What do you recommend I add on to my Jet table saw to avoid kickback?

[dennis thompson]

I had a pretty hard kickback the other day on my tablesaw & was lucky enough to only suffer a bruise. What would you suggest is the best add-on to avoid kickback?
Thanks
Dennis

[Matthew Hills]

splitter+pawls and alignment are the normal lines of defense.
What was the situation where the machine hit back?

Matt

[Ruhi Arslan]

I may be the last one to qualify to be the one to make recommendation of any sort but I can share what I think is the "right" thing to do to prevent kickbacks. By the way, hope the bruise is not too bad...
I understand that kickback happens only only if the cut piece is stuck in between the blade and the fence. If you adjust your fence to have a wider gap from the blade at the far edge, you reduce the chance. Or have an auxilary fence which only extends till the leading edge of the blade, you won't have the pinching therefore no kickbacks. I'd like to hear what else others to say to see if I am on the right track...

[John Coloccia]

Kicking out the fence a couple thou is a common way of setting up. So is the auxillary fence. It's common to use the auxillary fence when cross cutting for exactly that reason. Splitter's a good idea. So are pawls.

[Matt Kestenbaum]

I understand that kickback happens only only if the cut piece is stuck in between the blade and the fence.

Kickback is a result of the back of the blade (rising) catching the workpiece -- not limited to trapping material between blade and fence (though this could be one cause). I am sure there are many others here with more complete prescription, but FWIW one woodworker's reco...

Setting up the saw precisely is job 1: make sure the blade is perfectly parallel to the miter slot, make sure fence is parallel to the slot, make sure there is no arbor run-out, fence is square to the table, and the trunnions are true. A dial indicator and jig are great to have, high quality combination square work in a pinch. The blade needs to be centered in the kerf as the material moves past.

Make sure splitter is installed! Feather board on thinner (I use on smaller than 5" or 6") cuts. Push stick too for the end of the cut.Pawls are a great idea too.

Check your technique and materials...ensure that you're using one hand to guide it and the other to ensure it is staying on the fence and flat to the table. No crosscutting using the fence...sled or miter gauge-setup for those cuts. Only flat and square edges can ride along the fence -- joint and plane three edges (non-sheet goods) before ripping. Is buying S4S make sure there are no warps, twists or cups before dimensioning. Make sure the wood isn't defective...compression or reaction board. Feet in the right place?

[Paul Comi]

I agree with Matt.

I use a disappearing splitter on my unisaw but you can use something as simple as a wood insert place with a fin. I've had several kickbacks and the last one was when cutting a piece of plywood.

The kickbacks I've had are the result of cuts wandering away from the fence and catching on the back of the blade when I've been in a rush (like when cutting plywood or sheet goods) or having the kerf begin to close behind the blade when cutting hardwoods that are releasing stress during the cut. Unless I'm making a dado cut or the part I'm cutting is very thin I always use a splitter.

[Robert Reece]

I added a sharkguard to my Jet TS. It has the added bonus of above blade dust collection. It is a great device and Lee, the maker of the sharkguard, provides excellent customer service. The downside is you have to wait a while to get it. However, now that I have had it a while, the sight of my tablesaw without it kind of makes me pause. So I generally always put it on (if it is off for some reason) even if I'm in a hurry to make "just one cut".

Before that I used a wood throat plate with a finish nail driven immediately behind the blade. That worked pretty good, but I'd recommend a piece of wood or the microjig splitter. I eventually pinched that nail in a piece of wood, the wood tipped up and pulled the throat plate out, then went back down and the blade and the nail got together. Minus one blade - it chipped about 20 teeth.

[Matthew Hills]

The other class of kickback situations is the uphill battle with unwieldy work pieces, where the length gives the operator a long lever arm and there may not be much feel for how well registered you are against the fence when starting the cut.

Some options here:
- use feather board(s) to help keep the work tight to the fence (assumes your material is narrow enough)
- infeed/outfeed support (careful with alignment if using rollers)
- use an auxiliary fence to extend the fence on the infeed side

If I've got questions about the situation, I'll drop blade and remove splitter and try the movement to see how well-controlled it is. Cutting with circ saw is the fallback option.

Matt

[Kyle Iwamoto]

I'm assuming that your Jet does not have a riving knife. I use a pair of Grippers, they are really a great safety device, IMO. They control both the cut piece and the off cut piece. They (micro jig) also offer an aftermarket splitter, that you install on your throat plate. I do not have that, as my saw already has a riving knife. The Grippers, while they may not entirely prevent kickback, they will prevent your hands from getting caught in the blade...... Check them out. They are not cheap though. They're available at Amazon, Woodcraft etc. IMO, any insurance against injury is cheap insurance.

[Neil Brooks]

You (of course) got all the right advice.

There's another aspect to kickback, though: being out of the way.

Stand to the side -- NOT in front of the blade.

[EDIT: good basic info here.]

[Prashun Patel]

A splitter is a good thing to have.
On my Jet Hybrid, I was able to use a cut-off gate hinge in the splitter clamp for non-thru and narrow cuts. THen I got a Sharkguard which I liked because the guard decoupled from the splitters, which came in different heights; this gave many options depending on the cut.

I'm a GRRipper fan too, but beware then you have to use it without a guard.

[Chip Lindley]

Add-Ons offer some defense against kickbacks; especially kickback pawls. But, trying to saw stock that is warped, twisted, or reaction wood which closes the kerf to pinch the saw blade is just asking for it!

Joint one edge flat to ride against the fence. Joint the bottom flat to ride on the TS table. Also, raise the blade more than some recommend. If the blade teeth of basically going down into the board, rather than pushing it forward, less chance of kickback.

[Michael Simpson Virgina]

Good Splitter and a couple of board buddies. I had a kick back a few years back and it broke my hand in 3 places. Since then I added a new splitter, removed the guard and added two hold down wheels that are similar to the board buddies.

The hold the wood down and agains the fence. The hold so well I can let go of the wood any time during the cut. Sounds crazy but they hold the wood better than I can.

[Jeffrey Makiel]

So lets review the input above...and a couple more new ones:

1. Use a splitter. Preferrably one that either retracts or is easily removed/installed. Preferrably one with pawls too.

2. Make sure your saw is aligned. That is, the blade is parallel to the fence. Periodically check that the fence locks down tightly.

3. Stand off to the side or projected flight path of the workpiece.

4. When ripping narrow stock (less than 1 1/2" wide), use Grrippers or a narrow guage jig (like http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?p...ow%20rip%20jig). Or, perhaps use a bandsaw.

5. Do not cut twisted wood, wood with a curved edge that rides against the fence, or wood that appears to be unstable.

6. Use a hold down device like Board Buddies/Shophelpers or feather boards.

7. Keep your blades sharp and free of pitch build-up.

8. Avoid clearing stock from the saw while it is still running.

9. Don't woodwork if you are tired, frustrated or in a rush.

10. For a right-tilt saw, move fence to the left side of the blade when making beveled cuts as to avoid trapping the workpiece.

11. Use the correct blade. That is, don't rip with a crosscut blade no matter how small the cut. Also, when cutting plexiglass or acrylic, use the correct blade to avoid melting and binding.

12. The height of the blade should be elevated such that only 1/2 of the tooth is above the workpiece kerf.

13. Never use a miter guage with a rip fence (as to act like a stop) on thru cuts.

-Jeff

[Prashun Patel]

13. Never use a miter guage with a rip fence (as to act like a stop) on thru cuts.

I do this sometimes, but I don't lock the fence down. If I need to make a bunch of cuts at the same length, then I sometimes clamp a 1" stop block to the fence before the blade begins. The thickness ain't critical, but 1" makes the math easier.