I pretty much used my table-saw every
day it's possibly the most useful tool in the workshop but probably the most dangerous too I haven't done any maintenance on mine for some time so I thought I'd better get around to that and I thought I'd take the time to make
a video I'll make a few accessories for the saw but firstly and more importantly I'll spend a few minutes showing how to set up the saw and how to get it running accurately and safely the first thing to do is make sure that the miter gauge slot and the blade are parallel to each other to check that take a combination square and put the face against the edge of the miter gauge slot and set it so the corner of it just touches one of the teeth because the blade won't be completely flat then some of these teeth won't engage like these ones here so find one that just touches like that one there and then we use that one and we take it to the back so that same one is just touching and the one before isn't so that was the same as back here that means that they must be parallel or very close to it and close enough for me and it shows that it hasn't moved from the last time I set it if it's not parallel then it's easy enough to adjust you need to twist the top in to the correct position there's a bolt in each corner that you can undo from underneath undo those and with a tap of a mallet in whichever corner you need to correctly position it and then tighten it up try it again it may take a few times it will be a bit of trial and error but it's something that really needs to be done and it's worth taking the time to get it right next I'm going to check the fence and make sure that's parallel ith the miter gauge slot we can do it again with a combination square but I'm going to make a simple jig that works very well it just uses a piece of scrap and a dowel I set the fence so it's touching the end
of the dowel but not too tight that it can't move and then I slide the jig along the fence and if it won't slide that means the fence is out to square and needs adjusting and if it does slide along the other end and there's a gap between the end of the dowel and the fence then it needs adjusting the other
way and in my case there's a gap there so the fence needs adjusting this way I like the jig because you can see quite clearly the gap and you can see it closed as you move it along the fence but also you can hear it where it contacts it and it's touching the fence there's two pads on the fence they run along this rail here and they're both adjustable so by adjusting them either in or out whichever way you need to go we can get the fence to the precise position we need it your fence may be different but there should be a way of
adjusting it with mine you do it with an allen key so I've got the choice of either letting this one out a bit or I can put that one in a bit so I'm gonna try this way first and just let it out just a touch o we'll just try that first and see how close that is other thing you need to do is make sure this slot here stays clean if any sawdust gets between the pad and the rail then it won't seat properly and your fence will be out that looks pretty good I'm happy with that there's one last thing to check though before we make any accessories we need to check that the fence is square to the tabletop and in my case here it's ever so slightly off the top of the fence needs going over this way slightly there's an adjustable pad just like the other ones on the underneath here and if I tighten this one up this side it'll lift this side up and it will take the fence over so it just needs adjusting ever so slightly and then checking a bit more now that the saw set up I can start making the accessories the first thing I'm going to make is a new zero clearance insert the old one is a bit worn now and it was a bit flimsy in the middle because I made that out of laminate flooring so this one is going to be a bit thicker I'm going to use solid wood and I'm going to use black wattle the reason for using a zero clearance insert is to support the workpiece right up to the edge of the cut which will make a cleaner cut also it makes cutting thinner strips safer as it's less likely that they'll find their way and get wedged between the insert and the blade before I round the ends over I'm going to cut that slot into the insert and the reason I'm doing that now is even with the blade fully retracted
down into the table saw it's still too high to put that insert in there and raise the blade up I could try and carve away a bit underneath or put a smaller blade in there but my smaller blades are thinner so that wouldn't really work so instead I'm going to push it through make that cuts the same as I've done on
this one here and then glue in a piece afterwards and it's a pretty safe way of doing it and the reason I'm doing it before around the ends over is I've got a square end to push the pushstick against so let's do that and I've put a couple of magnets at the end here and that will stop the workpiece in just the
right place to stop the cut when I made the last one I stuck it to the original insert and I use that as a template with a pattern following bit in the router and got my final shape the problem with that is it a little bit loose in there the same is the original one that is too so on this one I'm going to just sneak up on those lines where I've drawn around and get it to be a really nice fit before I actually go any further though I'll mark and drill the finger hole so I can get it back out I'll take the screws from the old one and reuse them when I made that one I had to grind the tip of the screw off so it didn't stick through the top of the insert and even though this inserts a bit thicker it would have still done the same thing I got ahead of myself there I need to sand and finish it before I put the screws in I'm finishing it with water-based varnish I put three coats on and I sanded it between coats now I'm adjusting the screws and testing until I get the insert to sit flush with the table top it's a little bit of trial and error but it doesn't take too long that's a big improvement I've been meaning to do it for a while one last thing I want to mention before
moving on is the riving knife make sure you have that set up so it's in line with the blade and if you haven't got a riving knife on your table saw then you should really have a splitter and you can make one of those and set it into the insert if you're not sure what the riving knifes for when you're making your
cuts the tension in the wood can close up the kerf at the back that can pinch the teeth at the back of the blade and then the whole workpiece can get thrown towards you that could be really quite dangerous but by having the riving knife or a splitter it keeps that kerf apart and stops that from happening and the next thing to make has got to be push sticks I've got a bunch of them here and they're starting to get worn so I'm gonna make some more when they start getting worn out there's plenty of depth there to recut that bottom edge and carry on using it like this one here I've already cut that one several times but that one's now ready for the scrap bin and to recut that bottom edge I'll do it on the table saw and I'll use this stick that rides up against the fence now that one's like new I'll make a couple more to add to it I could draw around one of the old push sticks to duplicate it but I made a template in case anybody wants to make the same one so I thought I should probably use that here and I'll put a link to the template
in the description be sure to make it out of plywood as that will have the best strength especially at the transition to the handle the last thing you want is the handle snapping off when your hand is anywhere near a spinning blade I'm using half inch ply here but I also make them out of 3/4 inch ply too the handle should be comfortable so it's worth rounding over and smoothing all the edges most of you would probably have noticed that I used two push sticks at the table saw so I may as well make one of this type too as well as being switched on and alert
at the table-saw the main thing to achieve safety is having proper control over your workpiece you could use a push stick like this one alone but that's not a good idea when you push your workpiece through and it engages on the teeth at the back there's nothing putting downward pressure on the workpiece you've got no control and that can flip back up a much better option is to use the push stick like this one here we've got downward pressure all the way
through and that holds it down and you get complete control as well as putting downward pressure on the workpiece it also needs pushing from the side you can do that with your fingers as you push the workpiece through but the way I like to do it and that's why I have a second push stick is I use this one to push it in to the fence it also helps to keep it down as well and then with your other push stick you can push that through there work very well together and once you've done this for a while it becomes second nature it's very comfortable and you get great control and one last thing to mention when you're making your cuts don't stand directly behind your workpiece if that kicks back that's gonna go straight into you and that's gonna cause some damage so instead just stand to the side and I know this one's obvious but we're you safety glasses every single time you make a cut on the table saw and the other option to hold your workpiece against the fence is to use a feather board that puts even pressure onto the side of the workpiece and holding it against the fence and it's one less thing that you need to worry about this one here wasn't particularly good because it fixes in one place and as tight as I put it down it does move so I'm going to make a new one and improve on it I'm using a piece of pine but you can pretty much use anything as long as it has a fairly straight grain to cut the fingers lift the blade as high as you can and then set the fence 1/8 of an inch away from the blade after each cut move the fence over by quarter of an inch leaving 1/8 inch fingers if you're happier to turn the saw off between each cut to adjust the fence then you should definitely do that I'm not concerned here as I'm moving the fence away from the blade I'm being careful and I'm aware of what I'm doing and for the last cut because that last finger's is a bit too thick I'll lowered the blade and I'll cut all the way along the board I reckon this is the quickest and the easiest way to lock the runner into the miter gauge slot and to use it set the fence where it needs to be push the feather board up firmly and evenly against the workpiece tighten that up and that's pretty much all there is to
it the only other thing to consider is the feather board needs to be in front of the blade don't put any pressure on the side of the blade because of the flex in those fingers and the angle of them we can push the workpiece through fairly comfortably but there's resistance there if we try and pull it back it will come if you try hard enough but that resistance will help to prevent
kickback I'm excited to announce that my second woodworking tutorial 'build a mini workbench' is now live inside the Maker's Mob and because it's annual Black
Friday Cyber Monday sale you can now get access at almost zero cost to you for $0.99 you can get a full month all-access pass to the makers Mob where you'll not only learn from my tutorial but also get access to 50-plus woodworking tutorials from YouTube's top makers like Jimmy Diresta the Samurai Carpenter Liam Hoffman and Frank Howarth who now all have projects live inside the Maker's Mob so if you're watching this before Monday at midnight then this offer is still available to see new projects released every Friday live inside your account simply click the link in the description below and we'll see you there on the Maker's Mob another task that needs to be done safely on the table saw is ripping thin strips the way I normally do it is by setting the blade slightly higher than the workpiece and then I sacrifice a push stick that's the reason why they all get a bit chewed up but you can keep reusing them for this task and as long as you've got good control then it's pretty safe to do this way another method and the last thing I'm going to make is a jig for ripping thin strips I was going to make a new one and then I realized that I could use the other end of the featherboard so it will have two uses by changing the position on one of the bolts we can put the feather board on the opposite way around we can set that so there's a thin gap between the end of that and the blade and it's set in front of the blade again and then when that's locked in we can put our workpiece up against that put the fence up against the workpiece make our cut and the thin strip will be on this side of the blade which is much safer than having it sandwiched between the blade and the fence here I'm adding a micro adjustment
screw so even after the jig is locked in position you can still finally adjust it without unlocking it again the video was a bit different to usual but some of those things I needed to get done and I thought it was a worthwhile
video hopefully there was something useful for you if there was nothing new then at least it was a refresher which isn't a bad thing when you use a table saw regularly anyway hopefully you enjoy the video if you did please like and
subscribe thanks for watching and I'll see you on the next one
