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The table saw and the fear factor

If the table saw intimidates. Then macduff seriously and without any hesitation, gives full support to Dino and his innovative lightweight portable EZ system. It is functional in regards the dead-wood concept, a complete table top wood working system designed to bypass the fear factor. Noo bide here if you would like macduff to enlighten you on his innovation that will retrofit the table saws 80 year-old technology, any type of existing table saw. Large, small, and including bench-top models, with the added feature of up-front safety features placed in front of the cutting tool or blade. Cut sheet material to 4ft on centre with only 12.5 sq. ft. of area on a sliding platform with a fixed or stationary fence with the addition of his outrigger, in the shop or on site, lightweight and very portable. Dino/macduff, EZ/jimmy jig two very different systems, both concerned with safety the number one priority in operating woodworking machinery slainte mhath macduff

Doon the road

macduff understands the future outlook, every innovation has its time, 80 years of technology is not going to be discarded overnight, certainly the EZ system has many many pluses, macduff, with no hesitation on stamping his approval on Dino's EZ system if the fear factor in operating a table saw intimidates you. Any system is no way near 100% full proof,y innovation you can only please some of the woodworkers some of the time, but not all of the woodworkers all of the time, so what is there will be there for many, many years, but macduff can assure you that table saw safety will not and does not sell, as Dino observes 50,000 accidents a year in North America, let alone the World. macduff has been in contact with most WCB operations in North America with not even a wee cheep, that, you would think is where changes should occur, they have the power with Governments to legislate, then on the other hand, they would have to confront, but conform to the "Big Bhoys." ("celtic for the conglomerates of this World", and there lies the problem. Lets pop over the pond where EU mandates that a riving knife be on every table saw, macduff was there recently and many table saw operators removed the knife with only the blade visible above the table top, although they do use a short fence in many operations

First off macduff looked at the fence

Most all of the table saw fences are designed on the T-BAR system, (even today) The starter models were slim, light with the t-bar being less than 6ins. in length with weak anchoring to the bar, most had poor clamping at the back of the table top, if at all, these would never take a bump from sheet material or heavy 2 x's. Improvements came along with the after market add ons, the heavy duty ones requiring permanently mounted out-feed and side tables to allow for wide cuts on sheet material. The requirement being that most are made from heavy steel, some weighing near to 60lbs and certainly not portable and having the definite need for the saw to be set up level.
macduff simply made the fence stationary or fixed to a sliding platform, this fence will never deviate, flex or lift up. patented but circumvented, ( again the Big Bhoys) has the fixed fence merit, the answer to that is simple yes, if you consider when the fence on the available bench-top models exits the envelope of the table top is the innovation of the Jimmy Jig, copied by many but never perfected to a point that they only cut to maximum of 25 ins. beyond that it is not stable, from eliminating the jimmy jig's support platform ( this platform will incorporate a sliding or fixed router in the aperture of the said platform) to which is attached the fixed or stationary fence. All with in 12.5 sq. ft of support area

macduff then looked at the area required to support large sheet material

Going back about 30 years ago macduff had a very large cabinet job to do, involving about 45 sheets of 4*8 5/8in material, being self-employed and a one man operation, the wee head got a thinking, on an old Beaver table saw he made up this jig thingie that allowed him to cut all the sheets to size in a full day. That was the day The Original Jimmy Jig was born, at the time made from 3/8in. K-3 board 5ft long * 30in. wide, with an aperture for the blade and a 1*4 for a stationary fence, as macduff had no intention of entertaining a sliding fence. It was clamped to the Beaver with a C-clamp, certainly not high-tech, but it was accurate and lightweight. From that day it has progressed to what you see today, simple, efficient, lightweight and very portable and safe, by passes the blade or cutting tool for a distance of 49ins either to the left or right, all on a bench-top model table saw. macduff never required or had a need for a large saw to make a living in his trade. After the Beaver macduff has only used the Makita, two in all in that space of time, used every day to some extent, the only thing macduff was required to do was change the brushes and give it a blow out now and again, add some grease to the gears, still use the second Makita with the Jimmy Jig and the outrigger, the set up being accurate to 1/100 of an inch, more that macduff ever required. After it was refined macduff proceeded to apply for a patient, three in all USA, BRIT, and Canadian, but the rest is history.

The aperture unique to the Jimmy Jig and its inserts

In the aperture is placed two inserts that slide independent of the Jig, one is a zero clearance insert that is placed over the blade with a kerf cut, this also has the splitter attached, which can be up to 6ins long and shaped to the arc of the blade, as high as the blade or higher if need be. The splitter is self a-lineing with the initial saw cut, and can be simply removed from the aperture for other operations. the kerf and splitter is placed to one side about 3/4ins from the side, this undercuts the fence for close contact of the splitter to the fence, and when or using the over-head guard. A spare insert is used as a co-planer surface to the aperture and or with a few kerf slots added for zero clearance, a spare blank is always at hand for other cutters, the blanks can be placed on either side of the blade or cutting tool. next up the clamping system

Jimmy Jig clamping system

As the Jimmy Jig slides on a telescopic system, the clamp is in reverse of what is the norm for a t-square, rather that a cam-lever, macduff used a screw type attached to a horizontal 14in. angle bar from a bracket, which applies pressure from the screw through the bar on to jimmy jig's front runner against the (grid rail) or the long side to the table saw, allowing pressure on well over 3ft in conjunction with the cursor and tape on the front edge. A half turn is more than adequate to hold the platform rigid to the table saw, when released the Jimmy Jig slides off the table top for storage or transport to on site, a far cry from 60lbs of heavy duty metal.

Many years ago, when macduff was trying very hard to interest table saw manufacturers, in his JJ, there was correspondence and an interest from a Mr. Humphrey, the manufacturer of EXAKTOR products in Toronto. The interest from EXAKTOR was in macduff's safety devices. Mr Humphrey kindly sent a fence bar, EX 100 if macduff remembers correctly, to which would be attached the anti-kick back devices, prior to that macduff had an L shaped fence, migrating to a box fence made from 5/8in. plywood with a T-track, with one face covered in laminate, which will produce the same results.
This simple yet innovative style of stationary fence will never lift up, as previously stated plywood works great, making the fence and JJ weigh under 25lbs., which will take any amount of lifting force against the up front safety devices, eliminating ride up to the box bracket and overhead support bar and any other additions you attach to the fence. This style of fence exits the front of the Jimmy Jig's support platform to a greater extent that any other fence system allowing a greater support line (edge to edge) to the saw blade or cutting tool preventing side movement.
Needless to say EXAKTOR responded with the observation "to expensive to market" there again "safety doon the drain

Box bracket and support rod or bar.

With attachments and the up-front anti-kick back safety devices on the bar or rod they can be held clear of the table top, this excludes the long and curved semi permanent splitter at the back of the blade (the splitter is easily removed for other operations by simply removing the insert with the splitter attached

Why a box bracket, positioned in the t-track, being three inches square and about 5 ins. long, when drilled through for the support rod, this rod is held securely by the two perpendicular walls of the bracket, held rock solid by the way of a toggle clamp on top with an added screw type nob from the front to the side of the bar. The bar with the attachments can be positioned along the length of the fence in particular up front of the cutting tool or blade, straddling the blade or cutting tool from the front, to the under side of the bar the distance the Jimmy Jig surface is 4 1/4in. allowing the passage of 4in. material. Rods are sized to lengths for the operation at hand. The box bracket also allows the fence mounted safety devices, with their fool proof safety ratchets to hold strips as thin as 1/16in in width tight to the fence in conjunction with the auto-hold in, this set up allows the close contact of the splitter and the over head up front guard close contact with the fence and material. Very few if any other guard and splitters designs allow for this.The rod in its-self, (without the guard suspended) placed where it is, a simple deterrent and a preventative to finger loss, a deviation from the norm, it begs the question to the operator why am I here. Up next the word automatic in relation to the up-front safety devices

Fustration with feather-boards

macduff designed the up-front safety devices to handle material when the operations were in close contact with the blade as in using short and narrow work pieces and in particular repeat cuts from the same material as wide as 8ins. and up to 4ins. in height. The over head pawls are in combination of 5 in different lengths that straddle the blade on each side of the kerf made by the cutting tool, these work on gravity or a spring can be added or removed to release the extra tension when required, will not mark the wood when sharpened like a chisel, can be used individually or in combination of lengths, all can be held up against the support bar when making alterations to the position on the material from the fence. The up-front devices will ideally handle long material also, and will hold the material in place when you release forward pressure, even if you walk away from the operation for as long as you like. In combination with the auto-hold in which applies the same amount of side pressure, immaterial of width of cut and automatically adjusts to the next width of cut (eg. strips and small widths) In some operations macduff replaced the pawls with brushes, which will not mar the surface of finer material, with the understanding that the fibers of the brush are multi directional as a anti-kick-back device, macduff utilizing these brushes for other operation on the table top. placing anti-kick back pawls in front of the bade will grab the material as soon as the material is guided towards it and when at the end of the kerf at the front of the blade they automatically drop behind the material as does the auto-hold in. The pawls slide with forward pressure from the bar for the required position over the blade, close contact with the fence is attained by simply adjusting the box bracket backwards in the t-slots. Next up front side mounted safety devices on the fence.

11 points of safety on the side mounted anti-kick back device

This innovation has has two styles, one with 5 pawls the other with a spring loaded single pawl. Both have a gravity style drop down safety plate incorporating 6 saw-tooth cut-outs that work in conjunction with the pawls. The fence mounted device is attached to the box bracket that can be placed in any position on the fence, but most importantly up front of the blade or cutting tool having the safety features positioned on the the material before it makes contact with the blade. As the material is fed through the device the longest of the 5 pawls are it its anti-kick mode, followed by the others if the material changes in height, up to 4ins. The material while in contact with the pawls the cut-outs come in to play by each falling in behind the material, the pawls then drop behind at the completion of the cut. These are held rigid at 90 degrees behind the material by the way of a stop which also keeps the pawl points 1/32in. clear of the table top. A spring can be added if more downward force is required by attaching the spring to the t-slot with a nut and bracket. In conjunction macduff uses the unique nail-in-a-dowl push stick which keeps the hand high above the cutting tool, it is simple and more that adequate, even allows the operator to safely feed and remove the material including the waste. The low stance of the Jimmy jig is only in macduff's interest as this allows macduff a clear view above the blade routine. The lateral on the fence device is partnered with the auto-hold-in. Up next the auto-hold-in.

Forever automatic this hold-in

Designed to be a one time set up for material up to 8ins. and less, when cutting strips and multiples, it will adjust to hold the material for the next width of cut close to the fence. When the material clears the side pressure the unique shape of the hold-in automatically closes behind preventing the material and waste from slip back from the spinning blade, if it is not exactly dead parallel with the fence, which in many cases can be projected backwards with deadly force. This hold-in is used in conjunction with either the on-fence or over head anti-kick back pawls and the gravity notched plate, the nail-in-a dowl push stick is always at hand. Pressure is applied sideways constantly by a simple weight of about three lbs. The leading 15 degree and 7 degree back self feed angle have formica to their edges for ease of contact by the material being fed to the blade, with all the safety devices in place you can safely release the pressure, leave and come back to the operation and the material still being securely held in the same position. For wider material macduff has a line of t-nuts embedded in the Jig top spaced at 10ins. where the brush style hold-in feather boards are utilized. next up the rubber one way wheels, hold-downs for the no mar material

Toe-in downward pressure rollers suspended on the bar

This is accomplished by suspending these rollers which are one-way with a ratchet system fashioned from a hockey pucks, 1.1/2in washers and aluminium pipe suspended on the bar, placed in front and behind the the cutting tool usually on material that you don't want to mar the surface, as they slide on the bar they can be placed to the required distance from the fence in relation to the width of the material. Toe-in is attained by simply twisting the box bracket a few degrees on the fence, this will take the bar and rollers to direct the material against the fence, the design on the bar allows wider material to be handled easily without marring the surface. The out feed roller having an extension to give you greater depth of hold-in if and when required, tension to the rollers can be varied by the way of a spring attached to the aluminium pipe depending on the pressure applied when setting up the rollers, used only in the vertical position and close to the fence, no angle diversion required for close contact with the fence. up next the up-front over head guard

Regarding the Coin on Edge vibration test

Success in this can be achieved in two ways:

1. Have a finely balanced rotating system (of which the quality of the blade plays the major part).

2. Have enough mass that the vibrations are dampened out (the cabinet saw tends to excel in this area by virtue of its bulk).

To be able to demonstrate this on a bench top saw is obviously leaning toward a finely balanced system. The addition of the saw fence system described also would add to the mass.

This is overall an interesting system. I have gone to a rail guided circular saw for the majority of my work and am about to dispose of my radial arm and contractor saws. However, I still think I would like a small bench saw set up. This may be it.

I was also interested in the comment about the European folks ditching their government mandated riving knives as we do our nuisance blade guards on this side of the big pond.

Thanks Dino for allowing this on your EZ board forum. I believe it does supplement the EZ concept for some of us that like the guided rail saw for most cuts, but consider the table saw more the appropriate for some applications.

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Full view of the out-feed support

A simple alternate to large permanently mounted out-feed tables, adjustable from the bung in the end of the fence for extended length, the support leg is a click up, held to the horizontal support by the way of a flexible hinge and velcro, removable, lightweight and moves with the fence, held buy the way of a clamp to the bung which is drilled to take the pipe with saw kerfs to allow for compression by the clamp. The extension pipe has a wooden dowl rammed in there for strength , or alumimium pipeing could be used instead
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In any combination

With variable positions on the stationary fence, deflection eliminated. Rollers close contact with fence, toe-in by simply adjusting the box bracket a few degrees on the fence
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The OJJ compared to the tablesaws 80 year old technology

Fixed or stationary fence,(copied by many but never perfected) which is at all times parallel to the blade, will never flex or yawl. You can have heavy and sustained upward pressure on any hold-down devices without any lift up of the fence. Any side pressure or bumps on the fence (heavy ply or MDF board) will never make it deviate, clamping pressure is applied all along the front edge of the table saw not levered against a front rail. Most safety and anti-kickback devices are placed up front and over head of the cutting tool or blade from the rock solid fixed fence. Can handle 4*8 sheet material to 4 ft on centre of the cut with only 12.5 sq.ft of support platform area, eliminating the need for large permanently mounted out feed and side tables also the requirement for 60lbs of steel of a t-arm system which is certainly not portable. The OJJ weighs in at about 24 to 30lbs, removable, portable from the shop to on site with the same accuracy, does not require to be set up level, adapts to any saw, large, small, new, old or bench-top, many poo at the thought of a wee bench-top being able to, you now what. The OJJ'S simple technology suggests otherwise, The unique apertured support platform can have the additions of many other cutting tools attached to a spare insert and slid inside the said aperture and used in conjunction with the stationary fence.
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