On Sat, 13 Mar 2004 12:08:26 -0500, Silvan
wrote:

Unisaw A100 wrote:

you should look at putting your savings towards an over arm
guard. Had a lawyerish feel to it.

Unsurprising.

'Sides, it would be easier to align than a glued in fin
splitter. And hell, it's only $7.

My thinking too.


Yabut shopmade ones from scrap are free, and you don't have to wait
for the mailorder or settle for a generic product.










Only problem is I need to make a thicker insert for it to fly.

I make them out of scraps of 1/2" baltic birch. I really like the
stiffness of the birch.





I've been looking at this problem for a while, and I really don't
have a good plan of attack. The factory insert is only 1/8" thick, and the
edge is rolled over and sort of pointy.
I think it would make a lousy guide for a router bit,

granted. bury that POS in a deep drawer away from the light of day.
make a nice tight fitting template out of whatever decent sheet goods
you have scrap of lying around. the 1/8" rim could rpesent a problem
in weaker materials like particle board or lauan ply but assuming it's
continuous all of the way around it should be plenty strong enough in
baltic birch.



even if I had a router that didn't suck. Then
there's the problem of routing off material to fit the rim, which needs
close tolerances,


I have 2 templates that I use to make inserts. one is for the oval
shape at the surface of the saw, the other is for the flats that the
insert rides on. on my saw the tabs aren't even quite the same
distance from the saw top, so there's always a bit of fitting with a
cabinet scraper




and is hardly a job for the random depth feature on my
Crapsman router.

that router has gotta be a temporary thing in your shop if you intend
to use routers to do anything meaningful. (it might be adequate for
stirring cake batter. ask David Eisan...) either you gonna hafta get a
real router or do without. in the meantime you might get away with
cranking the collet and depth adjustment locks down real close to the
breaking point, and making a goodly sized batch of inserts.





I'm thinking about sucking it up and just buying one of these damn plastic
ones. It would be worth $22 just to save myself an afternoon of
frustration.

ya wuss.




OTOH, I will need a lot of them, and an afternoon of frustration could save
me a ton of money in the long run.

and get you a better fitting insert than a generic plastic one. and
don't forget being able to have different ones for different angles,
and for dado blades and such.




sigh

Why do these damn things have to be ROUND anyway? Square is 50,000 times
easier.

corners have an annoying tendency to curl up over time. if the
material is going to have any tendency to warp, the amount will be
greatest at the corner....




I hate curves. Despise them. Detest them. Abhor them. Right angles and
straight lines are wonderful.


curves are sexier....




Bridger