Rip cut trouble

[Darren Vass]

Hey, my tablesaw works post flood and post rust. There still is some rust on the underside of the table, but I'm too happy making sawdust. Will do something about the underside rust later.

I'm framing my basement replacement windows on walls that are not plumb, surprise, surprise. I had to rip a 10 inch wide piece of 4 foot long 3/4 inch plywood. I had ripped these pieces with the rip fence, no problem.

But I had to do a rip cut after scribing the edge of the wall against these boards. The scribe left an angled line 1/2 inch on one end to about 2 inches on the other end that needed to be cut along the 4 foot length. I clamped a 3/4 inch thick straight edge board parallel to the angle of the cut line and used it as the rip fence. The cut started OK, but after about 6 inches, the blade seemed to drift curving toward the rip fence.

I ended up doing the cut with a circular saw and an edge guide and it worked well, albeit sawdust flying all over the place.

Can anyone help me understand what was going on? It was plywood, so grain direction should not have been an issue? The saw is a Ridgid TS 3650. I'm not sure what I did wrong.

Thanks,

Darren

[Thomas Williams]

I am not sure I fully understand what you did. However, it sounds like maybe your clamps were allowing the piece to move? If you had to rip the original piece after is was scribed, I would suggest that you use another piece of plywood as a ripping guide (to ride along the fence of your TS) screwed to the original piece.

[Chip Lindley]

Sounds like either something was in the way, deflecting your setup away from the rip fence, OR your blade hit metal and became dull on one side. If a dull blade is not the issue, double check your set up to make sure nothing interferes with the straight edge being guided along the rip fence. Double check your arbor nut for tightness; that your tilt wheel is locked; and rip fence locked down. Also check your saw for parallel between the saw blade and your fence. The Flood may have swollen any part of your fence which is not metal--MDF or plywood.

[Chip Lindley]

Yes yes!! the most obvious...that the clamps allowed your setup to squirm...Duh!

[Alan Schwabacher]

"I clamped a 3/4 inch thick straight edge board parallel to the angle of the cut line and used it as the rip fence."

Did you really clamp a board to the table out of alignment with the blade, and try to use it as a rip fence? Or did you clamp the board to your stock and run it along the rip fence?

The first would not be expected to lead to anything resembling the cut you want, and could be dangerous. It is how you make a cove cut on the tablesaw, with appropriate precautions. The second is what I assume you actually mean, though I wonder how you clamp it without the clamps getting in the way. If your straight board is truly straight, and rides smoothly along the fence and the whole assembly rides flat on the table without rocking or twisting or allowing the workpiece to shift, it should work fine.