Zero clearance strategies???

[ian maybury]

Re. the other thread on throat plates. I've not made much use of zero clearance on my (Hammer slider) saw, but want to gear up to do so. There's quite a bit of work in setting up to make one for this saw (Felder sell them too), and for many cuts a piece of sheet material clamped down on the slider may do the job too.

The biggest issue I seem to see is that (a) throat plates and sleds are primarily only applicable once cut for vertical/a single angle, and (b) may wear fairly quickly.

What sorts of strategies do you guys use in respect of the above and other issues with zero clearance on a saw?

Is it just a case of resigning myself to making a large stack of the things, and treating them as a throw away/minimal use item?

ian

[Charles Lent]

I guess it depends on what you make, but most of my table saw cuts are made at 90 deg to the board surface. I have a zero clearance insert for each of my blades and have written the blade info on the back of the insert so that I use the correct one for each. I also have some zero clearance inserts for bevel cuts. Since I do bevel cuts with the same blade and most are at common angles I've only needed to make a few of these, but I always keep about a half dozen blank inserts handy for any new cuts that don't fit my common inserts. My most used inserts are made from Corian, but these other inserts are usually made from either Baltic Birch or whatever good quality scraps were plentiful on the day that I made them.

[Mike Cutler]

Ian

Some are purpose specific, such as the ones I use for dado stacks, but mostly it's the one set for 90 that is on there the majority of the time, and as long as you don't switch from thin kerf to full kerf blades, and back again, the ZCI should last for years.
I have one for 45 degree angle, but it's not used much, and was a real pain to make. There isn't a lot of ZCI material left on the inside of the 45 degree angle.

[Ron Natalie]

I use the custom plate pretty much only for dados. Most of the time I just use the original throat plate.
On the other hand, I love my sled. Yeah, it only works with the blade vertical but that's most of the cuts. The thing is also large enough that unless I'm trying to rip a long board, I just leave it in place for everything.

[ian maybury]

Thanks guys. Pardon so basic a question, but there's stuff i'm only finding my way into. As ever it sounds like there's no magic, just common sense and a bit of care. Against that it seems they last pretty well.

Sounds to like the trick is to make a good stock of blanks and go from there.

ian

[Bill Bukovec]

I use a 1/2" piece of plywood with a removable 1/4" dovetailed insert. I make about 6 inserts at one time. When one insert gets worn, I slide it out and put in a new one.

The insert is about an inch wide.

[David Giles]

Currently applying Fastcap PVC edging over the top of the old ZCI. Anything thin will work with the appropriate adhesive.