Today we're going to be setting the riving
knife
as always the very first thing you should
do before you do any maintenance with your
machine at all is unplug it
safety first
Now that our machine is unplugged and safe
first step take the plate off
Next need to lift the blade
When checking the riving knife what you want
to do is sight down the length of the blade
and you should be able to see if the riving
knife is sticking out to one side or the other
It's difficult to see on the video but the
riving knife is actually offset slightly to
the left of the blade.
Normally I just check these by eye but if
you don't trust your ability to eyeball things
you can use a ruler
The main reason we use a ruler as a straight
edge rather than a spirit level is because
we need to go between the teeth
Because the riving knife is the same thickness
as the steel of the blade not the carbide
tips
We have to be able to put our ruler against
the steel of the blade and avoid the carbide
If your ruler is up on the carbide tips you
won't get an accurate reading to the riving
knife
To adjust the riving knife you'll need an
allen key
The riving knife has two directions of alignment,
vertical and horizontal
Horizontal alignment is adjusted with these
two bolts
Vertical alignment is adjusted through this
set screw
We're going to start by adjusting the horizontal
alignment
Loosen off the two bolts
This is too loose You don't want it this loose
when you are adjusting it
What you want is for it to be just tight enough
that it will hold steady when you move it
With it loosened off like this all you need
to do is lay your ruler across the blade remembering
to keep it on the steel and align the riving
knife right up against the side of the ruler
then tighten the bolts
After you tighten it up check it again because
it does tend to move a little bit as you tighten
the bolts
Also remember to check both sides of the blade
Now that was made easier for me because of
the fact that my riving knife was correctly
aligned on the vertical axis
Because you don't know if your riving knife
is correctly aligned vertically you need to
check your horizontal alignment at the very
base
Once you're aligned horizontally you need
to check your vertical alignment
The way you check the vertical alignment is
by checking at the bottom and the top of the
blade
Mine is pretty well aligned at the bottom
but the top has quite a gap
Tightening the set screw moves the riving
knife to the right loosening it moves it to
the left
Because I need to go slightly to the right,
I'm going to tighten the set screw slightly
And that's it
Put your throat plate back on and your're
done
You're going to want to remember to check
the riving knife alignment every couple of
months maybe even more often
All it takes is a bad knock to the riving
knife and it will push it out of alignment
