New to Triton.

[Tim_N]

Hi all, I have been lucky enough to inherit a triton mk3 with saw and router. I downloaded the instruction video and have watched that a couple of times.
I was attempting to make my 1st rip cut and my shed filled with smoke. I am guessing it could be a couple of things - being over cautious and feeding too slowly, perhaps a blunt saw blade, it looks quite old and well used. Also the wood I was attempting to cut is old structural hardwood left over from our renovations. The wood must be at least 60 to 70 years old, we are in a late 1940's post war home.
Can anyone offer some potential insights into what I may be doing wrong ? Also if anyone can id the wood from the pic that would be awesome !

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/01/12/y5une2az.jpghttp://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/01/12/u7ujydes.jpg

I hope I did this correctly, first post with pics !

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[michaellxv]

Hi Tim,

I am assuming the smoke was wood dust from the cut and not smoke from your saw. If it was smoke form your saw then get it looked at or just replace it.
From your picture the Triton looks in good condition and has not had much use. Even still you may want to invest in a new blade for the saw if it is old.

The cut itself looks ok from here, not burnt or anything nasty like that. I would suggest your only mistake was using the Triton inside your shed. Take it outside and the wind can blow the dust away for you. Hardwood in particular will give you a lot of find wood dust, softwoods are not as bad from my experience.

[Tim_N]

Thanks for that.
The smoke was wood smoke not saw smoke thankfully :). The cut is relatively clean but inside the cut is fairly blackened, the wood is very old and dry which I guess could be a contributing factor ??
I think I will look to invest in a couple of nice new blades and see how that goes.

[Sturdee]

Thanks for that.
The cut is relatively clean but inside the cut is fairly blackened, the wood is very old ae smoke was wond dry which I guess could be a contributing factor ??


I think it was a burn mark from the timber jamming against the saw blade and/or riving blade. Get some better quality saw blades making sure that they are thicker then the riving blade and that the riving blade is correctly installed so that the wood goes clearly on either side.

The Triton, properly aligned with good blades should do you for quite a while.


Peter.

[Trav]

A few other things to check. Check that your saw is fitted square and make sure that your fence isn't closer to the blade at the back than at the front. It's easy to do, and can result in the wood getting jammed - even just a bit - and burning like sturdee said. I used to open the back up half a mm or so to avoid this. Also, depending on how thick the timber was, you could be over working the saw and/or pushing too fast. Try slowing down your feed rate and keep it really consistent, not stopping and starting.

Trav

[Tim_N]

Thanks Trav and Peter,
I think that the saw might be slightly off square, drop caused by the weight of the motor perhaps ?
Also I used the square to check the cut and it is not quite straight so maybe I do need to adjust the back of the fence out a slight margin as suggested.
If I get time in the next day or 2 I will probably head out and grab a couple of new blades. Any suggestion on number of teeth ... is more or less better ?

[Sturdee]

Thanks Trav and Peter,
I think that the saw might be slightly off square, drop caused by the weight of the motor perhaps ?
Also I used the square to check the cut and it is not quite straight so maybe I do need to adjust the back of the fence out a slight margin as suggested.
If I get time in the next day or 2 I will probably head out and grab a couple of new blades. Any suggestion on number of teeth ... is more or less better ?

The number of teeth depends on the size of the saw and what you want to do. Any blade with less then 40 teeth is for building not carpentry or any fine work.

On my Triton 9 1/4 saw I had a general purpose 60 tooth blade but now on my 10" TS I have a 60, 80 and 90 teeth blade depending on ripping or crosscut.

Also any new blade from the big store, even though new, might need sharpening to make sure that the teeth are set properly. And the time spent setting up your work centre will repay you with clean and accurate cuts.


Peter.

Peter.

[Evanism]

Absolutely nothing beats using a fresh sharp blade. It has the fine zing of a broadsword taking off a head.

Everyone says it, sharp is good, but it is far too easy to let the table saw blade go blunt over the weeks and hundreds of cuts...you convince yourself it's still good until the day it's sharpened, then you realise just how blunt it was.

Do yourself a favour and toss that blade and invest in a quality one. Don't be stingy!

Alignment is super important. Measure and triple check. Be obsessive. A great alignment not only stops burning but as other pointed out, it ads very signifantly to safety.

E:)

[safari]

Evanism is right! I have found that alignment on a triton is super critical and needs to be checked regularly( although this is true for most saws but because of the light construction compared with cabinet saws, it seems to move out of alignment easily) If you are using a saw other than a Triton and you don't have a stabiliser to prevent slump see if you can get one.

Have a look at the Canberra Triton Club website if you haven't seen it yet. Triton Owners' Club (A.C.T) Inc. - Home (http://www.tocact.org.au/) Lots of good info.

[Tim_N]

Awesome help, thanks. I will look into a multipurpose 60 tooth, my table came with a 9 1/4 Makita saw. I need some practice doing some cuts which is why I started with that smaller bit of wood.

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[safari]

I started with a Makita 91/4 and as you have that you definitely need a stabiliser to avoid slump. It locks the saw so that you know you will have a 90° cut

[Tim_N]

Well I have chucked a new 60 tooth blade on and it's like a hot knife through butter, such a nice feeling. Also as suspected the saw is not perfectly aligned and the cut isn't a nice 90 degrees so now I just need to tinker with that and I am all set !
Thanks for all the suggestions.

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