Thread: Raised Panel Tablesaw Jig

Hi i done raised panels two different ways, the first way and I may have been lucky with this setup, is with the panel placed upright and clamped against a jig that is straddling the table saw fence, this jig also slides along the fence, the blade set to a angle back towards the jig. as I found out in a bad way. the first time I used this setup was with the blade angle away from the fence and I ran the work piece and jig between. Don't run the jig, the work piece. between the blade and fence this caused a jam and it shot the work piece with the jig still attached back towards me.

the last time I used the table saw to make raised panels, they were curved face. A waste piece of timber was clamped in placed a 45deg over the blade at the 10mm in front of vertical centre. The crosscut blade was slowly raise up to remove small amounts of material from the face of the panel on each pass, the work piece was pushed through using a jig that sat on the back of the panel as a push stick keeping fingers away from blade.

If you look on You-tube there is a lot of video's I regards to the type of job.

Hi I have found it easier and safer to use a router for raised panels. I use a 19 mm straight bit and a template guide. I make a jig where the work piece is held at an angle in relation to two rails which I run the router along. The distance the rails are apart controls the width of the profile in combination with the depth of cut. If you are interested I will try and find the jig and take a photo.
Ben

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3m--wxoE2CM

I cut raised panels with the blade at 90 degrees with a jig and I also have tilted jig for larger work .They both clamp to my saw fence and are about 4 to 500 mm high. The jig for larger work needs to tilt so it misses the over head guard that I built and cant move out of the way . I do panels and drawer bottoms with the both. My saw tilts the blade down to the right and my fence is on the left of the blade for doing these cuts .

As you can see, cutting like this is unsafe because the blade is sticking out a fair way and your passing your hands over the top of the blade while pushing the work through . It looks dangerous and feels dangerous when your doing it but I never had a kickback while doing it and I use a type of push stick which helped keep the drawer bottoms flat while going through, and hands at a safer distance.

My problem with this though is I did not like letting any one else in the workshop do the same dangerous cuts. If it did kick back, or as can happen, something drops , like the push stick, the kick back could be a record breaking big one!! Or of course if a hand went down it would be very serious.

What I built is another jig that sits on the saw table to the right of the blade and locates with strips of timber into the machined slots of the cast iron top of the saw. Same as a sled for a table saw does, but I also have wood fixed at each end that hangs down over the ends of the top which locks the jig into position. Its a cabinet makers press fit , knocked in with a clenched fist.
The jig runs from the front to the back of the saw and has three horizontal adjustable feather boards that push towards the fence and they work above blade height. The blade cant be seen and it improves the safety 100% it also keeps the work up against the fence and the feather boards mean the work only goes one way and cant move backwards. We still use the push stick above this guard , its the best way to push a thin panel through.

The only thing that Happens that has no solution I have thought of is, the off cuts hang around and get trapped in around the blade, they are light weight and sometimes get thrown back out backwards if I don't stop and clear them out, nothing serious though . sometimes they get pushed through.

When I go to use it, the procedure is . Lower the blade and slide the fence to the left, clamp on the higher fence extension, fit the feather board jig to the right, raise and tilt the blade if I'm using the 90 degree fence , slide the left fence up to give the right depth of cut into the panel , then set the three feather boards to give the right pressure. Do a test cut and check.

Rob

Edit. Finger boards changed to Feather boards .

If I can find pictures I will put them up. Rob

I found a picture , He's not using the push stick there though.
And He has all ten fingers, its just the way the work is being held .
This is a drawer bottom getting a 5 degree taper to the underside.

Rob

OK, by definition, cutting raised panels on a table saw will not yield a rounded edge on the panel. i.e. More of a mission style or craftsman style.

Assumes 3/4 timber.
First use a combination blade to cut the square shoulder of the raised panel. This is done with the panel face down and the blade at a 1/16" height. Cut or score all 4 sides of the panel. The score should be 1 to 1-1/4 from the edge of the panel.

Put a 3/4" dado in the table saw. (For right tilting saws, put the fence to the left of the blade.) Set the angle of the dado to about 35.5°. The fence should be the same as the scoring cut. Raise the dado blade so that the teeth on the low side of the dado are at 1/16" high. The high side of the dado teeth should be no higher than 1/2". Cut the slope on all four sides.

Set the dado at 90° and remove any remaining tongue of the panel to fit into the dado of the Rails and stiles.

This last cut may require that the dado be partially buried in a sacrificial fence. The height of the dado for the last cut should not be any higher than 1/2".

Sorry about the Imperial measurements but Metric, like a single malt, and I are not one.