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CROSSCUTTING IN TABLESAW MODE
Make sure the protractor slides freely in the slot, with
both knobs tightened and the protractor set at 0
O
.
Lubricate the slider strip, using spray lubricant such as
WD40. Lower the guard to about 5mm above the wood.
Hold the wood firmly against the long face of the
protractor, and down on the table, and move it smoothly
past the blade.
Keep fingers well clear of the blade. Make sure the
workpiece is of manageable length, and that the offcut
you’ll create is well supported after the cut.
The first few millimetres of protractor travel in the slots
(near the entry holes) should not be relied on for
completely accurate guidance.
MULTIPLE CROSSCUTTING
If you want to crosscut a number of short pieces to the
same length, you can safely use the fence as a stop, but
you must have a spacer at least 19 mm thick attached to
the front of the fence. Set the fence to the desired length
of the pieces, plus the thickness of the spacer.
By attaching the spacer (using double-sided tape) in
front of the blade, the cut-off pieces have room to move,
and are not trapped between the blade and the fence.
MULTIPLE CROSSCUTTING AGAINST A BACKSTOP
Attach a sub-fence to the protractor, and clamp a stop block to it. By fully backing up the workpiece
and the off-cut, you can keep firm hand control over both pieces. For very small pieces you can
control the off-cut with a “hold-down” finger fitted to the sub-fences or to the stop block.
NEVER SET THE FENCE AS A STOP . The offcut
trapped between the blade and the fence is
uncontrolled, and will be flung out towards you, causing
possible injury and damage. To do this safely, read on.
Having the protractor behind the work is the preferred
operating position, but it limits your crosscut capacity to
around 140mm. Having the protractor in front of the
work increases the width capacity to around 340mm.
For even wider pieces, you should convert to the
crosscut mode.
If you are cutting very small pieces, you may find that they tend to vibrate along the side of the
blade, suffering slight re-cut damage. It is better to cut them against a backstop, as described below.
For the sub-fence, select a piece of wood (70 x 35,
say) which when laid flat is low enough to use the
overhead guard, and yet still strong after the blade
cuts part-way into it.
After finishing each cut, make sure you pull the
protractor back towards you, well clear of the
blade, before removing the off-cut.
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