Thread: So this turned up on Monday

I was only joking about your Hammer Saw, my new workshop is out at Geebung.

But i'm lacking space as well, it's only 56 sqm, I'm currently fitting out my Campervan, so that is taking up a fair bit of space.

Hopefully ill have my own hammer saw before the end of the year once i get this Campervan done and out of the shop.

It's funny, i get a workshop and the next 6 months i'll be working on a van instead of woodworking

My father wanted to cut up some panels for some draws in his van, so I finally wired it up. Did a few test cuts and its pretty darn accurate. With a 5 cut test, its out by about 0.18mm, which in my books is pretty good. I will be able to improve that figure, but its satisfactory for what I want to do with it for now.

Must admit, the first cut put a smile on my face. Its smooth, cuts nicely and everything is easy to use. The only thing I need to do is figure out how they use the crosscut fence on the outrigger table. Seems different to what I am used to as the fence sits at the back of the outrigger as opposed to the front on my old saw. I have looked at a few websites and this is indeed how they do it. The side affect of looking at all those websites on how to use it is that I have learnt a whole heap of new tricks as well! I still need to get my head around how to escape from all my sled type jigs, but I will work that out.

I have only done a few basic cuts on it, but I can already see the huge benefits of this saw. Yet to discover any shortcomings, but I am sure time will tell.

I sold the other saw, so will takes some pics when its gone (Sunday morning) because its a royal pain in the backside to move it out of the shed and it blocks access to everything.

Originally Posted by Pearo

My father wanted to cut up some panels for some draws in his van, so I finally wired it up. Did a few test cuts and its pretty darn accurate. With a 5 cut test, its out by about 0.18mm, which in my books is pretty good. I will be able to improve that figure, but its satisfactory for what I want to do with it for now.

Must admit, the first cut put a smile on my face. Its smooth, cuts nicely and everything is easy to use. The only thing I need to do is figure out how they use the crosscut fence on the outrigger table. Seems different to what I am used to as the fence sits at the back of the outrigger as opposed to the front on my old saw. I have looked at a few websites and this is indeed how they do it. The side affect of looking at all those websites on how to use it is that I have learnt a whole heap of new tricks as well! I still need to get my head around how to escape from all my sled type jigs, but I will work that out.

I have only done a few basic cuts on it, but I can already see the huge benefits of this saw. Yet to discover any shortcomings, but I am sure time will tell.

PM me when you get to Sydney. Having the fence at the leading end of the outrigger means you can use the F&F jig. Hammer do supply what they call a ripping shoe and I did buy one but it has never been used. I guess its purpose is to use it when the CC fence is at the trailing end but my fence is always one the leading end so it can't be used. I suppose it could be but the whole idea does not make sense.

Originally Posted by Chris Parks

PM me when you get to Sydney. Having the fence at the leading end of the outrigger means you can use the F&F jig. Hammer do supply what they call a ripping shoe and I did buy one but it has never been used. I guess its purpose is to use it when the CC fence is at the trailing end but my fence is always one the leading end so it can't be used. I suppose it could be but the whole idea does not make sense.

Thanks Chris. Been and gone from Sydney this week already. Left a day earlier than I thought I would, but that meant I got today to spend a couple of hours in the shed!! The next month or so I will be too busy with work, but hopefully I can get some free time after that. Do I need to hire a car to get to your part of the world or can I jump on a train?

My father came back to cut some more timber for his project, so I took a quick snap whilst the old saw was out of the way.

I see they have moved the switch panel from directly underneath the saw table.

Originally Posted by Pearo

My father came back to cut some more timber for his project, so I took a quick snap whilst the old saw was out of the way.

I hope you weren't using the fence as a stop block

I was taught -- when cross cutting -- to make sure the fence stopped around the location of the gullets on the saw blade.

Originally Posted by ian

I hope you weren't using the fence as a stop block

I was taught -- when cross cutting -- to make sure the fence stopped around the location of the gullets on the saw blade.

I assume you are talking about the rip fence? The great thing about the fence on this saw is you can slide rip fence back so you can indeed use it as a stop block. I would imagine that using the rip fence as it is set in the photo above would lead to a deadly kickback situation.

What you see in the photo above was just me setting the crosscut fence to 45deg to see how accurate the miter guage was on the saw (it was accurate as it could be when setting by naked eye)

Thank you

out of interest what decided you on getting the saw / spindle combo, as opposed to the stand alone saw?

Do what I did and buy a fence, cut it down to 250mm pieces to use simply as a stop and sell the other pieces here you then don't have to walk around it when it is pulled back to suit the blade. I don't understand and never have why the fence is as long as it is TTTT, a sop to the classic US cabinet saw user? Cutting 250mm off the fence supplied with the saw is neither here nor there as far as effectiveness goes so that would work as well. Having a fence going beyond the centre spindle does nothing anyway except cause kickbacks but it took me long while to realise that.

Originally Posted by ian

Thank you

out of interest what decided you on getting the saw / spindle combo, as opposed to the stand alone saw?

I wanted a spindle moulder but did not have the room. The problem I have now is that I spend so much on that machine I cant afford to purchase the cutters I want!! At least I have the machine now, and I bought it with 2 spindles (drop in), one 30mm and the other takes collets so I can run my larger router bits that used to scare me on the cheap router table I had.

Originally Posted by Chris Parks

Do what I did and buy a fence, cut it down to 250mm pieces to use simply as a stop and sell the other pieces here you then don't have to walk around it when it is pulled back to suit the blade. I don't understand and never have why the fence is as long as it is TTTT, a sop to the classic US cabinet saw user? Cutting 250mm off the fence supplied with the saw is neither here nor there as far as effectiveness goes so that would work as well. Having a fence going beyond the centre spindle does nothing anyway except cause kickbacks but it took me long while to realise that.

There is a lot to be said for that. I dont have enough time with the machine yet, but there is a good chance I will do exactly that.

About the only reason I can think why you want a full fence that is locked at the rear of a cabinet saw is when processing large heavy bits of timber than can physically move the fence (used to happen on my tradie saw when doing things like stair treads etc). You could probably get around that by using the sliding table, not sure, time will tell. Not sure how solid the fence is when manipulating large bits of timber, but its seems fairly solid on the hammer.

Originally Posted by Pearo

You could probably get around that by using the sliding table, not sure, time will tell.

You get a much straighter and smoother cut if you use the sliding table for ripping. It takes a change of mindset and the F&F jig but once you get used to it I doubt that you will go back to ripping against the fence.

It is a rare day I use the rip fence, it sits unloved on its shelf and I don't miss it at all. The only time it gets used is if the rip exceeds the table stroke and I have recently found a work around to that here....