TS spitting too much sawdust at me?

[Michael MacDonald]

It appears to me that my TS is spitting more sawdust out the top as I rip or crosscut... especially noticeable when I rip long boards. it actually stings my hands--which are pretty far from the blade. I don't remember having this happen a month ago, and I am not sure what has changed.

I have checked alignment, and the blade appears to be square to the miter channel. The fence is also square to the miter channel. The cuts are all 90 degree--no bevel, I haven't checked the front-back alignment because it shouldn't matter in this case... I have changed blades as well, and that has not resolved the problem.

Any ideas? or am I just getting too sensitive?

[Joe Chritz]

Do you have a riving knife or splitter? It sounds like the kerf is closing up and cutting on the up stroke. The other main suspects apparently have been checked already.

Check the blade for run out also, that could do it also.

Joe

[Michael MacDonald]

one other thing... I thought maybe the riving knife was out of alignment, but it appears to be within the confines of the blade... I don't know what else to check.

[Michael MacDonald]

right... I was just thinking about that, and posted a comment preemptively. though you beat me to it... hadn't thought to look at arbor runout. I will check that next.

[Rod Sheridan]

Sounds like it's time for over head dust collection........Rod

[Will Overton]

Is your blade raised higher than normal? Recently on another forum, a rep from Freud mentioned that their blades are designed to cut with only 1/2 of a tooth exposed. I tried it and found it almost eliminates the 'sawdust kickback'.

Are you using a wood that is not typical for you?

[Chris Rosenberger]

If your saw has a dust collection shroud below the blade.
Check that the hose from the shroud is not plugged up.

[Chris Harry]

Is your blade raised higher than normal? Recently on another forum, a rep from Freud mentioned that their blades are designed to cut with only 1/2 of a tooth exposed. I tried it and found it almost eliminates the 'sawdust kickback'.

Are you using a wood that is not typical for you?

Agreed. I find this is one of those "why didnt I think of that" kind of things, but it goes overlooked (even by me)

I think I read something from Forrest to the same effect. You want the material to be at a certain point on the highest tooth of the blade. I forget what they suggested, but having everything at the correct height helped my sawdust kick back a lot.

I still do get some on long and narrow rips. Seems that a wider board keeps the dust underneath itself for the dust collection to grab, but a narrow board (or towards the end of a rip) the material isnt there to help keep the dust in check. Its not a lot by any means, but I suppose it could be better.

[John Piwaron]

I second Chris's idea - check below the blade where there may be some shrouding around it to which a hose is connected.

That's the arrangement on my own TS. It can also simply throw the sawdust around inside the cabinet, but lots or most is intended to go down that shroud/hose to be routed to an external dust collector.

What happens sometimes is small thin cut offs collect there, a litte larger "shavings" collect against them and it isn't long and the opening to the house is obstructed. Leaving newly arriving dust/chips no where to go.

If this is ignored long enough it will collect to the point it'll start smoking on the way to starting on fire. Trust me, that is how I learned about that. Only the grace of God had put another guy in the shop with me that day and it was he that noticed the small curl of smoke coming from the table. I work alone 99.9% of the time. Since my focus is on things other than looking for smoke while the saw is running and I'm cutting, this could have gone badly.

Now I know to check that the whole passage is clear on a regular basis.

[Chris Parks]

I have not got dust collection hooked up to my TS cabinet as yet and as a result the cabinet fills with saw dust. When it gets to a certain level then the saw spits the dust back to the operator and I know it is time to empty the cabinet.

[Jim Rimmer]

Along with all that has already been posted, have you tried a ZCI? That doesn't explain what has changed but should cut down on the sawdust in the face.

[Michael MacDonald]

I think my blade height is usually pretty random... didn't think of it as that critical. I usually target to have stock at the base of the gullet, but I don't try that hard to get the height exact... I will try a few different heights to see if there is a difference.

The dust collection hose question is a good idea... I have seen this happen at my blower fan before I made the separator, so I am sure it could happen inside corrugated hose. Still, even without a dust collector, I think one would see less dust thrown forward (thrown pretty hard too...ouch)... so my gut tells me that there is something else wrong.

I have been working mostly with white oak, and the change in dust occured just recently. I thought perhaps it was alignment because I had moved the TS around a bit on the mobile base. I think I need to go back to triple check that--I think that is the typical reason for this type of problem, but when it checked out fine, I wasn't sure what else to look for...

[Chip Lindley]

We usually smell smoke, before we see it. Don't discount the use of all Five senses! Early Man lived (or died) by theirs. So may we!

[Kyle Iwamoto]

[QUOTE=Will Overton;1448009]Is your blade raised higher than normal? Recently on another forum, a rep from Freud mentioned that their blades are designed to cut with only 1/2 of a tooth exposed. I tried it and found it almost eliminates the 'sawdust kickback'.QUOTE]

Wow, I must be really old school. I've always learned and practiced to raise the blade until the bottom of the gullet almost shows. This allows the chips to clear and cool the blade. (which may be what you're getting hit by) Am I way off base?

[Ron Jones near Indy]

blade height was the first thing that came to mind with me also.

[Michael MacDonald]

Was in a rush last night, and only had to rip one board... so no chance for experimentation. however, I set the blade height lower--about half gullet underneath the wood top edge...

It seemed to me that the dust thown at me was greatly reduced. Didn't have much to shake off the board, and didn't get too much on my arms.

Will fool around a bit with this more tonight. Golly... Just when you think you know something!

[Michael MacDonald]

thanks for all the suggestions... it does appear that blade height resolved the problem. Though I wonder if a problem still exists, and lowering the blade just removes the symptom. Seems like my cuts are straight and smooth... so perhaps not much to worry about.

I am using a cheap dial indicator on a shop-made track to check parallel. I had a little bit of trouble with it--but I hate to spend the $ to upgrade to a commercial jig... seems like a ripoff. Maybe I will just make a new jig and try the measurements again.