Ok guys, fess up!

[Jason White]

Alright...

How many of you (like I did just this morning) have cut through your fancy-shmancy aluminum miter guage fence on the tablesaw?

This is the second time that I just needed to make a quick cut and didn't check to make sure that the fence would clear the blade.

Nothing like the sound of carbide slicing through $150 worth of aluminum!!

UGH!

Jason

[Bill Roland]

Well either you are the first or nobody else will admit to doing it. We all do things without thinking them through and we pay for it later.

[Ben Cadotte]

I have nothing to fess up too.

My fancy dancy aluminium miter gauge has not arrived yet from Amazon to cut into. :D

[Chris Barnett]

Naw, never done that :D. But if I ever did anything that bizarre, the folks at INCRA said I can get a new replacement for only $20 plus shipping (maybe $.50 worth of aluminum); they make it coming and going. They did warn though in the instructions, to use a wood extension to prevent permanent damage to the aluminum extrusion, but that seemed to reduce rigity and lead to problems. Works but small items are not held securely when cutting small stuff and holding with my fingers :eek:.

[John Hedges]

Yup been there... done that. I have no problem admitting I'm an idiot, I am reminded of that fact often.

[Jeff Duncan]

Did you cut all the way through? If not I wouldn't worry about it. I've got plenty of cuts through my excalibur's aluminum fence, I don't worry about it at all. That's why it's made of aluminum:)
JeffD

[Tom Veatch]

The bottom of my Incra has a number of "field installed relief grooves". I think of them as "zero clearance crosscut tearout inhibitors".

[Steve Clardy]

I don't have any fancy ones to cut into, so my answer is a no for right now ;)


Now. About some other stupid tricks I've done.......:o

[Dick Bringhurst]

I trimmed the end of mine just a little (45*). Dick B.

[Charles Krieger]

Turn on brain before turning on saw? One should always power up the old noggin before pressing the power button on the saw. I have two divots in my aluminum fence to prove that I don't always do that. The first one occurred on the second cut I ever made on my new PM 2000. Ouch. Not the same kind of ouch one would get if it were an appendage of ones body, but ouch none the less. Fortunately self preservation and a healthy respect for the saw has kept my body intact. During my private pilot training I came to rely on check lists. Now I go through a mental check list before I power up the saw.

Sometimes I think I should have bought a Saw Stop but if I had done this on a Saw Stop I would be out a couple of brake kits and a couple of blades for an even bigger ouch.

[Jerry Booher]

With my SawStop I am terrified that I will do that with my Incra miter gauge. Also, I salvaged some plywood with many shipping nails. After I removed all of them, I made 4 rip cuts. All the while I was nervous about triggering the blade brake and thinking how stupid I am to try to salvage $20 worth of plywood and risking $150. Never again.

Jerry

[Andy Casiello]

I haven't done that one yet, but I have routed some mini-dados into my Porter Cable 4212 dovtail jig on two occasions! :o

[Greg Narozniak]

Never my Incra or the Aluminium bar I added to the stock delta MG. now I have been slicing some plywood down and made some nice "thin Kerf" grooves in one of my Roller stands.

Yes it was a "DOH!" without a doubt

[Don Bullock]

Since I have a SawStop I'm much more careful about where the miter gauge is when I make a cut. It would be a very expensive mistake for me.:eek:

[Ben Rafael]

I never have.
But I did drill a hole through my kreg jig once.

[Myk Rian]

I skimmed my Osborne EB-3 with the blade once. Only took a few thousandths off, but I pay more attention to it now.

The one that really freaked me was skimming the surface of my Delta tenoning jig for about 1". It has a small divot in it about 1/128" deep now.

[Lincoln Myers]

I've got a nice 'custom' notch cut into the bottom of my miter gauge too. I like to think of it as being personalized. Who likes things nice, shiny and perfect anyway? :)

-Linc

[Matt Ocel]

Nothing like the sound of carbide slicing through $150 worth of aluminum!!

UGH!

Jason[/quote]

It doesn't make a $100.00 blade any sharper either.

and yes, I also have a zero clearance mitre guage:D

[Jeffrey Makiel]

That darn gage was too long anyway! :)

-Jeff :)

[Brian Tax]

Not on the table saw but I cut into the fence on my miter saw.

[Doug Shepard]

Who'd do something that stupid?
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=67961

[Mark Carlson]

I set a stop on the back of my Master Slider fence so I cant get the fence closer that a 1/4 of an inch to blade. Which means I will probably run my fence through a dado blade at some point.

Most fences like the Incra have a t track in the back where you can easily add some kinda stop.

~mark

[Guy Germaine]

I trimmed the end of mine just a little (45*).

Yep. Mine has a zero clearance slot for bevel cuts :o

[Per Swenson]

Folks,

Honesty time. I have never made a mistake as you describe on a table saw.But. Big but. I have made countless boo boo's both in the shop and on the job that could have had far more serious consequences than cutting through a miter gauge.
If I listed them here I would erode any confidence in the rare advice I sometimes offer. Yup, you would think me a idiot.
Thing is, I never sin twice. Hold on, correction. I have fallen through
two buildings. That's a twice. Except one was a High rise and one a second story residential. The residential? The guys papered over the sky lights and went to lunch.

What I am saying it is prudent to really think before you act in all endeavours.

Per

[Peter Quinn]

I cut through a steel saw horse with a brand new makita circular saw once. Ok, maybe twice. I have yet to cut the fence on my miter gauge, but it could happen some day.:eek:

[Glenn Howard]

Don't feel bad...just think of it as having circumcised your miter guage...it's more hygienic that way and the girls won't think it's so ugly.

[Dan Lee]

Never done it. But I use a crosscut sled for 99% of my CCs:)

[Eddie Kaden]

I haven't hit the mitre gauge YET, but I did bump my fence into the blade once. I gave it one of those NASCAR tire donuts.

[Brent Smith]

Not quite through it, but did put a serious knick in one. Does that count?

[Fred Voorhees]

Not quite through it, but did put a serious knick in one. Does that count?

Yeah, I have the same question 'cause I nicked mine also.

[Ron Ho]

Guilty.

Plus, I have a Sawstop. There was a sudden and loud BANG! and then the room was totally quiet. There I stood, holding the workpiece against the fence, frozen in place, my pulse racing, thinking "What!? What?! What?!"

I checked all fingers. Good. I checked my saw. No blade anymore (it had retracted). I don't think I stopped shaking for a good ten minutes.

I gradually recognized what had happened: I had angled the blade for a 45 cut and had forgotten to pull the miter fence back to compensate. Off to Amazon to get a new Forrest, and off to Woodcraft for a new cartridge.

But it was a very impressive test of the Sawstop. The blade had stopped and was buried in the Aluminum block, and there was the tiniest of scratches on the Incra fence. At least now I know my Sawstop actually works! (Okay, so it was an expensive test.)

-Ron

[Mike Cutler]

I always thought those miters were "trim to fit":eek:,;)

I haven't hit a miter yet, but like someone else posted, I got my blade too close to a tenoning jig.:mad:,:o
That jig now has a sacrificial MDF face on it. I wished it were made of aluminum at the time.

[Fyrman Dave]

I cut a half-moon out of my TS fence once....

[Bob Genovesi]

Unless it jumps out of the T Slot it can't. When I set mine up the aluminum it about 1" from the blade and it's locked in that position.

http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s225/BobbyG53/Jet-03.jpg

So my answer is: Never.....

[Brian Penning]

I haven't done that one yet, but I have routed some mini-dados into my Porter Cable 4212 dovtail jig on two occasions! :o

I've done that too! :o

[Art Moore]

Yep. Been dere, done dat. More than once, as a matter of fact... :o

[Greg Ware]

Nooooo.... not me. That's must be the only dumb thing I have not done yet. I have only had my Incra a couple of weeks, so it's just a mater of time. Reading this thread makes me feel better knowing I am in such good company.

gware

[Rick Potter]

Being the perfect person that I am, I would never admit to a mistake unless there are witnesses, but my wife made one once. She used my RAS, upon which I had left my steel carpenters square. Thinking it was part of the saw, she proceded to cut a nice slot in it.....then called me at work asking if the saw always made so many sparks.

Rick Potter
Village Idiot looking for the village.