Show your setups for ripping thin strips with a TS55 - for chopping boards etc.

[Stevenscustomguitars]

Afternoon all,

Looking to make some chopping boards (ideally end grain) but also for other furniture projects. I don't currently have a jointer or planer and no table saw. So TS55, router table, handplanes, Kapex, Rotex 150, ETs 150mm and DIY mft.

I've just picked up the Benchdogs fence system and was thing that this in conjunction with a couple of dogs at right angles, or a fence at right angles combined with spacers would allow me to cut thin strips to the left of the blade. An obvious issue would be the difficulty with ensuring the blade is at 90 to the track, a bit fiddlier to set than with a table saw.

I'd be keen to see how other people manage this kind of thing without a table saw. Short on space and I'm also not keen to get one until sawstop become readily available in the UK.

Cheers

Dave

 

[gharel2]

Sorry, don't have a picture for you, but here it goes. I cut the thin strips to the right of the splinter guard, which allows me to keep the track on the material. Then I set a combo square to the measurement I want +2mm (technically kerf is 2.2 or 1.8mm but that's usually close enough). I then push the material into the combo square until the square is touching both the material and the splinter strip on both ends of the cut. Rinse and repeat! It's a bit fiddly and not as reliable as a table saw, but if I take my time I can produce thin rips that are within 0.1mm parallel pretty reliably.

 

[Stevenscustomguitars]

[member=79669]gharel2[/member]  Thanks. Presumably that would be tricky on narrow stock. Say if you ha a piece under 50mm that you wanted to cut in half?
That's why i was thinking that a full length space under the rail might work better. With the downside that you'd need a new spacer for each new width.

 

[gharel2]

Yep, as long as you have enough material of the same thickness under the track you can still use this process! I find when the "off cut" (under the rail) gets super slim it also helps to have some kind of fence so that it doesn't slip away from me during the cut.

 

[woodferret]

No pics... Like people actually take selfies while doing this?  Anyways, same height scraps to support the rail, then strategically glue/tape fences to the left of the piece and a sacrificial end block.  This assumes you can register your track on a MFT.  If working off table, glue registration dogs/pins for setting the rail.

Then as you go, keep shoving your work under the track.  If it's exceedingly narrow rips that don't reach the grip strip, I'll tape it to the inner fence or supports before cutting.

 

[Stevenscustomguitars]

No pics... Like people actually take selfies while doing this?  Anyways, same height scraps to support the rail, then strategically glue/tape fences to the left of the piece and a sacrificial end block.  This assumes you can register your track on a MFT.  If working off table, glue registration dogs/pins for setting the rail.

Then as you go, keep shoving your work under the track.  If it's exceedingly narrow rips that don't reach the grip strip, I'll tape it to the inner fence or supports before cutting.

I often take pics of setups. Especially if they're something where i might forget what i did or to send to a mate who's asked about it.

I've set my rail using tall dogs and UJK rail clips and checked the square.

This is what I'm working with so far. This a top I had CNC'd years ago and have had issue with the accuracy although the particular holes I'm using here are actually square.
[attachimg=1]

 

[tjbnwi]

Start here, there are links in this post that will bring you to other posts on the subject.
https://www.festoolownersgroup.com/...ently-rip-a-bunch-of-strips-with-a-track-saw/

Tom

 

[Stevenscustomguitars]

Start here, there are links in this post that will bring you to other posts on the subject.
https://www.festoolownersgroup.com/...ently-rip-a-bunch-of-strips-with-a-track-saw/

Tom

Thanks Tom. I'd read some of the threads linked in that post. Quite a few of the photos are 404 not found. To be honest the thread you linked is a bit hardwork what with all the metric vs imperial diversions! All 4 pages of it  [wink].

 

[rmwarren]

[member=60061]daveychainsaw[/member] theres an overcomplicated approach here that might give you some ideas.
https://www.festoolownersgroup.com/...nfigurationbreakdown-mft/msg696243/#msg696243

Boils down to using stops under the fence to set the rip width and securing the stock from the right side of the track. Somewhere else I'd posted a short video showing a narrower set of stops that work better for narrow rips but I can't recall where I was yapping about it.

RMW

[Edit] found the thread specifically about narrow rips:
https://www.festoolownersgroup.com/...recise-offset-rip-guides/msg698011/#msg698011