Safety question regarding table saw sled

[Glen Blanchard]

Hope this does not sound too dumb, but I am enjoying my first cutoff sled (Jointech's Smart Miter) and have a question whose answer is not (to me anyway) so obvious.

Once a crosscut has been made and the waste piece is sitting on the sled to the right of the blade, is it safe to pull the sled towards me with the blade spinning to remove the waste piece, or should the saw be turned off first. I am concerned with the waste piece making enough contact with the spinning blade to throw it in who knows what direction.

Valid concern, or moot point??

[Dan Drager]

Maybe I am doing it unsafely, But I have had no issues with pulling my sleds back towards me before stopping the saw. And that is with my 2 crosscut sleds (one small, one LARGE), my miter sled or my dado sled.

[Rob Blaustein]

Glen,
I was curious about this same issue a number of months ago and got lots of interesting responses (http://sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=31208).
--Rob

[Mike Henderson]

The way they taught us in woodworking school is to push the sled through the cut, then move the cut pieces away, then return the sled. The sled has a big (maybe 4x4) piece that the blade is in when the sled is pushed "past" the blade - so the blade is not exposed.

This eliminates the possiblilty of a kickback or of "recutting" your piece, which can happen if you return the sled without moving the pieces away from the blade.

I have to admit that I don't always do it that way.

Mike

[Bruce Page]

Glen,
If I’m confident that I have a good grip on the cut piece, I’ll pull it back. On wide sheet stock, I’ll usually stop the saw before moving.

[glenn bradley]

I believe your sled uses a non-moving catch panel on the waste side of the cut. If I'm off base, stop reading now 'cause I'm wrong. I have a sled that uses a moving table to carry the 'keeper' and a catch table to support the 'waste'. I do not pull back while the blade is spinning with this sled because "IF" I catch the waste piece somehow (shouldn't happen but then neither should accidents) I will pull it back into the rear of the spinning blade. Then again I could just be over conscientious. On my sleds that support both pieces in motion I do pull back but I suppose the same thing could happen here. . . hmmm. If the waste is well clear of the blade I do not feel unsafe pulling back the keeper while continuing to maintain control of it just as I did while making the cut. Hope this helps.