Thread: Tilt lock on GPW 10/12, Woodman sp12 question

Hi Aaron,

just saw your thread...

i also own this saw in the Woodman badge......they are all made by the Mao Shan company in Tiawan and re-badged numerous times by various retailers here under various names and models. Some are contractor type and some cabinet style, which I have (see pic attached). They are a reasonably priced entry level cabinet saw and so not as tightly made as the mid to high end saws so expect some things not to work as they should.

The small lever infront of the saw just under the table top works by friction to hold the tilt function but is not all that functional. No matter how hard you tighten it you will still be able to force movement. If you want to tighten it more all you do is push the lever in which allows the lever to disengage from the shaft and then you can reposition it. Like a Bristol lever. The screw with spring on other side is again to friction the tilt mechanism and give it more resistance when cranking the tilt mechanism.

no matter how hard you tighten both sides you will always be able to break through. The important thing is that if you crank it to an angle it stays put. Mine does.

hope this helped.....
mike

Thanks Mike, thats all understood.
By the way, I spent some time trying to identify the accessories on your saw. Looks like a gripper on top, some sort of home made jig behind that not sure what, featherboard stuck to the front but cant identify the other four things, and looks like mitre gauge on the rhs of the cabinet, and maybe a jig with some featherboards built into it there as well. It would be good to know what these are as I always want to know what people find works for them.
Cheers
Arron

Sure Aaron.....no secret.


that is a Gripper....use it alot! Highly recommended. I don't have the guard....took it away (I know I'm going to be poo bah'd ) but I found the one supplied very poor and in fact a hinderance. Whereas the riving knife essential. So I modified the knife so it's no higher than the blade that way it can remain in place even with a dado blade. As you know it is a pain to align and move in and out.
I made my own guard...that is the 'jig' you mention behind the gripper. It is held down with 3 magswitches and the clear thick Perspex can move up and down. The other bits are featherboards, couple magswitches and a Kreg push stick. Also an electronic angle finder which I use to set the blade angle (tilt). The mitre gauge hangs on the side and is an Incra 1000. But I now don't use the table much for cross-cutting......mostly for ripping type cuts. I use my SCMS and Radial arm saw for those cuts mostly.
Also made up an auxiliary fence for the Dado blade.
I have a very healthy respect for the saw and never take short cuts by not using a feather board, etc.....I take it slow because a silly moment of slackness can cost dearly!


cheers

thanks
I'm very interested in more details about the home-made blade guard but will start another thread in case anyone else wants to participate.
cheers
Arron

Attached pic of what I did with my splitter.....it now stays in always even with dado blade. The only hiccup is that I recently got a thin kerf rip blade and realised that I can't use the splitter as too thick So no trying to find a thinner splitter.....problem with these cheaper table saws is getting after market accessories.....so will have to fabricate one......oh hum!

My riving knife looks pretty much the same as yours simops. I've looked at thin kerf blades a few times but decided against them because I would not be able to use the splitter. Maybe we could convince one of our metal working friends to make a batch of thin kerf splitters to suit these saws. Plenty of people have this model saw and would be interested.

Yes, I made a couple similar out of aluminium plate, one for thin kerf and one for std kerf. Maybe aluminium is not a good choice though, cos I find the cut piece does rattle around a bit once it gets past the cutting edge of the blade, which I assume is due to the alu being bent, or maybe just deflection. Hence I've been thinking of including this in my next order from o/s. http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?p...9&site=ROCKLER
Its main claim to fame is that you get two of them and snap them in and out according to how much pressure you want to exert against the workpiece - sort of like combining splitter and featherboard. My only reservation is that they do look a bit puny. I dont know how long theyd last but at 20 something dollars they are replacable.

Cheers
Arron

Yep the Microjig splitters.....got one with my Gripper....never used it and it is not thin kerf (although you can get them).
Can't beat a proper riving knife in steel. I'm with NCArcher ....need to get one made. Could use the existing one as a template and go to a machine shop and get them to machine one to exactly 3.2mm (3/32").

If there is a metal working forum member with a metal working CNC reading this....I'd be happy to pay for the job to be done.....I could make a copy in dxf to send.

Reading about it further, it seems that if the saw has the capacity for a riving knife then that should be my first choice, rather then splitter.

I'snt it possible to buy flat steel in the size you mentioned?

Arron

The thin kerf blade I have is imperial (like most) with 3/32" kerf......about 2.45mm
I haven't tried hard enough but my initial enquiries showed that it was going to be hard to find in AUS 3/32" thick steel plate......if someone can source a supplier here then I would be most interested.

failing that I could go to the machine shop that ground my table saw top flat and have them do it to spec.

cheers

We actually need slightly less than 3/32". Would 2mm be too thin?
I might go and measure my existing splitter.

OK
My existing splitter is 3mm for a standard 1/8"(3.175mm) kerf so very slightly smaller. I noticed that kerf for some blades is listed as 2.8mm. Are there different sized thin kerfs?

There must be different kerf sizes then as mine is perfectly 3/32", which is about 2.45mm.......I have 2mm stock here but feel it could still produce a pinch point around blade........happy to be proved wrong!

Thin kerf blades can be a whole range of sizes from different manufacturers, etc.

That's why the thin-kerf version of the microjig splitter is designed for blades between 2.3mm and 3mm (approx. after imperial-metric conversion); I guess you could call anything less than 3.2mm "thin kerf"

I make my own splitters all the time to suit different blades, and ideally you need to measure both the tooth width of the blade (i.e. kerf) and the plate thickness of the blade body (which will be much less). All the books say the splitter should be midway between these measurements, and I've always found that to work perfectly well. That's why if you measure the standard spliiter that came with your saw for 3.2mm blades, it will often be slightly thinner than that.

Originally Posted by Mr Brush

Thin kerf blades can be a whole range of sizes from different manufacturers, etc.

That's very inconvenient of them not to manufacture to a standard . I had a bit of a look at metal plate suppliers and couldn't find anything off the shelf that would suit. Admittedly it wasn't a very comprehensive search. I'll just stick to 1/8" blades for now.