– Today's an introduction to the table saw. Let's get started. As an overview, we're gonna be looking at two different types of saws, we're gonna be going through their main components and learning how to set proper blade height. Lastly, we're gonna cover four very important tips to prevent kickback, which is the number one safety concern with using these saws. To keep things simple we're gonna break down the table saw in the two different categories, portable saws and non-portable saws. First, the portable saw sometimes called the tabletop saw, these saws are smaller and lighter, and makes them very easy to carry around and powerful enough though they do most jobs. The second type of saws, the non-portable saw, better known as the cabinet saw. These saws are generally bigger, heavier, and more often more powerful and that's why you see them in professional settings. The table saws primary use is to rip material to width. Its other uses are to make cross cuts, bevels, and other specialty cuts. As a reminder, when you cross cut a board you're cutting it to length across the grain, and when you perform a rip-cut you're changing the boards width and cutting with the grain. Most of the components of the portable saw are identical to the cabinet saw. So let's start with the portable saw and then we'll talk about the differences of the cabinet saw. Starting with the similar items we have the main table, the throat plate for accessing the blade and the motor, adjustable rip fence with lock, miter gauge slot and miter gauge for making cross cuts, a base for the saws so it's at the proper working height, and lastly the blade height and bevel adjustments which allow you to adjust the blade up or down as well as tilting the blade from zero to 45 degrees in one direction. As far as the differences you may see a riving knife on the cabinet saw which may or may not come on the portable saws. We have a large extension table, a closed base for better dust collection, and not to mention a much bigger motor. To change the blade both saws have a single nut that holds the blade to an arbor, to remove the blade, use two wrenches, one for the arbor stopping it from turning and the other for turning the nut to loosen it. Once the blade is out replace it with another one but always make sure that the teeth are facing you. Setting proper blade height is next, slide your work piece next to the blade and use the blade adjustment to raise or lower the blade so the top of the blade is about a quarter to three eights above the surface of the material. This is important for many reasons, but the most important one is for safety. As a quick side note, you can see that I removed the blade guards on both saws and I did that for two reasons. First, so that you all could see what's going on and second, for personal reasons. You see the blade guard is a love-hate relationship for most people, they love the fact that it keeps them safe and it helps to keep the dust down, but they hate the fact that it gets in the way of making certain cuts. The reality is a lot of people remove them and that's their choice. But hear me on this, by no means am I telling you to do the same. All right, so with that, let's move on to our last most important topic and that's preventing kickback. Kickback for those who don't know is when the material which you're cutting gets pinched, wedged, or twisted between the blade and the fence, and turns into a high-speed missile catapulting itself back towards you. That sounds scary, right? Well, it should be because that's how most people get injured while using a table saw. So with that, let's cover four very important tips to follow to prevent kickback and to keep you safe. First, as you're pushing the material through the blade be sure to hold it tight to the fence and tight to the table at all times. That does two things, it prevents kickback by not allowing the work piece to move in any other direction than straight through the blade. And second, it keeps your hands safe just in case you slip as the direction of your pressures always moving past the blade, and slightly in the direction of the fence. Second is to get in the habit of not letting the off cuts get between the blade and the fence where it can get pinched, bound or wedged. Therefore, no matter what type of cut you're making be sure that the off cuts are always on this side of the blade, away from the fence. Third, always support your work piece on the outfield side of the table especially if you're cutting long material. What this does is it prevents the work piece from falling off the back side of the table uncontrollably. A good outfit table or a set of rollers like these do wonders for helping with that. Lastly, use a riving knife or a splitter. The riving knife is a great way to keep the material from binding on the blade as you're making your cut. Not all saws have this option, and some saws only have a splitter and that works similar but the only difference is that the riving knife moves up and down with the blade, keeping an equal distance while the splitter doesn't. Now, regardless if your saw has a splitter or a riving knife, as long as you're using three out of the four tips here, you're gonna be just fine. So next week's video we're gonna cover in more detail the three most common types of cuts that the table saw can make so be sure to subscribe and hit that bell notification so you're notified the second that I release that video. Thanks for joining me today, I look forward to seeing you guys next week. Bye for now. (energetic upbeat music)
