Fantastic video, thank you. An adjusting screw on the side would help ensure a tight fit. The ones sold by colliflower have that adjusting screw. Looks like I'm off to the work shop this afternoon
Your suggestion for using the sled is a good one. My previous ZCIs were made from MDF, with a fair bit of routing to make space for the various fit points to the saw. No screws; just blue tape for shimming to fit.
Great video, very helpful! One suggestion I would have is to route a 1/4" wide by 1/4" deep recess in the bottom surface of the insert, centered side to side on the blade and maybe 4 or 5 inches long centered front to back on the apex of the blade (or create a similar pocket by drilling a series of overlapping 1/4" deep holes with a 1/2" Forstner bit). This should allow cutting the slot with a 10" blade instead of starting it first with an 8" blade, which requires having a dado brake for the Sawstop (which I do) and in my case, a thin kerf 8" blade (which I do not).
Could you flip it upside down, fore and aft, keep the blade slot above the blade and raise the blade to cut the rest of the slot, eliminating the need for the router?
Steve, Great video. Why did you not remove the flat head screws in the insert support rather than make a drilled insert in the bottom of the insert. Seems as if the set screws would provide the needed leveling.
Great info . Just ordered a SawStop and was wondering if it was possible to diy an insert instead of buying one. I'll be doing this for sure! Hey ..we are woodworkers and should be able to cut some wood ourselves.
Full agreement with “we are woodworkers and should be able to cut some wood ourselves”. I don’t like to buy any jig or fixture if I can make one that is just as good, and often better. Saves a lot of money and good learning experience in the process. For years, I wanted to buy a tenon jig for table saw, but the modern ones seemed flimsy and had some poor reviews, while the old heavy cast Delta ones where expensive in the second hand market, and high shipping cost for such a heavy item. In discussion groups people said that a shop made tenon jig was not rigid enough to do a good job in cutting tenons. Finally I decided to build one and I really like it. Here it is ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-d19Q_ireVZw.html
For angled cuts, I use the original red SawStop insert. Making a wooden insert for angled cuts presents some challenges: the blade could be raised, through the insert, while the blade is set to an angle; the slot for riving knife would also need to be cut at the same angle, perhaps with a Japanese style pull hand saw; finally the blade angle would be matched to the insert, such as 45 degrees, so you would need an insert for each common angle.
@@steven.woodward I see what you mean.. Thanks.. I was operating under the mistaken idea that my PCS is like my old craftsman where the blade would change it's actual track when the angle was changed until I walked out this morning and checked it. Right up until this morning I had been completely avoiding angled cuts for that very reason.. Silly notion, huh? Well, this was a relief.. I'll probably now start making several blanks for various tasks. My old craftsman was a motorized version with the squared ends on one end so finding a material that didn't flex a lot was to put it mildly, challenging as hell.. That's a week or two of researching I'll never get back..
The blade guards that replace the riving knife will not work because the slot in the insert would have to be extended to the end of the insert, which would make it too weak. Thanks for asking this question. I will add a note to the text under the video.
