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Straight lining

10/30/14       
Dave Member

Has anyone had success straight lining with a table saw and material feeder. Right now we have to send out all of our material to be straight lined and am looking for a reasonable alternative besides a dedicated straight line rip saw.

10/30/14       #2: Straight lining ...
Brian T

Without the upper and lower rollers it will not work. I tried it years ago with a 4 roll feeder and double wide wheels on a table saw with no good results.

Your lumber supplier doesn't offer straight lining s4s or s3s.

A good jointer is typically a lot more affordable and space saving then a SLR.

10/30/14       #3: Straight lining ...
Geoff

A possible solution would be to use a shaper, off set fence, straight cutter and a power feed. I don't have a SLR saw and this is how I do it if I have a lot of bowed wood. Basically it is a sideways joiner with a power feed.

10/31/14       #4: Straight lining ...
Mark Elliott Member

Dave,

Before I got a SLR I used to straight line on my slider.

With a 10' slider you could get a glue line quality cut right off of the saw.

If you don't have one, it's another reason to help build a case to get one.

Mark

11/1/14       #5: Straight lining ...
Todd Scholl

We use our vertical panel saw.

11/2/14       #6: Straight lining ...
dustin orth

Website: http://customwoodmontrose.com

Make yourself a plywood T with the overall length the material you want to straightline. The T should be an even dimension so you can set you fence at ripped dimension plus jig width, the up or vertical piece is the stabilizer so the plywood doesn't sag. This actually creates an inverted T. The one that we had was 12' long and was replaced with a SLR. To use this set the board with the points against the jig and holding the jig, then proceed forward into the saw. This means you have to set the fence every time you need to cut a different width, bummer.
Another method would be a long plywood sled with a miter slot and a piece at the front the you bump into. I put some screws into the head piece to help hold the cut material from moving around. This method works well for material 8' or less unless you end join plywood or use some other material for the sled. Benefits of this way is you set your board onto the sled, line it up with the edge of the jig which is the blade cut line, hold the board down and cut the edge. I used this method for a while and liked this way better than the inverted T but the jig is quite large and requires your out feed table to have a miter slot the entire length and some sort of support going into the saw as well. Wish I had a video link for this but don't remember ever seeing one. Dustin

11/2/14       #7: Straight lining ...
Rob

Many years ago I made a sled to straight-line on my shaper, the guide groove in it was much longer than my unisaw. I took two 8 ft pieces of plywood a bit wider than the widest piece I needed to machine and joined them for a 16' sled. I attached a strip to engage the guide groove on the bottom, this is your reference so it has to be carefully aligned. The inside edge was trimmed so it would be right off the cutter to give a quick visual reference of stock removal. I then laminated a 36 grit strip of the floor sanding paper you can buy from rental centers. With the help of roller stands for support the board was placed on top and then fed into a Power feeder the sandpaper prevented the piece from moving resulting in a dead straight cut. I also climbed cut to prevent tearout. Slow but perfect results and easy to make. I don't know why this wouldn't work on a table saw, particularly if it has a large table.

11/3/14       #8: Straight lining ...
DAClark Member

Straight-lining is not the first consideration when parting-out random stock, and in many cases, it is not even necessary. A lot of good wood can be lost in the process.
I want to know what I am building first. If it is a set of frame and panel cabinet doors, I know I will need (x) stiles of a common length, and an equal number of rails of custom length, and a certain bd.ft. of material for the panels. I know my numbers.
As I cut to rough dimension for length, this is when I begin the selection process. I weed out the defects. I match colors and grains, choose cup up or down, and cutting a trim length and width of the chosen parts, loosely placing them on the bench or a pallet in juxtapositional order of assembly.
Once the parts are roughed out, stresses in the wood are relieved, and I begin the machining processes by passing the stiles and rails through the door pattern on the shaper. Each pass is a joining action, my part is straight. I use the shaper to cut a glue-line on the panel assemblies, another joining action.
With the straight-line as the first part of the process, many times the parts cannot be flip-flopped for the best selection. Know what you are cutting!! This process also produces a minimum of cut scrape if you're paying attention.
And think about it...if you cut 2" off any length of 8-12" wide board, what happens to your straight-line then? As I have learned, straight-lining a whole bunk of wood at once is busy work for factory workers, not woodworkers.

11/4/14       #10: Straight lining ...
Rob

"As I have learned, straight-lining a whole bunk of wood at once is busy work for factory workers, not woodworkers."

As this is a professional website, I think most here understand the difference between the need to straight-line a "bunk" of lumber for molding or shaping a run of random long lengths and getting out a cut list for a piece of furniture or millwork.

I mean no offense, but the lecture is unnecessary, not to mention off subject for this gentleman's post.

11/5/14       #11: Straight lining ...
doug mclaren  Member

i have used many methods but what works best for me is an eight foot long fence clamped both front and rear and a powerfeeder. cutting with bow away from fence/blade. i do also keep a 12 foot straight edge for occasional skill saw cuts when required. i m mainly ripping for mouldings or beams .

11/9/14       #12: Straight lining ...
chip geraghty

Website: http://chip-withthegrain.com

I own a helical head jointer and straight line (when needed) long lengths up to 16 ft with an auxiliary sled (a straight piece of poplar), which i wax with paste wax to reduce friction. Its quicker and more accurate than the (dangerous) jointer method. Simply set your feeder as you would to rip, and let the board overhang what you want trimmed...done safely in one pass.

12/7/14       #13: Straight lining ...
Larry

Not a current solution for Dave, But, 9 years ago I finally bit the bullet & bought a straight line rip. What a huge time saver it has been. I had no idea what it would do for me until I had one. With the correct blade, I get a great quality edge for direct gluing. One pass no matter how much needs to be removed. The laser shows me exactly where the blade will be cutting. Normal feed speed is 99'/min. My saw only has 15hp so I have to slow the feed a bit for 8/4. I have an Extrema and haven't had any problems. I'd never go back to not having one.


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