Improvised TS Splitter

[Jason Hanko]

When I picked up my new (to me) G1023, it didnt come with the splitter/guard assembly. Me no like.
But as it turns out, the ruler blade from an old, cheapo borg sliding combination square is the EXACT width of a THIN kerf TS blade....(at least mine was, please MEASURE yours if you attempt this).
I cut it down to length, drilled a hole for the mounting bolt, and beveled the front edge.
Bam. Splitter.
Shimmed it into alignment with the blade, and its perfect. Metal is plenty stiff and doesnt bend/give at all. One of these days Ill add a wood piece to extend over the top of the blade to stop things from falling onto the blade.

[Charlie North]

Hi Jason

It's amazing to me how many guards/pawls/splitters disappear! Judging by the few used offerings, people must throw them away.

I bought two model 10s this spring; neither had the safety equipment.

FWIW, Lee Styron (Shark Guard) recommends a splitter thinner than the kerf of the sawblade.

http://www.leestyron.com/sharksplitter.php

I made up a model from thin sheet metal.



I use thin kerf blades so I made the final pieces to his recommended .090" thickness. A body shop buddy is painting them now. I'll post a picture to the above thread when I get them back.

Good luck with your splitter. I can't believe people feel comfortable without one!

[glenn bradley]

That'll work. I used a similar setup before I went to the MJ Splitter and it worked just fine.

[John Thompson]

Hey Jason.. I made a few from a Johnson 12" combo square even though I made a splitter.. crown gaurd.. dust shieid similar to Lee Styrone's Shark Guard. One for non through cuts and one in the rare occasion I have to pull the shield off to do a very narrow rip. The splitter is just a hair narrower than .126 full kerf and I only run full kerf on my 5 HP.

So.. Charlie is correct to make the splitter a bit narrower or... if exact you have to be absolutely sure it is aligned 100% on every cut which makes it easier just to make it narrower. Just a side note.. you might want to spray paint the splitter red or black. If you are getting rub the paint will peel or show on the stock alerting you of a problem that needs to be corrected.

Nice job.. keep up the good field improvision...

[Jim Rimmer]

I noticed that on your post about the outfeed table and started to ask but didn't. Great idea.

[Jason Hanko]

FWIW, Lee Styron (Shark Guard) recommends a splitter thinner than the kerf of the sawblade.
So.. Charlie is correct to make the splitter a bit narrower or... if exact you have to be absolutely sure it is aligned 100% on every cut which makes it easier just to make it narrower.Whoops - thats actually what I meant... the width of the ruler is the same as that of a THIN kerf blade (I updated my above post).
So, this works well since I normally run a full kerf blade, and the splitter is slightly narrower. When I do put in the thin kerf blade its the same width as the splitter, so as long as its aligned correctly I should be alright.

[Prashun Patel]

Nice, Jason. I did similarly with a gate hinge and a 90 degree L strap. I suggest ou try the L since it'll allow the splitter to extend forward closer to the blade especially when it's lower.

PS: I recently bought a shark guard - mainly for the dust collection. Figured the monkeying around with one wasn't worth the $150 Lee charges....

[Tom Welch]

I don't know why you want the splitter to be thinner than the saw blade. How can that provide kick back protection. The purpose of a splitter is to keep the wood off the back side of the blade. That is where the energy is starting to be directed back at the operator. I think people are getting confused here. The "kerf" is the width of the cut by the blade. If you will notice on your next cut the kerf is slightly larger than the width of the blade. The splitter needs to be thinner than the Kerf but lthe same size of the blade width. The way I was taught, was to cut a piece of scrap so the cut will extend past the splitter ( or riving knife is so equiped). Then turn off the saw, and look at the area around the splitter. There should be a equal gap on both sides of the splitter. Adjust the splitter to obtain this gap.

There is a good explanation of this on Delta's web site of their new unisaw under accessorys / riving knife.
Just my 2 cents.

[harry strasil]

my splitter folds down when I am just making shallow kerfs.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v81/irnsrgn/wood/splitter002.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v81/irnsrgn/wood/splitter003.jpg

I will not use a TS that has one of those dangerous blade guards on it. I used one of my friends TS once with a guard on it, 16 stitches in my thumb as a result.

[John Thompson]

I don't know why you want the splitter to be thinner than the saw blade. How can that provide kick back protection. The purpose of a splitter is to keep the wood off the back side of the blade. That is where the energy is starting to be directed back at the operator. I think people are getting confused here. The "kerf" is the width of the cut by the blade. If you will notice on your next cut the kerf is slightly larger than the width of the blade. The splitter needs to be thinner than the Kerf but lthe same size of the blade width. The way I was taught, was to cut a piece of scrap so the cut will extend past the splitter ( or riving knife is so equiped). Then turn off the saw, and look at the area around the splitter. There should be a equal gap on both sides of the splitter. Adjust the splitter to obtain this gap.

There is a good explanation of this on Delta's web site of their new unisaw under accessorys / riving knife.
Just my 2 cents.

I'm not sure where you are "getting" the read on thinner than the saw blade. When I mentioned it in my post..

"The splitter is just a hair narrower than .126 full kerf and I only run full kerf on my 5 HP"... Sarge

When Charlie mentioned it in his post...

"FWIW, Lee Styron (Shark Guard) recommends a splitter thinner than the kerf of the sawblade".. Charlie

I think that we understand that the kerf is the width of the cut dictated by the diameter of the teeth from outside to outside.. and the blade body or plate is thinner than the kerf. You might also note on some European saws I have seen over the past 38 years the riving knife is a hair thinner than the kerf but a hair thicker than the blade plate or main body.

As long as the splitter or riving knife is thinner than the kerf itself there is no problem as the kerf opens up a path for the plate regardless of thickness. On the other hand.. many manufacturers make the splitter or riving knife thinner than the plate which can be a problem IMO. I had a piece of high moisture stock spread so violently (reaction wood) once it hit the long fence.. rebounded the opposite direction and into the thin and flexy splitter and moved it left enough the wood touched the dangerous rear rising teeth of the blade.. instant kick-back. So.... even with a riving knife or splitter kick-back could occur in given circumstances was the lesson for me and the reason I use a short fence in lieu of a long fence for the last 10 years.

Regards...

[michael osadchuk]

. The splitter needs to be thinner than the Kerf but lthe same size of the blade width. The way I was taught, was to cut a piece of scrap so the cut will extend past the splitter ( or riving knife is so equiped). Then turn off the saw, and look at the area around the splitter. There should be a equal gap on both sides of the splitter. Adjust the splitter to obtain this gap.

There is a good explanation of this on Delta's web site of their new unisaw under accessorys / riving knife.
Just my 2 cents.


Tom,

thanks for posting that alignment fix for an "un-centered" splitter".... I just used it with my Sharkguard and it worked fine......

another idea for splitter material... prior to the Sharkguard I would expoxy glue into the rear of homemade wood zero clearance inserts, a scimitar shaped splitter made of linen phenolic, salvaged from old electronic circuit boards.....this phenolic is very stiff/tough yet won't damage saw teeth and glues well; the scimitar shape to splitter allows very close "following" of the curve of the rear of the saw blade and if you make a couple with different heights, you come close to emulating the function of a riving knife, at least when the blade remains in the vertical position.

thanks

michael

[Joe Spear]

Harry Strasil said:


I will not use a TS that has one of those dangerous blade guards on it. I used one of my friends TS once with a guard on it, 16 stitches in my thumb as a result.[/QUOTE]


How did that happen?

[Tom Welch]

Your welcome Mike. John I was not refering to your post. But was refering to Jason's .

"this works well since I normally run a full kerf blade, and the splitter is slightly narrower. When I do put in the thin kerf blade its the same width as the splitter, "

I did not mean to ruffle anybodys feathers. Sorry if I did.

[harry strasil]

Tried to get the darn thing outa the way to see for a freehand cut. Been using a tablesaw without a guard since the 60's and never an accident or near accident.

[johnny means]

. Been using a tablesaw without a guard since the 60's and never an accident or near accident.

Famous last words. Sounds like every eight fingered old timer I've ever known.

Complacency is probably the most dangerous thing in the shop, and it gets more dangerous with experience. Why accuse a guard of being dangerous instead of just admitting our errors and learning from it?

[harry strasil]

no complacency to it, if it hadn't been for that stupid govt required dangerous guard none of my ten digits would have been anywhere close to the blade, and as far as complacency goes what does one of those dangerous stupid things give you anyway.

My error was trying to use the thing in the first place.

[John Thompson]

Your welcome Mike. John I was not refering to your post. But was refering to Jason's .

"this works well since I normally run a full kerf blade, and the splitter is slightly narrower. When I do put in the thin kerf blade its the same width as the splitter, "

I did not mean to ruffle anybodys feathers. Sorry if I did.

No promblem Tom, as I should have been more through when I went back to see just what you were referring to. I should have read Jason's post more cloesly. It takes much more than a gap in communication to get my shorts in a wad. :)

Bottom line... I got you Lima-Charlie (loud and clear) at this point.

Regards for the day, sir...

[Jason Wagner]

"Tried to get the darn thing outa the way to see for a freehand cut." meaning no fence? and one hand while the other moved the guard...I'm no old timer but seems like you were asking for it. Just like your seat belt is gonna trap you in your car vs. keep you from flying out through the sunroof to safety.

[ken gibbs]

This week I installed an aftermarket MJ Splitter on my rebuilt UNISAW. You have to use an ultra dense plastic insert to locate and drill these little splitters, but it was not difficult. The directions were written for left-handed folks with an ADHD condition, but once I figured where the photographer was standing when he took the pic, it went right onto the zero clearance splitter (ZCS). The only real problem was sanding down the ZCS to fit the UNISAW because it was slightly oversized. To remove the splitter head, all you have to do is stick a screw driver through the center hole in the splitter and pop it out. Rockler sells both sizes: narrow kerf blade size and 1/8" blade kerf. Does anybody have any negative things to say about these splitters? They cost about $20.00 for the splitter and install kit from Rockler Hardware. Just be sure to order the correct splitter for your blade.

[Steve Clardy]

This week I installed an aftermarket MJ Splitter on my rebuilt UNISAW. You have to use an ultra dense plastic insert to locate and drill these little splitters, but it was not difficult. The directions were written for left-handed folks with an ADHD condition, but once I figured where the photographer was standing when he took the pic, it went right onto the zero clearance splitter (ZCS). The only real problem was sanding down the ZCS to fit the UNISAW because it was slightly oversized. To remove the splitter head, all you have to do is stick a screw driver through the center hole in the splitter and pop it out. Rockler sells both sizes: narrow kerf blade size and 1/8" blade kerf. Does anybody have any negative things to say about these splitters? They cost about $20.00 for the splitter and install kit from Rockler Hardware. Just be sure to order the correct splitter for your blade.

I've used the MJ splitters for 6-7 years now. Ever since they came out. No complaints.

[Rod Sheridan]

"Tried to get the darn thing outa the way to see for a freehand cut." meaning no fence? and one hand while the other moved the guard...I'm no old timer but seems like you were asking for it. Just like your seat belt is gonna trap you in your car vs. keep you from flying out through the sunroof to safety.
Jason funny you should mention that.

Today on the drive into work, the overhead sign said " Be projected or be protected. Use your seatbelt"

Made me laugh...........Regards, Rod.

[Zach England]

It wold be nifty to find an easy way to make it double as a height gauge.