Armed with the width and depth
dimensions, Jessica can used the combined measurement to locate the best
grain pattern on this large piece of mahogany.
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Designing a box so that the grain seems
to wrap around all four corners takes a little getting use to. The
illustration at the left is one that I created to illustrate the method when
I first used it years ago,
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Now, back
with Jessica as she cleans some packing oil from a brand new Panther Rip
Blade.
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She installs
the Panther blade. You can see that the TS 75 has the new feature of quicker
and safer blade change. She simply depressed the handle at the same time as
pulling on the green handle and the shaft locks and the blade is
exposed all the way.
It makes blade changing so much quicker and safer. Note that she
has still removed the power cord from the saw. It just makes sense to be
doubly safe.
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Now, she can use the Allen wrench which
is stored in the saw's base to loosen the arbor nut — an easy job with the
shaft locked.
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Jessica will install the "Panther" rip
blade for the next cuts.
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Jessica connects the dust
extraction hose to the saw outlet. The new saw has a swivel connector that
makes this much easier.
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Now, she connects to the power cord via
the new quick connect plug. Since she is using the new boom, it is a
real convenience to be able to use these quick connects power and dust
extraction and simply change only the machine, i.e. saw, sander, router,
etc. It is a great system approach.
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She uses a speed square to position the
short rail and makes the crosscut. And yes, she is making this cut with the
Panther blade on. It works fine but doesn't give as fine a cross cut as we would
want for our usual cabinet making.
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We have quite a bit more sawing to do
but Jessica and I decide that spending a few minutes smoothing over the
rough hewn wood, would make grain selection much easier.
She is using the new Festool Rotex 150 with 50 grit paper. It
doesn't take long to smooth over all the sides. This is a prime example
where changing just the power cord and dust extraction hose on the boom
makes "presto-chango" so very quick.
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This closer view may give
you a better idea of the smooth surface vs. the rough hewned at the left.
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