David Zaret
11-20-2021, 9:29 AM
i own a Martin sliding table saw, and i have a digital scale on my crosscut fence. but, of course, the reading on the stop block only works when the fence is at 90 degrees - as soon as you turn it to any angle off of 90, the length reading doesn't really help in determining the length of a board with an angled end. this is because the point of rotation of the fence isn't directly on the face of the fence, or at the blade - it's offset substantially, causing the length measurement to change as the fence is rotated. Martin sells a feature on their new higher-end saws called "Radiocompens" (sp?) which automatically accounts for the angle of the crosscut, and indicates the proper length distance to accommodate the angle. this feature is ~$10,000 alone - certainly worth it if you're in the market for a new Martin, but for those of us with regular sliders, not helpful.
i wrote a little utility that accounts for these offsets, and provides the proper stop position based on an inputted length and angle. i velcro'd an old tablet to the saw, and run the utility in Google Sheets - all free, and easily available on any platform, and any old device. nothing special required to run it.
the utility has some constants, including the two offsets mentioned. you input the fence angle, the length you want, and the blade angle (yes, it does compound cuts) and it spits out a stop position to ensure that the long edge of the board is that specified length. if you tip the blade, you can also provide the width and thickness of the board, and it'll give you the "other three points" on the compound cut. works for any angle, any size board (it's just trigonometry packaged in an easy-to-use spreadsheet).
anyway - i have just started using this, and so far it's handy. if anyone wants to try it, i can easily share the sheet and step you through it. it's not particularly complicated, but it's handy. if anyone has better ideas on how to achieve this, or techniques they use to power through compound angled cuts on a slider, please speak up. if you want the sheet, DM me here, or reach out at dave at curl and burl dot com.
-- dz
468420
i wrote a little utility that accounts for these offsets, and provides the proper stop position based on an inputted length and angle. i velcro'd an old tablet to the saw, and run the utility in Google Sheets - all free, and easily available on any platform, and any old device. nothing special required to run it.
the utility has some constants, including the two offsets mentioned. you input the fence angle, the length you want, and the blade angle (yes, it does compound cuts) and it spits out a stop position to ensure that the long edge of the board is that specified length. if you tip the blade, you can also provide the width and thickness of the board, and it'll give you the "other three points" on the compound cut. works for any angle, any size board (it's just trigonometry packaged in an easy-to-use spreadsheet).
anyway - i have just started using this, and so far it's handy. if anyone wants to try it, i can easily share the sheet and step you through it. it's not particularly complicated, but it's handy. if anyone has better ideas on how to achieve this, or techniques they use to power through compound angled cuts on a slider, please speak up. if you want the sheet, DM me here, or reach out at dave at curl and burl dot com.
-- dz
468420