Duplicating a rip width

[Dave Cullen]

I'm looking for a clever way to rip a board on a table saw that's exactly the same width as another, after the fence has been moved. I've tried to use the first board as a width guide by placing it against the blade's teeth but I can never get the "perfect" feel for how tight to squeeze it with the fence, and thin kerf blades will deflect a bit when stationary.

So, short of trial and error is there a nifty shop trick that makes this fool proof?

TIA

[George Bokros]

If you have a zero clearance insert try aligning the board you want to duplicate with the edge of the zero clearance insert and set your fence.

[Prashun Patel]

There are two ways I use:

1) Use a scrap and trial-and-error until it passes the 'feel test' (my fingers gauge exactness better than my eyes).
2) Shave it a hair thinner than your reference piece, and then re-rip the reference piece to match; "if you can't beat 'em, join em". I usually do this after 1) fails...

[Peter Quinn]

I get close with a set up block saved from the original, then dial it on a test piece, like a scrap of plywood. Anything that has to be super precise I rip together, either originally or as Prashun suggests, if possible rerip the original too, take a hair off to be sure it's exact. Now and the. An accident happens along the way and the original is glued in to an assembly, it's match gets damaged, has to be remade....then it's the test piece, get close, bump the fence a few thousands each time, the cut another test where I'm taking a full cut to verify I wasn't deflecting the blade from making a skim cut.

[Bill Huber]

Well this is how I do it and it works very well.
http://www.wixey.com/fence/index.html

[Bill McNiel]

Plus 1 on Prashun's method, assuming you don't have an Incra type fence.

[Rick Potter]

Here is mine.

P5240200.jpg

Works good on my Unifence.

Rick P

[J.R. Rutter]

I am spoiled with a Tiger Rip fence. Without that, I would use stop blocks along the front fence to cut repetitive rips consistently - screw or clamp a stop at one end and cut spacers for the various widths to rip.

[Keith Hankins]

Several ways to skin that cat. You can get them dang close stand them on edge and run them through the planer clamped together.

Here's a vid that can do the same thing with a slightly diff way of thinking, but I thought it was interesting. It's for doing thin strips, but the concept works for your needs as well.

http://youtu.be/0YpuAZOIj88

[Jim Matthews]

+1 on having a stop, or mark on the table.

That's how I do it on a bandsaw, the stop is on the "offcut" side.

[Earl Rumans]

Easy, get an Incra table saw fence setup, perfect repeats for any cut.

[glenn bradley]

All good recommendations. I too use a digital readout from Wixey. They are on sale now and again and are used for so much more than just this task. It has become integral to my methods of work. I use it to cut odd spaced finger joints that go right together. To be fair, I do use blades ground to 1/8" kerfs; not .129" or .131" or whatever. This is a small luxury I afford myself since it makes using the incremental feature of the readout so easy to do in my head. If the strips are relatively thin I would use the methods for performing that operation; a magnetic stop stuck on the table, a thin strip jig or the like.

[Don Jarvie]

You can also try to cut them all at once and keep them at a logical width, no 1/32nds.

if you saw is set up right you should be able to cut them all day the same exact width.

[Ray Newman]

Depending upon the width needed, tis little jig from Rockler works well: http://www.rockler.com/thin-rip-tablesaw-jig

Peach Tree has something similar Item #3096 http://www.ptreeusa.com/tablesaw_products.htm#3096

[Rick Lizek]

Take the original piece and set the fence about an inch or so wider. Put a piece of scrap on the left side of the original and rip the scrap piece. Remove the original and move the scrap to the fence and place the piece you want to match to the left of the scrap. Rip the new piece and it will a perfect match to the original without even measuring.