Tablesaw Splitter help

[lou sansone]

good morning ww's

I was wondering if some of you could provide pictures of table saw splitters. My table saw has the option for a splitter, but one is not installed at this time. I was thinking of a simple shark fin type, but wanted to see the variety of those being used. The original splitter is really a big bulky thing that gets in the way more than helps.

thanks in advance

lou

[Michael McCoy]

Lou - no expert here by any means but I have a Delta contractor saw that like many, it was a pain to use to the point that I rarely used it and luckily never had any issues. I ordered the Beismeyer a couple of months ago and though it's pricey, I now find myself rarely NOT using it.

[Chris Rosenberger]

lou,

I use 2 types of splitters. The saw I use the most is a Delta Unisaw. The splitter I use on it is a retractable splitter made by Delta. The only times I do not have it up is when I am cutting thin stock or cutting grooves. On the other saw I have a Biesemeyer removable splitter. Both work very well. I also use the Biesemeyer over arm guards on my saws.

[Jim Becker]

Lou, I use the Biesemeyer as shown in Chris R's pictures, except the pawls are removed from mine. I can honestly say that the splitter stays on the saw all the time, except for non-through cuts or for some very narrow rips where the push block spans the cutline...kinda like you would have with the Grr-ipper, although I don't use that device...mine are shop-built.

[lou sansone]

thanks for the response so far.. The reason I am now looking into the splitter is that I have been teaching ww to a youngster who is now ready to start using the TS. This will be our third semester together and @ 15 I feel that he should be able to use the ts with supervision. The one thing I worry about it kickback. The saw is pretty large, so it is a little difficult to use and I want to make sure I can be as safe as possible.

I was wondering why the splitter has to be taller than the saw blade. The way my saw is designed the splitter holder raises with the blade.




keep the pictures comming.
thanks lou

[Jim Becker]

Lou, riving knives tend to follow the blade height, but they are a standard feature of Euro saws and a very few North American design products, such as SawStop. NA design saws really don't have the ability to deal with more than tilt when it comes to splitters 'cause they were never designed accordingly. Riving knives can be set above the blade for through cuts and slightly below the top of the blade for non-through cuts and they still follow the blade height when the cutter is raised and lowered. Riving knives are also set close to the blade...the gap does not change with blade height as it does with the fixed splitters shown in this thread.

[Jamie Buxton]

Lou, you might consider the MJ Splitter (http://www.microjig.com/MJ%20Splitter.htm). Like some of the other devices, it prevents the kerf from closing on the back of the blade, which is the root cause of many kickback occurances. Unlike many other devices, it is easy to enable or disable. Safety devices which are not easy to use tend to get not used.

On my own saw, I have a similar rig, but slightly different. The splitter is a steel pin 1/8" diameter drilled into the tablesaw insert, right behind the blade. The insert is the correct thickness (.50" on my Unisaw) that I can flip it over and use "the underside". The pin is only on one side, so disabling the splitter takes only the two seconds required to flip the insert over. Enabling, of course, also only takes two seconds. An advantage over the MJ Splitter is that there are no loose pieces. A disadvantage is that you have to build it yourself.

[lou sansone]

Lou, riving knives tend to follow the blade height, but they are a standard feature of Euro saws and a very few North American design products, such as SawStop. NA design saws really don't have the ability to deal with more than tilt when it comes to splitters 'cause they were never designed accordingly. Riving knives can be set above the blade for through cuts and slightly below the top of the blade for non-through cuts and they still follow the blade height when the cutter is raised and lowered. Riving knives are also set close to the blade...the gap does not change with blade height as it does with the fixed splitters shown in this thread.

hi jim

thanks for the help. I did not know that they were called riving knives. My saw has the ability to use the "riving knife" setup. There is an arm that is attached to the arbor of the saw blade that moves with the blade. It is where the original splitter should have been attached. The arm tilts with the blade and moves up and down with the blade as well.

I guess I should be thinking in terms of the riving knife set up. Is there any advantage to the shark fin type of riving knife design?
thanks lou

[Steve Jenkins]

This is a pic of the riving knife on my saw. I set the top just below the top of the blade so if I want make a non-through cut I don't need to readjust it.It is easy enough to adjust though.
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=12199&stc=1

[lou sansone]

This is a pic of the riving knife on my saw. I set the top just below the top of the blade so if I want make a non-through cut I don't need to readjust it.It is easy enough to adjust though.
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=12199&stc=1



thanks steve. That is sort of what my saws mechanism looks like. It will be pretty simple to make one it looks like. Any other thoughts on it? I assume that you like having it on the saw. Are there any drawbacks ?
thanks
lou

[Steve Jenkins]

I really haven't noticed any drawbacks to having it on the saw. I only remove it when I put a 16" blade on because there simply isn't room for it. I wish I could leave it on then.I also remove it when I'm making plunge cuts or using the dado blade. I have had solid stock bind against the knife when ripping and the kerf closed but it didn't cause any of the problems you would normally associate with a closing kerf. I strongly recommend the riving knife if your saw will accomodate it.

[lou sansone]

dear steve and others

thanks for the help..
This is one of the great things about SMC.... you got questions.. the folks here got answers

lou

[Dev Emch]

Hi Lou...
I dont have a picture but I can explain it pretty good. On the T-17, the splitter looks like somone hacked off one of the front fins off a shark.. like the fins used to make shark fin soup. Its about 1/8 inch thick and the front edge is lightly sharpened. Not enough to cut you but enough for it to find its way.

There is vertical slot cut right up the center from the bottom about 1/2 inch wide and running 2/3 thrds the length of the fin.

Inside the saw, there is a type of T slot which can trap a nut and bolt. This slot runs about 10 or so inches right behind the blade.

In order to use the shark fin, you install your blade. This can be anything from about a 10 inch blade to about a 16 inch blade. You then set the fin on the trapped bolt using the fin's slot. Move the fin towards the front of the saw and set both the distance from the back of the blade and the height you wish to use relative to the height of the blade. As you move the blade up and down, the shark fin will go up and down too exposing more or less of itself.

This system is nice in that I can use the fin with different size blades. On some setups, the fin is fixed in space and is not as close to the blade as i would like it to be.

There is one more item that is nice but very little litrature relatively speaking has been devoted to it. Saw Buddies. I think that is the name. These are spring loaded arms with tapered urathane wheels on them. Some may even have a sprauge clutch in them which allows rotation in only one direction. The taper on the wheel also creates a slight pull towards the fence keeping the item being sawn close to the fence and not wandering over to the blade. You will typically use two of these and they are available for both RAS saws and table saws. Last i checked, woodcraft had them in their catalog and they were relatively cheap. Kind of a high tech feather board which works from above.

Should a kick back occur, these will often cause two things to happen. First, the arm is at an angle and likes the board moving forward. If the board moves backwards, the arm begins to clamp down stopping movement. Also, if the saw buddies have the clutch option as I recall once seeing, the wheels do not like to roll backwards and simply lock up.

For those wondering, a sprag (sp?) clutch is a device that ressembles a long bearing. In fact, it has a front and rear bearing but in the middle it has a stage that looks like a needle bearing off your driveshaft. But the needles can freely roll in only once direction. They lock up in the other. The last one I saw was about 3/4 inch in diameter and about 1 inch long. SO these are not very big.

This is a real safety device. Not only does it prevent kick back from happening, but it also improves the performance of the saw by keeping the board sucked up against the fence and restricting its motion to only the forward direction.

[John Shuk]

Lou,
The riving knife would be the very best option of all. If you make one you want to make sure that the top of it follows the top of the blade so it can be a permanent addition to the saw.
John

[lou sansone]

Lou,
The riving knife would be the very best option of all. If you make one you want to make sure that the top of it follows the top of the blade so it can be a permanent addition to the saw.
John

thanks john. I am going to make one and post the results

lou