looking for a thin rip jig and taper (long, narrow) jig to fit Dewalt 7491 table saw

[Aaron Connor]

I have a dewalt 7491 tablesaw, which has a miter groove out further than most other saws.

It seems most thin rip jigs that use a miter slot aren't sized for the larger-than-normal miter groove offset of the dewalt.

I also need to make long (say 3-4'), narrow (say anywhere from 1/16" to 7/8") shims for my construction project, and need to find an appropriate jig (don't have time to build)

Does anyone have recommendations for either of these, which would fit my saw?

[Paul Saffold]

Well Aaron, I know you said you want to buy ready made jig and not make one, but this is super simple to make. I used it to cut 69 tapered sleepers for leveling the floor in my shop. My jig was 8 ft but you can use it to cut much shorter tapers. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGK3w2I_Bms&t=2s
Paul

[Zachary Hoyt]

I would just cut the straight shims using the fence. At that length they will fall off the back of the saw so the blade throwing them is not likely to happen. If you have an outfeed table this could still be a problem, though.

[Dwayne Watt]

You can rip consistent narrow strips by using a board and your rip fence. Arbitrarily let's use a 5 inch board against the fence. Set your fence to the desired strip thickness plus 5 inches. Tape the board to be cut to the 5 inch board using painter's tape (top and bottom) and rip the strip. Remove the old tape and reinstall the board to be cut again to the 5 inch board. Repeat as desired. All of your strips will be the same dimension. No special jig needed, just a roll of tape (I use the blue stuff).
You can taper long strips in a similar fashion by first cutting an angle on your 5 inch board using a straight edge and a circular saw or router.

[Aaron Connor]

Thanks for the recommendation, Paul. Believe it or not, I've already made this one, and that is a really great video. However, I have had a few issues with it. The issue is mainly around getting the cut board to lay flat... on thin boards being ripped, they tend to roll up off the table, on the outside of the cut if the height of the 2x doesn't exactly match the mounting blocks. Additionally, fastening the cut board with screw holes not allowing for minor adjustments and for very thin shims, a sacrificial piece has to be ripped to give the mounting screw. So, it is a good jig, but really need a better means of attachment. I was hoping a commercially available product would overcome these issues.

[Aaron Connor]

Zachary, are you referring to using the cutoff piece as the shim? If so, I was hoping for something a little more repeatable, as I sometimes need to make many of the same thickness. Some means to speed up the measuring process by a scale would also be helpful.

[Aaron Connor]

That's an interesting and cool idea. How thin do you find you can go with that approach, and how large of a cut board have you found that works with (I would imagine not too large)?

[mike calabrese]

No miter slot required
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uluEvpd4KdI
calabrese55

[Jim Becker]

Fixtures like this are good projects to make...they fit your needs exactly and cost a whole lot less than commercial products. You can also make nice temporary fixtures using scraps and 23 gauge pin nails for special or non-standard operations.

[Brian Tymchak]

I would just cut the straight shims using the fence. At that length they will fall off the back of the saw so the blade throwing them is not likely to happen. If you have an outfeed table this could still be a problem, though.

That's the way I would do it. If you have a blade guard that prevents you from moving the fence that close to the blade, you can build a quick and dirty "L" fence to give you some clearance, and also preserve overhead dust collection if you have it. If you don't have a blade guard, you could make a push block with a sacrificial bottom and heel to push the tail end of the stock stock thru and past the blade. For 1/16" cuts, I would put a sacrificial board on my rip fence. You could argue that's not needed but that's putting the blade a little too close to the rip fence for my comfort.

[Zachary Hoyt]

Zachary, are you referring to using the cutoff piece as the shim? If so, I was hoping for something a little more repeatable, as I sometimes need to make many of the same thickness. Some means to speed up the measuring process by a scale would also be helpful.

I'm sorry, our power was out for almost 5 hours while "improvements" were being made somewhere. I was referring to setting the rip fence to the distance from the blade of the thing you want to make, and then slicing the board till it's gone. No jigs, no shims, just a standard cut. With short lengths this can be dangerous as they tend to be thrown at the operator by the blade, but with longer lengths such as you describe most of the weight will be hanging in space by the time the cut is finished, and the overhanging end of the cut piece will drop, lifting the last-cut end away from the blade. This does not work if you have an outfeed table, but with a plain saw it works great. The pieces will end up on the floor behind the saw, but they're easy to pick up afterward.

[Warren Lake]

people that use saws with no extension table are morons, net is full of them, enough famous.

[Richard Coers]

For thin rips I just make a taller push stick and cut through it when pushing the cut piece through the blade. That's worked well for me for 50 years.

[Zachary Hoyt]

people that use saws with no extension table are morons, net is full of them, enough famous.

I always suspected I might be a moron, but I wasn't sure till now.

[Warren Lake]

at least you are not alone, lots of stars showing the same some even clip their you tube just before the material falls off the other side, others let it fall. Probably a few with harpoons in their heads as well.