Do these table saw hold-downs work well?

[Marcus Carr]

Does anyone have experience with the hold downs shown in this picture? Do they work well to keep the wood against the fence? How do they work on sheet goods?

Marcus

[Jim Becker]

Please see these recent threads about Board Buddies:

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=48936
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=48448

[Aaron Beaver]

Not to hijack this thread but I have been looking at these. What is the narrowest you can be between the blade and fence to cut a piece of wood?

[Mark Singer]

Not to hijack this thread but I have been looking at these. What is the narrowest you can be between the blade and fence to cut a piece of wood?
Aaron,
The thing to be carefull with is not to let the blade scratch or cut your fence. I woul say an 1/8" . The Board Buddies will keep thin pieces against the fence to keep them from kicking back. It also insures a uniform thickness. The BB can be aligned to just start at the kerf and hold the piece against the fence....
For thinner cuts use a scrap fence and clamp it on....now you can raise the blade into the scrap fence and actually rabbet abainst the fence..

[Mark Singer]

Just for reference this was my post on Board Buddies in 2003....I have always liked them and have used them for about 10 years now

Mark Singer (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/member.php?u=1672) http://www.sawmillcreek.org/images/statusicon/user_online.gif vbmenu_register("postmenu_39899", true);
Moderator
Join Date: Dec 2003
Location: Laguna Beach , Ca.
Posts: 5,835


board buddy set-up
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jerry Todd
After all the posts on kick back accidents I ordered a Biesemeyer Anti-Kickback Snap-In Spreader. UPS delivered it today and it took only a few minutes in install. Directions were great. The best feature is that it only takes seconds to remove without any tools. Thanks for all the advce.
Jerry



Jerry ,
Here are some photos of my board buddy set-up. Use only one when your using a push stick. Use 2 for dados, rabbets etc. Note the track.
Hope that helps,
Mark
Attached Thumbnailshttp://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=3608&stc=1&thumb=1&d=1129057421 (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=3608&d=1071968653) http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=3609&stc=1&thumb=1&d=1129057421 (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=3609&d=1071968669) http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=3610&stc=1&thumb=1&d=1129057421 (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=3610&d=1071968680)

[Aaron Beaver]

Aaron,
The thing to be carefull with is not to let the blade scratch or cut your fence. I woul say an 1/8" . The Board Buddies will keep thin pieces against the fence to keep them from kicking back. It also insures a uniform thickness. The BB can be aligned to just start at the kerf and hold the piece against the fence....
For thinner cuts use a scrap fence and clamp it on....now you can raise the blade into the scrap fence and actually rabbet abainst the fence..

You mean the board buddies won't hit the blade being that close, that was what I was thinking. As long as it would do 1/4" between the blade and fence I would be happy, just thought the BB's might hit the blade.

[Mark Singer]

You mean the board buddies won't hit the blade being that close, that was what I was thinking. As long as it would do 1/4" between the blade and fence I would be happy, just thought the BB's might hit the blade.

Just slide it a couple of incjhes behind the blae on the track and tighten the BB down with the thumb screw

[Aaron Beaver]

Just slide it a couple of incjhes behind the blae on the track and tighten the BB down with the thumb screw

ohhh, duuuhhhh on my part. Guess I should of noticed the BB's can be infront and behind the blade and not even with it. Thanks for clearing that up.

[Al Willits]

Seems like I have a set up just like that....:D :D

For those who missed it, this is my saw and buddies, just after installing them, these were just mounted and are not set up for usage, although the distance between them looks about right.
From what the directions say, you need to adjust them for different size's of lumber.
But that is pretty easy, just screw an adjustment screw in and out.

I still have the second section of the rear table extension to do, but I found them reasonably easy to mount, I added a plate to mount them to, and the plate (3/8ths alum) is mounted to the wood sides of the fence.

Al

[Aaron Beaver]

Seems like I have a set up just like that....:D :D

For those who missed it, this is my saw and buddies,
Al

Sounds like a picture should be inserted here!! :)

[Jim Becker]

Sounds like a picture should be inserted here!! :)

The picture in the OP's thread opener IS Al's saw...and Al's picture... ;)

[Marcus Carr]

That is correct. I didn't take pictures of mine...because I don't have them yet, henceforth the need to steal pictures from Al ;) Al can have 10% of all the royalties on whatever I make off his picture.

Marcus

[Al Willits]

Al isn't to interested in the royalities, but during a senior moment here, he almost went home to make sure that was his saw....:D

Whew!

Al.....:confused:

[Marcus Carr]

Whew, good thing. 10% of nothing isn't much =]

[Roger Everett]

I have a set of those. They come in 3 different colors yellow, green, and I believe red. The yellow and red are 1 directional ( for kick back control. I choose the green ones ( which are 2 directional ), so that if I started to bog down saw or wanted to double check cut measurement I could back the board back out. And I have no problem with how they work.
Roger

[Bruce Page]

I have a pair that just collects dust. I’ve found that for them to be effective you need to have a fair amount of downward pressure on the board being cut, that in turn lifts my Biesemeyer up from the table which I don’t like. I suppose I could use a clamp on the outboard end of the fence….

[Aaron Beaver]

I have a pair that just collects dust. I’ve found that for them to be effective you need to have a fair amount of downward pressure on the board being cut, that in turn lifts my Biesemeyer up from the table which I don’t like. I suppose I could use a clamp on the outboard end of the fence….

I don't have any, but just wondering if its lifting the fence off the table is there is too much downward pressure and that it is something that could be adjusted?

[Al Willits]

Aaron, if ya look on the back of each of the buddies, there's both what looks like a eye bolt, for height of the roller and where the spring is attached there's a wing nut.
Both spring pressure and height of roller can be adjusted.
Looks like adjusting the height does a bit of spring pressure adjustment also, so they look quite variable in their settings.

Not having a chance to play with them yet, I'm thinking maybe keep adjusting them tighter till some deflection on the fence is seem, then back off a bit and see if I can launch another board into the garage door...or not.:D

Al

[Mark Singer]

I have had 2 different sets , one on my Powermatic 66 and my recent set on my SawStop. Both have Beis style fences. Never have I had a problem with the fence lifting up from the downward pressure of the springs. The wheel should be set about 1/4" to 1/2" below the depth of the work piece. This creates plenty of resistance to keep the wood down and against the fence to where kickback is not an issue. When you lock a Beis type fence in place in combination with its weight (steel tube and melamine) there is adequate resistance so its not a problem. Maybe Roy Wall can confirm this he has been using them for a while now.

[Aaron Beaver]

I have had 2 different sets , one on my Powermatic 66 and my recent set on my SawStop. Both have Beis style fences. Never have I had a problem with the fence lifting up from the downward pressure of the springs. The wheel should be set about 1/4" to 1/2" below the depth of the work piece. This creates plenty of resistance to keep the wood down and against the fence to where kickback is not an issue. When you lock a Beis type fence in place in combination with its weight (steel tube and melamine) there is adequate resistance so its not a problem. Maybe Roy Wall can confirm this he has been using them for a while now.

Thanks, I have a Unifence on mine, so I would have to buy that Uni-Tfence or build the BigaFence I saw on one of the other post, so those might help if they add some weight to the fence.

[Jim Becker]

Aaron, the Uni-T or similar shop-built accommodation would be a good investment even if you don't use the Board Buddies. That gives you a whole lot of additional flexibility with the UniFence without losing it's advantages.

[Al Willits]

""""""""""
The wheel should be set about 1/4" to 1/2" below the depth of the work piece. This creates plenty of resistance to keep the wood down and against the fence to where kickback is not an issue
"""""

You can also adjust the spring pressure, any thoughts on that?
I suppose maybe something like a fishing scale and seeing what kind of weight is needed to lift the roller off the board, would be one way to set the spring tension?
Just need a number for the weight...:)

Al

[Mark Singer]

""""""""""
The wheel should be set about 1/4" to 1/2" below the depth of the work piece. This creates plenty of resistance to keep the wood down and against the fence to where kickback is not an issue
"""""

You can also adjust the spring pressure, any thoughts on that?
I suppose maybe something like a fishing scale and seeing what kind of weight is needed to lift the roller off the board, would be one way to set the spring tension?
Just need a number for the weight...:)

Al

It really is pretty simple..you just get the feel for it as you use it...It takes a minute to adjust to each different situation....Pretty intuative

[Roy Wall]

I don't have any, but just wondering if its lifting the fence off the table is there is too much downward pressure and that it is something that could be adjusted?

I have not had this problem using the Beis type fence.
Usually, I'll set the wheels about a 1/4" lower than the stock - and I have even "increased the spring pressure" to have more hold down power.

Bruce - I'm sorry to hear about the problem.....have you reduced the tension of the upper springs and tried. You have a JET cabinet saw right with their bies fence??

I guess I should add that I CAN PULL THE BOARDS BACKWARDs under the wheelswith a little effort)....the stock will still slide under with moderate pulling....but the wheels aren't turning. The wheels apply a light pressure to the stock.

[rick fulton]

Just slide it a couple of incjhes behind the blae on the track and tighten the BB down with the thumb screw

Indeed, do not forget to tighten them down.
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=35343

The only thing I don't like about them is that the arm holding the wheel gets in the way if your making a thin cut and using a push stick.

[Mark Singer]

I just went into my shop and with the SawStop fence locked in position, you cannot lift the fence. I was able to raise the Board Buddy wheels as high as they would go , by pulling up on them and the fence did not raise at all! Not even 1/16"! I don't understand why that is causing problems. Must be that the Beis fence is not locking on the front rail properly

[Roy Wall]

I just went into my shop and with the SawStop fence locked in position, you cannot lift the fence. I was able to raise the Board Buddy wheels as high as they would go , by pulling up on them and the fence did not raise at all! Not even 1/16"! I don't understand why that is causing problems. Must be that the Beis fence is not locking on the front rail properly

I agree! the Beis fence and clones have to weigh 15-20 lbs or so...and the cam probably applies 100# of pressure....

HOw about inserting a 10-20 lb block of lead in the back end of the Beis fence!:cool:

[Al Willits]

Unless I'm hallucinating, seems there's a adjustment as to how tight the Beis clamps down, and maybe if that's a bit loose it could cause problems?

"""""""
It really is pretty simple..you just get the feel for it as you use it...
"""""""""
Kinda figured that, was just trying to go easy on my garage door, its right in line with any kickbacks and already has a dent in it...:)

Al...who's hoping either he or the garage, will live longer than his learning curve takes....