Help with table saw adjustment

[David Huston]

Was ripping down some wood to make into cutting boards and noticed a small issue with my table saw. For some reason the I am getting a little wider kerf on the trailing end of the piece. I really don't know how to exactly explain it. If it put a board that I ripped back together there is a gap at the trailing edge of the board on the side that was down on the saw. I checked the insert to make sure it was level with the table and it was. I checked the fence last year and it was a thousandth or two toe out. I don't know what to check next. Any thoughts?

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[Doug Garson]

Looks like the workpiece is moving away from the fence at the very end of the cut. You may be very close to getting kickback. I'm guessing you don't have a splitter or riving knife or it is not correctly set up. If so the solution may be to add one or adjust it so the side closest to the fence is even with the side of the blade next to the fence. If not make sure you push the workpiece (with a push block or push stick )against the fence until it is clear of the back of the blade.

[David Huston]

No my saw does not have a riving knife or splitter. I do use the micro jig gripper on every cut and am very confident that the piece is flush to the fence at all times and I made doubly sure that it was well past the blade before allowing the piece to move. I could see the wider kerf as I pushed the piece through.

[Andrew Hughes]

The pieces look very good for a rip cut on the tablesaw.You may not see it but the wood is moving as you separate the two halves.Twisting bowing cupping.Some woods like maple will move more than others.
When I make cutting boards I rip everything down with my bandsaw then joint,plane and final skim cut on the tablesaw.Any pieces that look wonky I set aside to see if they can be used later.
I don't like forceing any gaps closed with clamps.

[Prashun Patel]

+ 1 on Andrew's response. If you want to make joint-quality rips, I would make a final kissing cut on the mating surfaces. Better, joint them.

As for "am very confident that the piece is flush to the fence at all times", I've been fooled into thinking my technique is perfect. I get the best rip results with a featherboard

[Eric Schmid]

It could be that you are getting some blade deflection through the cut. I've noticed this with thin kerf blades; the blade deflection releases at the trailing edge. If this is the problem, an easy solution is to cut the board to length final after you rip.