: I had this problem ripping strips from a 17' board. 4 strips ripped fine and
: then this. I had the same problem torwards the end of a 9' board, but was
: able to cut the problem part off. The question is, whats causing this?
: There are no visible defects in the board, there are many a feather board
: being used as well as some blocks (not the ones in the picture, they're
: just there to keep the strip standing for the pic) to keep the board
: against the fence. When I saw it start, I continued to slowly feed the
: board while checking to make sure the board was flat on the table and
: fence (which it was). Im using a Freud Diablo thin kerf (.050) 7.5"
: blade. Best I can figure is that the thin blade is being pulled by grain?
: Any thoughts? Thanks in advance. -Ted

: BTW I've got 4 strips up on either side of my Guillemot (stapleless) and its
: looking like Im makin me a boat *yeehaa* (providing Isabel doesn't nail
: Annapolis)

IF... your fence and blade are parallel (check with 1/64" scale front and back of blade)
and you use a new ripping blade (24 teeth) and you've waxed your table and fence,

I'd say your problem is your feed tables. From your picture it looks like your infeed
roller is angled to roll the board AWAY from the blade. This would push the end of the board
away from the fence while you and your featherboards are pushing the board into the fence.
This would account for the wavy cut pattern you have, because a very small amount of force
at the ends of the board will take a great deal of force at the fence to overcome.

I use two infeed and outfeed roller trays (three roller per tray) on boards over 12'.

It is very important to set your feed rollers properly to ensure a uniform strip thickness.

Set your fence but lower the blade below the table surface. Place your board so the length
straddles the saw table and set-up your feed rollers to support the board ends. Adjust the hieght
of the feed rollers AND THEN angle the rollers so they will push the board SLIGHTLY against the fence.

If you have two more feed rollers place them further out to support the infeed and outfeed of the board.

Once you have the feed rollers set-up you should be able to run the whole board length from start (in front
of the blade) to finish (past the blade) and have the board continuously against the fence. Do this with the blade
down.

Once I have my board supported and guided by my feed rollers like this I only use on featherboard directly
over the blade and push my board through by hand.

Good Luck!

All the best,
Rob Macks
Laughing Loon CC&K
www.laughingloon.com