OCtoolguy

Does your hubby make sawdust too? It does make a difference. One side never would see the other side's view of things.

Yes, the router is the one tool that I am still more or less afraid of. Not that I haven't used mine but as you said, anything can go wrong at any time.

Just remember, the first child can come at any time. All the rest take 9 months.

Not bad Les. It sure beats slamming your head against the wall trying to figure out what makes the printer tick.

The should still fit. The 18 only refers to the capacity of what can be cut. The mechanism should be the same. Don't quote me on that but I'll bet they will fit.

You will be VERY happy.

And you are probably correct Bill. For new users, I strongly recommend using the guards. But, for us old codgers, Les included, I think it would be more dangerous for us to try to get used to using that stuff now. I am not scared of my saw but I have a huge amount of respect for what it can do in an instant.

I fully understand what Bill said but, like you, my first table saw, bought used, was a 12" commercial Craftsman. It had been used by a home builder. He had tossed both items also. I learned to work without either and I also learned RESPECT for my saw. I have seen what it can do. My neighbor used both on his saw and still managed to nip the ends off 3 of his fingers. I take guards off of every too I have that came with them. I also figure out a way around trigger locks. Sorry Bill, but that's just the way it is for me. And now I see I'm not alone.

I'll just bet, from my own personal experience, that she has forgotten completely all the other tasks that she has asked you to do since her request to make new cabinets. And on that note, let me bring up something that has stuck in my craw for many, many years. My wife, bless her, asked me to make something for her kitchen one time. It required me walking back and forth from the garage into our home to get measurements and so on. The garage was connected to the house so there was no going outdoors. Anyway, she came down on me for "tracking" all that darned sawdust into her clean kitchen. That really ticked me off and I have never forgotten it. So, now when she asks me to make or do something that might require me to walk into the house, I tell her right up front that I will have to "track" dirt in because I'm not able to walk about it. Have any of you guys had any similar experiences? My wife is a "clean freak" and can't stand anything dusty, dirty or out of place. Sort of maddening at times.

I am somewhat ambidextrous so I am able to use my fence from either side. But, my preference is having the fence to the right side of the blade. My saw is a left tilt so the blade tilts away from the fence. I always try to keep the fence adjusted as you said and it has always worked out. The one thing that I do that many others don't do is.....I removed the guard(s). I don't believe in guards. I think folks put too much faith in them. Without a guard, I MUST think about what I'm doing and pay close attention. I also don't use the riving knife because it's a pain in the rear end. It would be really nice if the mfgrs. would make a riving knife that just snaps in place so that it can be easily removed/installed. In my case, it's held in place with two small bolts. So, it remains in the drawer of my toolbox. Along with the guard. Just my way of doing it.

Good luck. Should be no problem.

Now would be a great time to upgrade to the Pegas clamps. I just installed mine and what a difference. You can actually see where the blade goes. And they did help a lot with the vibration at different speeds. I didn't like the cost but it was an upgrade that is worth it. Good luck.

Thanks so much Tgiro. I have had that program for many years and only used it for photo viewing etc. Now, you have opened my eyes to a whole new world. I just messed around with it and it is so easy to change the colors of patterns. I also imported one of them into Inkscape and I think it is starting to become a bit more understandable. At 75 years young, I might just learn something new. Old dog new tricks.

Thank you so much for that tip. I have been using Irfanview for years but I never have messed with that setting. It makes things so much better.

I will give that all a try. Thanks for your help.

Thanks Brian. I have tried to do this with a scan that has more than one piece on it but I haven't been able to isolate each piece by itself. I know I must be doing something wrong but so far, I can't figure it out.

Intarsia was of interest to me until I realized how much sanding was involved.

Do any of you use a blade stiffener along side of your blades? I used to have one that I bought with my Forrest blade. It really did make the blade a lot more rigid. I'm trying to find one. I am using a very large washer right now.

But have you tried to do anything with them other than print and cut? I want to do some alterations to the patterns.

Oh how wonderful it would be to have more room than I need. I'd love to have the room to "sticker" my wood. I should not have ordered the wood so far in advance of working with it.

That's a great idea Kevin. I subscribe to the magazine but I have never taken any of the patterns out yet. I keep meaning to try some of them but so far they haven't tickled my fancy so to speak. No, what I"m having trouble with is scanning from one of the pattern books. This one is called Boxes, Bowls and Baskets. They don't have a pattern section in the middle. The patterns are on each different page or article. I have done one so far and I posted the pics of it. But, I had a heck of a time to get it to what I wanted. A couple of the folks here, including Travis tried working with the scans that I sent them. It seems that either my scanner wasn't doing it's job correctly or there were other problems. The one I'm working on now has two or three parts on one page and I scanned the page. Then, I tried to import it into Inkscape to be broken apart into the 3 pieces so I could work with them. It seems like it should have been simple but it proved not to be. I am going to try copying the whole page, cutting it apart with scissors and then scanning each individual piece. Maybe then I can import it and work with it. I want to be able to scale parts of it larger and then to change the color of the pattern lines to red for easier cutting. I am not one to give up on something until someone tells me that it's just impossible and I'm wasting my time. I just wish I knew these software pieces better. I would love to take a class but I've checked around and nobody is offering any. Now, If I wanted to BUY CorelDraw, I could take a class in that. I don't get it. What's the difference in teaching something that more people might be using that limiting it to only the programs that cost a bundle?

Thanks Dan. I just hate to cut it up but if I have to well, it's my book. This new laser printer I bought has a much better scanner too. I'm going to give it another try. I am also going to try what Crupeia suggested. I took some pics and I will try working with them.

Thanks Stoney. I'll have to do something like that. It's about 4 ft. long by 8 inches wide. It's not cupped too bad so I think I might be able to save it. I should have known to weight it down while storing it. But I am short of space so I just stood it up in the corner. Live and learn.

What exactly is it? More info please.

Pretty neat setup.