I had an epiphany yesterday I thought I would share with this group as it may be very useful to many of you. I have a large project I'm starting for a client and have been tuning up my tools. In the process of replacing zero clearance throat plates on my saws and SCMS I was looking for options on my Saw Stop cabinet saw. I had checked out this article:
http:// www.woodcentral.com/cgi-bin/...cles_893.shtml
(See Ken's note below to make the link work).
It looked like a fair amount of work but a good idea. The problem with Saw Stop is their throat plates are a little on the complicated side with many cut-outs on the bottom side for various clearances. The zci's for the Saw Stop saws are terrific but expensive at $40+.
The epiphany was that the Saw Stops zci's are made of phenolic material. Instead of machining a new throat plate, simply groove out my current plate like the article above. This was a piece of cake. I had it grooved out and 12 maple inserts cut and fit in less than an hour. IMHO this is an excellent solution for Saw Stop saws and any saw that you can source a phenolic zero clearance plate.
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