Tuning up an old saw is a great idea! i hear the delta unisaws are nice and fairly cheap if you get an old model. Sadly even with all the fixes I did, the delta saw in this video ended up totally breaking and I replaced it with a sawstop. It was nice to have it made from cast iron and so on but the saw was still not designed for professional use and I ended up wearing out many parts simultaneously and new parts broke seemingly every day.

The trick to working on machines is to see them as a bunch of simple parts combined instead of one complex thing. They're only held together with screws and bolts, and everyone can use a screwdriver and a spanner

Yeah totally! I used the chuck as a tap handle in part because it’s such a large chuck (3/4”) that I can get a good grip on it. I want to make a spring tap follower to use your method more! Thanks for the advance!

@ Another way to start a tap true is this: Once you've drilled the hole, put the tap in the drill chuck. Fire up the drill, then turn it off. Before it stops spinning, engage tap in hole. The tap will start, but not go too far before the drill runs out of momentum (reducing the risk of snapping the tap). Undo the chuck, and carry on with the tap handle. One thing - without a power tapping unit, don't try this if you've moved the work piece between drilling and tapping; or the side loads on the tap will kill it.

Love to work both, the only reason I don’t also have a machine shop is space and money aha

Gald you found it useful!

That’s a great idea! My saw sadly has too tight of a fit and doing so would have made the riving knife super thin all the way up which would have made it very flexible.

i realize I am kinda off topic but do anybody know a good site to watch newly released movies online ?

@@gibsoncolton2294 slightly?

@Gibson Colton I watch on flixzone. You can find it on google :)

Glad the information was of use to you!

Glad the video inspired you! As for the knifes, It’s not been a huge problem so far since the cuts where the riving knife is critical are usually full width cuts so I can just raise the blade more. But making different sized knifes will work for sure!

That was my original idea yes! Ende dup never doing it though

Yeah, I didn’t really get to use it before publishing the video but now that I’ve been using it I’m real happy with it! It works perfect! Thank you!

The Electric Monk : T-slots should be in compression not tension. When clamping onto the drill press have the pivot stud as close to the work piece to achieve a compression between the T-nut, base table, packers, work piece and clamp finger. If you ever blow out a T-slot, you get fired, simple. If it's your machine you hate it every time you look at it and know the table now needs regrinding to flatten due to stress change in table. He did do a nice job on the riving knife.

@@mrrberger "T-slots should be in compression not tension." - I guess you're referring to 3:50? Good spot, I didn't notice that. I learned how to use that sort of clamp by watching Darrel Holland's "How to run a vertical mill" videos. Occasionally, you don't have any choice but to have the stud at the wrong end of the slot, but for the most part, yeah; get as close as possible to the front end of the strap as you can.

It improves safety but also the quality of cut! I really recommend it!

I’m glad it inspired you to try again! I’ve been using the riving knife everyday for months now and I’d say 80% of my cuts the knife is engaged and 95% of the ones I need the knife to be engaged in its engaged so although not perfect, it’s a major upgrade. I’ve seen some table saws where the pivot point is on the far side of the blade which makes the riving knife have much less movement. I’m not sure if this is a cheap way to do it or the standard way though.

My saw is a Grizzly and I can send you a couple of pics if you are interested how I did it.

@@rodneybaker2629 Sure, thanks, I would like that very much!

How do I get them to You?

@@rodneybaker2629just email to: servillantas@juno.com thanks.

I checked online after you posted this and I didn’t find that anywhere. Everywhere it seems to say to set it to 1/16 inch away but most tables saws don’t let you set the distance anyways. Perhaps the 1/2 inch is for a splitter not a riving knife or for a specific machine you were using? I’m not sure.

1/2" between riving knife and blade would not have prevented my kickback accident yesterday with a small block of white oak. 1/16" certainly would have.

my son? :/ i don’t understand this stuff. please expand your horizons and make the world a safer place because you can

This appears to be a talented young woman😊

Oof yeah thats never fun. You can try making a splitting knife. Its like a riving knife but it doesn't go up and down. You can make one out of wood that is attached to a custom insert plate. Its not as nice but its less comitment and time than what I did in this video

I used the saw perhaps about 8 months after this video. I later upgraded to a sawstop (the Delta was getting really warn out and it was problem after problem each week and finally broke. All just related to wear, not what I did to it). The riving knife really only had one major issue which was how it would proportionally raise less at the biggening of the ark during raising. It mostly just ment i had to keep the blade more exposed than I ideally would during shallow cuts. Other than that, it worked as well as any other riving knife. For me the effort was well worth it.

No I have not. My table saw broke (for unrelated reasons) and I upgraded to a saw stop. What I can say though is that it ended up not really being a problem. I just always raised it a little more than if I had a riving knife that followed the blade perfectly.

Those are 5/8 hold down clamps. They are made for milling machines and other metal working machinery. They won't fit on smaller drillpresses that you usually find in woodshops. But if you have a 22" or larger drillpress they usualy have 5/8th t-tracks which work with hold downs and they are fantastic!

You can go online or even harbor freight carries them as a set. Very handy.

The knife is only slightly tapered on the blade edge to make it line up I case it was some how positioned incorrectly. On the drill press the part slipping was actually the Pully to the shaft that it is bolted on. It isn’t keyed for some weird reason and it comes loose every now and then. But thanks for the advice, I may actually use a Link belt on the table saw to cut vibration!

@ You may be able to fix that pulley better by drilling a divot where the set screw lands

Great idea!

In theory it wouldn't have since there was supposed to be a blade guard on top of the blade. But I never had time to build it before replacing this saw. So for the months that I used it, I simply didn't raise the blade for small cuts. Since as you said, it's more safe to not have a riving knife but have the blade less exposed.

@ I mounted a home made riveting knife in one of my Throat Plates behind the blade. I pop out the Throat Plate when covering the saw table with a sheet of Plexiglas to keep the iron table from rusting.

I've never heard of that trick before. But I would be worried that it would rust the equipment no?

Yeah?

any chance you gonna share it?

How did you do your riving knife?

Yeah it shouldn't be. I often end up placing my self behind the kickback zone when I put it on the left aide which is also unsafe so i keep it that way. Its not ideal for sure but I also almost only use the tilt for cross cuts

Oh yes. Did I miss-pronounce it in the video? I didn’t notice aha

All I know is what I posted in the video, a delta 1-3/4 hp hybrid saw. I bought it used and the label doesn’t mark much on it

@ It appears to be a Delta 36-714 through 36-717 series. I have the same saw.

I ended up delaying it, the video will be published in the next month I expect

Ebenisterie Éloïse I’m just joking with you. I don’t do video because I don’t have the time, knowledge, or desire to edit them. I don’t like my voice.

Haha, okay. The voice is always tough on camera! I think a lot of people take a while to get used to hearing their own voice.

Does it really matter??

@@offroad6309 yes

Yeah totally! Shouldn’t be overly complicated. At least you could easily used one of those hex handles and a slit in the knife instead of the holes. For me though I ended up just not bothering since the knife is almost only useful for full depth cuts which I can just raise the blade higher for.

Touché

I have never tried that no. But I dont really see a need to do that since the point of having a riving knife and not a guard is usualy to be able to make partial depth cuts

@ yeah. I meant to use just the metal part and not the plastic guard. Of course, it would not move with the blade.

I don't exsactly understand what you find restricting about a riving knife? Perhaps you are thinking of a splinter or you had a cheap riving knife in the past? A good riving knife doesn't restric the saw in any manner. It should be just shallower than the full blade depth and go up and down with the blade without issue. Although for example, blade guards and push sticks can sacrifice practicality for safety, a riving knife should not. As a matter of fact, it can often help give a more accurate and cleaner cut, mostly if the wood warps as it gets cut. And no my comment section s are not moderated other than for the odd rude comment which happens about once every 6 months aha

@ I just came across this video... nicely done. It looks almost exactly what I did on my Delta Contractor's saw, only in aluminum. One difference is I slotted the attachment point and attach it with wing nuts to overcome the fact that the knife height doesn't track properly with the blade height. That actually works pretty well because I find I don't often use the blade at extreme heights so for a particular project I can for the most part set the projection of the knife to be just below the crown of the blade and it will still be effective for subtle height adjustments. Also, I think you hit the nail on the head... the comment by byw indicates that he/she is confusing a riving knife with the splitter that these saws came with. My splitter probably hadn't been on my saw for 20 years because it's a nuisance... hence the reason I finally decided to make a riving knife. I'd like to improve the design so it tracks with the blade better... but then I'd also like to buy a modern saw that's beefier and safer than my contractor's saw! :) I hope you've gotten enough donations to replace your Allen wrenches and screwdrivers! :D