Ripping with the Unifence, Constructing a Push Stick

RIPPING WITH THE UNIFENCE

Ripping is cutting lengthwise through a board, (Fig. 125). The rip fence (A) is used to position and guide the work. One edge of the work rides against the rip fence while the flat side of the board rests on the table. Since the work is pushed along the fence, it must have a straight edge and make solid contact with the table. The saw blade guard must be used. On Delta saws, the guard has anti-kickback fingers to prevent kickback and a splitter to prevent the wood kerf from closing and binding the blade.

1.Never stand in the line of the saw cut when ripping. Hold the work with both hands and push it along the fence and into the saw blade (Fig. 125). The work can then be fed through the saw blade with one or two hands. After the work is beyond the saw blade and anti- kickback fingers, the hand is removed from the work. When this is done the work will either stay on the table, tilt up slightly and be caught by the end of the rear guard, or slide off the table to the floor. Alternately, the feed can continue to the end of the table, after which the work is lifted and brought along the outside edge of the fence. The cut-off stock remains on the table and is not touched until the saw blade has stopped, unless it is a large piece allowing safe removal. When ripping boards longer than three feet, use a work support at the rear of the saw to keep the workpiece from falling off the saw table.

2.If the ripped work is less than 4 inches wide, a push stick should always be used to complete the feed, as shown in Fig. 126. The push stick can easily be made from scrap material as explained in the section

“CONSTRUCTING A PUSH STICK.”

3.Ripping narrow pieces can be dangerous if not done carefully. Narrow pieces usually cannot be cut with the guard in position. If the workpiece is short enough, use a pushboard. When ripping material under 2 inches in width, a flat pushboard is a valuable accessory since ordinary type sticks may interfere with the blade guard. When using a pushboard, the width of the pushboard must be added to the width of the rip fence position setting. A flat pushboard can be constructed as shown in Fig. 126A and should be used as shown in Fig. 126B.

NOTE: Some special operations (when using the moulding cutterhead) require the addition of an auxiliary wood facing to the fence, as explained in the section

“USING AUXILIARY WOOD FACING ON THE UNIFENCE” and use of a push stick.

Fig. 125

Fig. 126

Fig. 126B

Fig. 126A