Thread: Crosscut Slead and Riving Knife / Splitter

I always thought you shouldn't need to remove the riving knife

What sort of saw do you have Arry??

I have a Jet, and as you say, removing the riving knife and antikickback asssembly is a painful process.

I also have a Jet.

I find that removing the splitter/anti-kickback/safety guard takes me about 30 seconds; and about the same to replace it.

Its only painful if I catch my hand on the pawls

However, my cross-cut sled was designed to operate with the guard in place, just requiring the pawls to be disabled by lifting them to clear the sled with a small block of wood.

The sled was built without the front stabilising fence, which I found unnecessary.

The small block of wood lives in the recess on top of the rip fence (together with a small spanner to remove the guard system when necessary).

I have a JET too. I modified the riving knife so it is just below the blade height. I don't need to remove it at all.

There is a difference between a splitter and a riving knife. Not that I have a lot of experience using a saw but I just bought a cheap old contractor saw that has a splitter. I would guess with a true riving knife you wouldn't have to remove it to use a sled.

http://www.leestyron.com/pdf/rivingknives.pdf

Good article Fuzzie. My setting is like the one in pic F and G.

Wongo, are you able to post a pic of how you modified it?

I now have this saw:

Power Tools & Machinery Sales - Woodman 300mm (12 Inch) Table Saw

Cheers

Arry, do the riving knife and blade guard go up and down with the blade?

I removed the blade guard and cut the top of the riving knife to just below the blade.



The home made blade guard is mounted to the ceiling.

Cheers for that, I want to make a similar guard but how do you rip think pieces of stock without hitting the guard?

I will have to lift the blade guard when ripping anything narrower than 1.5cm.

It would also be possible to modify the back crossrail on the sled by making a bridge that would allow the guard and riving knife to pass underneath. If dust extraction from the top of the blade were required the outlet would need to be turned horizontal to also pass under the bridge.