or edge cut could be made first. You have two goals when you make these cuts: first, do it right the first time and second, if you don't do it right, be able to salvage your desired piece for another try (which is what waste against the fence does for you).

An earlier post suggests the use of a push stick, which is exactly what I would use....actually I would use two push sticks. One, as the trailing edge of your trim is approaching the blade to push the stock though to the end. The other, to hold the stock firmly to the fence. Hold it (against the stock) stationary above the blade as the stock slides past, just above where the blade is at it's highest point. It's hard to get a feather board there, but easy for a push stick. Stock as narrow and thin as your trim needs to be held tight, right at the cut to keep it from wandering. You don't need a dado set for this cut. In fact, you could be done with the cuts by the time you set up the dado blade. You can always use a good dust collection system, though.

If you need to make cuts where you want some of the width of the blade (kerf) hidden, then a wooden face on the fence is fine, otherwise, why bother? Most good fences are milled very straight. Adding wood facing only adds another variable for inaccurate cuts.

One caveat to the cutting technique described above...there are good reasons to have the waste on the side of the blade away from the fence on most cuts, but not for a small rabbet cut like yours.

Last, you should keep a coat of car wax on the milled cast iron surface of your saw table. It protects, and stock slides much smoother. I've never felt the need to wax my fence, but there's no reason why not.

OkieG

[macher]

Hazmat,

Was that you over on TBN who started the tractoritis, or was atachmentitis, thread?

Be careful, attatchmentitis transfers from tractors to woodworking...where you can also find need-another-toolitis...

[img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

Bill in Pgh, PA