Thread: Saw Safety

You're obviously thinking about safety and asking the right questions.
The TS, like most other machines, has teeth and can bite. A couple of important points:

Never stand in line with the blade when you switch it on. I've seen a tooth come off and go through a fibro wall.

A guard is good, but more important are good work habits. Never use one when you're tired. Try to plan your work so you're doing your cutting in the morning.

Have a 'red' zone around the blade, that your hands never go into unless the saw has stopped.

When ripping, always use a featherboard and a splitter or riving knife, and use a push stick.

When crosscutting, a sled like the one in the clip is good.

For making the trapezoids, make a jig. Your angles need to be exact.

Usually, the piece that's being cut to thickness is between the blade and the fence, but if it's too thin, you may need to do it the other way round.

Visualize the cut you are about to make. What could go wrong? Will something become a projectile? Will something grab and pull your fingers into the blade? Will your fingers be out of sight at any stage? (If so, re-plan the work.)

Have a look at the safety forum and see what's caused other people's accidents.

Practice until you are confident.

Alex seems to have this pretty well covered. I like the visualisation thing - that's a good idea for everything we do.

The only other thing I want to say that you are right to take table saw safety seriously.
I have several large 100+ cc chainsaws (CS) rated at >7HP with 5ft long bars and wicked looking chains that I use to mill logs, but I still respect my 3HP table saw more than those chainsaws.

Some of the lack of respect for potentially machinery comes about because of intermittent and shorter period of use, especially for something like a TS. The big CS's are approached with full PPE in place every time and everything is double and tripled checked for safety partly because I know I will be using these for at least 5-10 minute or more. The TS is something that often gets used for a few seconds in between a zillion other tasks, so there is a tendency to say - oh this is a 2 second cut so I won't bother doing X,Y, Z and this is often when problems arise.

When you are ripping, do not stand inline with the saw blade. Small narrow thin rips can and do catch and will be thrown at you at high speed. Note also which part of your body is at the same level of the saw bench. It is also helpful when docking short lengths, clamp a supplementary fence, at least 50mm wide, to the fixed fence so that the cut off piece is not locked in tight between the saw blade and the fixed fence. The supplementary fence should not go past the leading edge of the saw blade.

Jim

I had to look a few things up that Alex referred to - but I believe that both saws have 'riving knives' fitted. I know the smaller of the two tables does (the one with the safety shield). In fact that's my preference, unless I have to cut down larger sheets, because the second table has a huge sliding surface. I think I need to build my own push devices, perhaps something like 'The Gripper' as well. And a cross-cut sled is now on my list of projects.

Generally there is always someone to ask for tips at the workshop, in fact it's the first house rule... no matter what your experience, you must ask for assistance the first time you use a machine for the first time. I'm not too proud to ask if I'm not so sure, after all, severed digits don't tend to grow back. Unfortunately today most of the guys were out fundraising, but I have used the table saw enough to consider safety this morning - I was cutting 400mm plywood squares, so it was easy enough to avoid the blade area.


Regarding thin strips, wouldn't a bandsaw and a temporary guide be a safer option? And as for my trapezoids, you are right they need to be spot on-because they will be used to create triangles, and i need to do hundreds of them. I'm thinking that the drop saw may be a better tool for the job.

I will not be able to answer all of the questions as I only have the Triton system as my table saw.

In regards, to smaller piece it only matter if the piece is so small that it might catch in between the saw blade and the saw insert. If I am going to cut off a thin piece for use I prefer it to fall away from the blade. But sometimes that does not always happen and it get chewed up on the last bit. I have made several pushed sticks that get chewed up as I push the wood through the blade. I now have three that I made from 2 x 4 and another two that came out of plywood offcuts.

Couple of things that add to make an important point.

Alex mentioned having a 'red zone' around the blade and never allowing your hand to enter that zone while the saw is running. Very sound advice.

You mentioned in your reply that you the alternate saw you used had a large sliding table. If this was a panel saw, characterised by a moderate to large table and a slider that can accommodate full sheet panels, they generally have a second blade in front of the main blade, set cut a shallow scribe line about 0.5mm deep on the lower surface of the sheet to prevent chipout of that face as the main blade exits the panel.

After using a variety of table saws over the years and adopting the red zone concept, I met my first panel saw and discovered that the scribe blade was right where the safe zone I had adopted in front of red zone was situated. Very hasty mental remap of the red zone was required, but I successfully used the panel saw for 3 years without meeting either blade.

The scribe blade is an issue when you meet them the first time, because they appear insignificant, they are physically small (130-150mm dia), set very low, cannot be effectively guarded as they are intended to cut the underside of a sheet, and rotate in the opposite direction to the main blade, so tend to grab you and throw you into the main blade if you contact them. If they are retracted, it is generally only a mm or so below the surface, and contact can still be made with them while retracted as the opening for them is generous.

Congratulations of opting to use the alternative saw rather than changing the blade on the one you are more familiar with. This shows that you are thinking ahead and respecting the potential of the machine to create issues. In addition to the safety aspect of changing the blade without any experience or instruction, the existing setup may have taken someone some time to get 'spot on' with shimming between cutters etc to create an exact width and depth of groove for a job, and said person might not be happy about the setup being changed on them mid way through a job.

JayCee,

Sorry it’s a long one but worth saying.

A couple of things concern me about your posts, you mention,

1. "Of the two table saws in the workshop, one doesn't have a guard"
2. "I haven't been shown how to change blades"
3. "it's the first house rule... no matter what your experience, you must ask for assistance the first time you use a machine"
4. “Unfortunately today most of the guys were out fundraising.”

which gives the impression this a communal workshop, club, mens shed sort of setup. So you probably don't have any control over the machinery setup or safety of machinery. It’s always a difficult compromise in those situations but thankfully you are safety conscious.

If it is a communal style workshop the convenors of the WS have a legal responsibility and a duty of care towards users of machinery in the WS to instruct them on the safe use of the machinery, and to maintain the machinery in accordance with Workplace Health & Safety guarding of machinery etc requirements (the obligation exists for not-for-profits).

Adhoc training probably isn't the smart way to do it, however I realise its difficult in a lot of setups because there is often not a well experienced operator to do the basic instruction. They also should have a “competent person” supervising the workshop when it is in use. No-one should be using the machinery if they are inexperienced & there is not a competent person in attendance.

For your own safety visit your local library and get hold of a book on table saw setup/using TS's and have a good read. It certainly will give you the basics on use and safety. Hopefully the TS is running a combo type blade - one that is a suitable compromise for both cross cutting & ripping. It pays to know what sort of blade is fitted to the saw before using it. Learn to recognise tooth design / shape for rip /cross cut / combo blades.

Next, you mention cutting “trapezoids” which I presume will involve first ripping stock then a succession of crosscuts. Making a sled along the lines of that shown in the video is a good idea, however the pieces you will be cutting will become more difficult to hold after each cut depending upon the complexity of the trapezoid.


Hand holding a small work piece against the fence of the sled is NOT an option.

A catch will drag your fingers into the blade. Look for items called “toggle clamps” and make a series of sleds or even supplementary sleds that fit on top of the main sled to firmly and accurately hold your work pieces with the toggle clamps. If the trapezoids are simple then perhaps one sled will do the trick.

There are some really good designs for TS rip & cross cut sleds on this forum, showing both the construction of the sled & the work holding methods with toggle clamps & screw down fittings using star nuts etc. Do a search for them & “celtic knots” as there is some good setups in use for them.

Get a guard on that table saw. It is only a matter of time before someone runs a hand over it. To have an unguarded blade with novises in the shop is looking for trouble.