Another TS insert question

[Brian Hale]

I have one Leecraft TS insert and i've already cut thru it for a zero clearance insert. But i had a thought....

What if i removed it and reinstalled the stock insert, raised the blade and put my zero clearance upside down on the blade. Then moved the fence over till it made contact with new insert then lowered the saw blade till the teeth were just above the table. swithed the saw on and passed the new insert over the blade to create a very shallow groove in the new insert in line with the slot/saw blade.

My goal is to have a permament mark on the insert to line up cuts when using the miter gage. Is there a draw back to this? Have any of you folks done this? Do i need better things to do with my time? :rolleyes:

Brian :)

[Chris Padilla]

Sounds okay to me, Brian. Just make the cut very shallow and expend due diligence to cut it dead on the first time!

I've seen some guys rub joint compound into their squares to fill in the numbers and line to make them easier to read. Your idea is very much like this one. Maybe you could fill in the groove with something to make it easier to see? Magic marker? Joint compound? :)

[Jim Becker]

Interesting idea...I might have to try this! Beats trying to read a pencil mark on cast iron...

[Mark Stutz]

Sopmetime ago, in some WWing mag, I read a tip about "repairing" inserts and tops on RAS tables by filling in the kerf with epoxy. Sounds like you could use Corian or other solid surface material with a contrasting colored epoxy and not have to worry about the kerf.
Wish I could give credit to whomever had this idea originally, but I can't remeber where I read It

Mark