I awoke this morning to find rain on the ground outside. It looked as though the forecasters were right and, as a consequence, I was concerned that I might not have been able to rip my boards down today. There’s limited space inside my workshop to even use a table saw, let alone to store the Scheppach TKU I’ve had since September. Setting up outside would also allow the (lack of) dust extraction to have the best chance of not leaving my workshop in a mess…
Ripping on the Scheppach TKU
By the time I got dressed and got outside, the rain appeared to have passed. Just in case, I decided to keep my setup close to the garage door, which could at least provide some shelter to the electrical components.
Next step: Planing.
(Yes, the extension table came in handy!)
I ended up with a neat stack of boards sawn approximately 5mm wider than they need to be and each was perfectly straight and with pretty square edges. I was impressed by the 32-tooth ripping blade I used (from Wealden Tools) but I had to take it very carefully with this saw… On no fewer than FIVE occasions, I managed to stall the motor without even trying! There was no binding and the riving knife did its job. I had to reset the trip-switch on my extension lead each and I suspect there may be some kind of electrical fault.
When I first started the saw, I hit the green button and it buzzed but barely moved. This is often an indicator of a ‘worn’ capacitor and, if that’s the case then, I’ll be happy to try and replace it because they are only cheap. I had to spin the blade (using a push-stick) before switching it on so that it had the momentum to run up to full speed. It sounds sweet though; a true induction motor. I don’t plan to keep this saw for too long due to space issues so, I’m also reluctant to throw any large amounts of money at it.
My latest offcuts from a second morning’s work!
I also created a new selection of offcuts to complement the larger ones I produced yesterday! I’ll also point out that the timber I’ve so far is just for the five boards at 400 x 300mm. With that, I still need to cut some more material some time for two smaller boards at 300 x 200mm. Perhaps I’ll wait until I’ve fitted a new capacitor for that one. There is only so much wood that I can work with at one time!
Sweeping Time!
There was so much sweeping up to do at the end of this ripping session that I decided to give my workshop floor a long overdue clean at the same time, while the saw was sat outside.
At least it smelled nice with all that walnut…
That large mound of dust contains everything that fell beneath the saw. My timber for this job so far is now in-stick, on my workbench until the weekend. It looks like more rain is forecast until Sunday so, I should have some time to get as far as completing the first sequence of glue-ups.
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