92, страница 46

92, страница 46

46 ShopNotes No. 1)2

auxiliary pence on miter gauge allows steady control and backs up cut

face of rip fence should be square , to saw table

Here's a straightforward technique that yields top-notch results.

▲ The Result. For tenons with smooth cheeks, crisp shoulders, and a gap-tree fit. a dado blade on the table saw is the ticket.

First, y ou want to use the widest dado blade possible. It will take fewer passes to cut the cheeks and you'll get smoother results. And 1 always install a zero-clearance insert over the blade to help control chipout at the shoulders.

The auxiliary fence on the miter gauge gives you better control of the workpiece and also backs up the cuts. So you want to make sure it's tall enough to give you a good grip and it's positioned to extend past the blade, as shown at left.

One of your goals is clean, square shoulders. To achieve this, first, the

results in a comparable time. Best of all, the setup is easy and the technique can be mastered quickly.

How it Works. Going over U-it-basic technique is a good lead-in to setting up the table saw. Essentially, a wide, stack dado blade does the hard work of removing the waste from the tenon cheeks and shoulders. Carefully adjusting the height of the blade is what gives you a snug fit to the mortise.

The workpiece is fed across the dado blade using an auxiliary-fence attached to the miter gauge. This gives you firm, easy control and results in clean, square shoulders. Finally, the rip fence is used as an end stop to accurately gauge the length of the tenons.

Setting Up Right Setting up the table saw to cut the tenons only takes a few minutes. A look at the photo above and the drawing at left will help you with the basics. Ill just highlight a few of the more important points.

Of all the specialized table saw techniques I use, the one I probably turn to most often is cutting clean, accurate tenons with a dado blade. I've found that no other method gives me the same high-quality

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/ / square miter / gauge to / / rip fence

rip fence perfectly parallel to blade for •clean shoulder,

curs

zero-clearance insert

wide-stack dado blade