View source for Induction Script - Table Saw

{{:Risk Assessment/ Table Saws}}

===What is a Table Saw For?===

Straight cuts in wood and certain plastics
* Sheet materials
* Rip cuts
* Crosscuts, to a certain extent
* Fancy joinery cuts of hundreds of types

Alternatives:
* Mitre saw generally easier for crosscutting
* Bandsaw for deep rip cuts
* Bandsaw for small stuff (smaller than A4 sheet of paper)
* Hand saws for even smaller stuff

===Parts of the Machine===

Point Out:

* The table
* The blade
* The guard
* The riving knife
* The throat plate
* The fence
* The fence locking lever and rack adjustment
* The fence scale
* The height adjuster
* The bevel adjustment
* The roller infeed stand

===Pre-inspection===

Check guard is fitted, lifts easily and falls under own weight

Check blade spins freely, not caught on guard

Check dust extractor is fitted

===Guards===

A guard is not always required, e.g. for tenon cutting, but must be used on all cuts where it reasonably can

Default induction does not cover changing guards. Tell the story about the badly fitted guard that nearly hit Toby in the face and ended up embedded in a nearby wall

Once you've done a regular induction ask someone for a 'level 2' quick session on changing guards at some point

===Kickback===

Kickback is probably the biggest risk with a table saw. 

It happens when the wood gets pinched on the back part of the saw (where the motion is up and forwards towards the user) and gets flung. 

It can have a variety of causes, the most common are
* Badly aligned fence (must be exactly parallel to the blade for success)
* Residual stress distortion of the wood pressing on the back of the blade
* Bad user technique twisting the wood.
* Attempting a freehand cut (never do this)
* Attempting a cross cut with the fence as a depth stop (never do this)
* Sometimes, it can just happen even with all the precautions.

It's not 100% reliable but the riving knife will protect you from most of these causes if it is properly fitted. 

Very detailed article and video here that would make good secondary reading: https://kmtools.com/blogs/news/how-to-prevent-kickback

===Hand Safety===

* To put it in one sentence, don't put your hand in the blade
* Always know where your hands are and where they're going. Think through any movement before you make it, even if that bits stopping or pausing the cut
* Don't put them between the blade and the fence (unless the cut is more than about 300mm wide)
* Don't push wood in in-line with the blade
* Be careful reaching around the back, don't move hands over the blade
* We have push sticks. If we don't have a suitable push stick, stop cutting and go make on on the bandsaw (if trained) or scrollsaw.

===Rip Cutting===
# Set blade height - ideally 3 to 4mm (3 teeth) of saw sticking up above the material
# Set fence position - unlock, rack adjust, lock down
# Turn on dust extractor
# Set up roller stand for long material
# Turn on saw, blade not touching the wood, allow to come up to speed
# Push through the wood at steady pace. Use push sticks to keep simultaneously pressed against the fence, down against the table and forwards into the saw
# Switch off when cut complete

===Bevel Cutting===
# Loosen lock on front dial
# Best way to reach the bevel is to reach under the body of the saw from the side and lift up the blade enclosure
# Front dial is good enough for most purposes but check with angle measurer if critical
# Then, cut proceeds as normal. Just be more careful about hand placement with the side on
# Note fence scale doesn't apply to bevel cuts

===Crosscuts===
As of 2024-09-26 the default mitre guide is broken and can't be used, so we won't actively train on it

And anyway, it's usually a waste of time - the mitre saw gives better results than a bad mitre guide

The crosscut sled gives good results but you will need training on how to remove the guard.


=After Use=
# Sweep down the bed and the surrounding bench
# Hoover inside the machines if they've been run without extraction.
# Restore any guards/ bevel settings if you've messed with them