Grinding cast iron?

[Jamie Baalmann]

Is there any reason why I shouldn't take a grinder to the cast iron on the side of the table top of my Table saw? Do I have to worry about overheating it and damaging it? I don't have to take off much I just need to straighten it up in order to properly attach an outfeed table. I am attaching one off the back and one off to the left using a modified version from Jim Becker's website sawsndust.com (http://sawmillcreek.org/sawsndust.com) . Thx Jim:D

[Ron Blaise]

to grind cast Iron. Use a very coarse disk and watch the sparks fly!:D

[Jim Becker]

You shouldn't have any trouble with a light touch to remove rough spots, but rather than "straightening" the edge, you can just shim the angle iron rear rail if you really feel the need to do that. (I use aluminum foil for things like that; some folks use feeler gage material) I didn't bother to do anything and just put the extension on the rear rail directly.

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

You shouldn't have any trouble with a light touch to remove rough spots, but rather than "straightening" the edge, you can just shim the angle iron rear rail if you really feel the need to do that. (I use aluminum foil for things like that; some folks use feeler gage material) I didn't bother to do anything and just put the extension on the rear rail directly.


What he said~!!

If the surface is relatively flat (machined) to begin with shims are the way to go. You will not likely achieve much by way of flatness. If however the surface is all lumpy and bumpy than I'd recommend you take a #2 or coarser flat file to it before using a power tool. Cast iron files like butter.

[Jamie Baalmann]

Thx for the info I went ahead and let sparks fly:cool: it took all of a minute and a half. I don't understand why companies don't machine the outside edge of their table saw wings....