Black & Decker 90544326 Instruction Manual page 49

RIPPING
Ripping is cutting lengthwise through a board. The rip fence (A) Fig. 40 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. The guard has anti-kickback fingers to prevent
kickback and a splitter to prevent the wood kerf from closing and binding the blade.
1. Start the motor and advance the work holding it down and against the fence. 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. 40). 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. 41. 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. 43 and should be used as shown in Fig. 42.
NOTE: Some special operations (when using the moulding cutterhead)
require the addition of an auxiliary wood facing to the fence, not
included.
B
Fig. 40
Fig. 41
Fig. 42
Fig. 43
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