Grr-Ripper pushblock?

[slaphitter]

Has anyone used this? I suppose it would be easy enough to build something like this from scrap, yes?

http://www.microjig.com/

[Sonny Edmonds]

Of course it would be easy to build your own.

I can tell you this right off, that guy in their picture is right in the line of fire if things get into a kick back. :o

Personally, I have a push stick and it is about all I use, unless I set-up my feeder and use it for repetitive operations (which is far more consistant than hand feeding anyday).
My jointer came with two "push blocks", but I rarely if ever use those either.

You could make yourself better definate purpose pushers with your imagination and use some shelf liner rubbery grip stuff for the pad.
BTW, I use that rubbery stuff for my bench when sanding pieces. The downdraft pulls the dust through it, and it holds pieces just fine from walking around or getting marked up.
Scotch 77 spray adhiesive will glue it down on your blocks.

Don't overlook the floats at the big box store. The ones for doing cement and grout work. with a little addition of a heal you can have a longo push block.
Just use your imagination... ;)

:D

[link:home.att.net/~paul.edmonds/|Sonny Edmonds ]
"Precision Firewood Specialist"
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[Keystone]

Sonny brought up a real good point about kick back with those. Using them for the most part requires that the splitter is removed. A rip cut with out a splitter isn't something that I am apt to do. Although they do feep your hands well above the blade, a kickback can happen so fast with so much force that the plastic won't do much to protect.

The Grriper works, but it's not for me.

[sbamberger]

I haven't used the Grr-ipper but I have been using the MJ splitter. Nice little device. I now leave it and my ZCI in the table basically all of the time -- rarely put the factory blade guard and splitter back on. I know it deprives me of the cover and anti-kickback pauls but the splitter I think contributes a lot to safety and I can cut small pieces and rip big plywood without worrying about behind-the-blade kickback.

I was thinking about adding the Grr-ipper because it seems like it would work well with the MJ Splitter. I agree that without the splitter the kick-back risk would be significant. If you're interested in their products I'd start with the splitter -- it's cheap and has worked well for me.

[scottspencer]

It took a little while to get used to passing my hands over the blade and standing in the kickback zone, but it works really well and should actually reduce some of the risk of kickback b/c of the control the Gripper adds to the piece. I agree that a short splitter is an excellent idea though. I've come to really like the Gripper alot and have found many uses for it in addition to the saw.


Scott

[Bob Hobbs]

I use the microjig splitter and Grippers and find they give me better control on smaller pieces. As the stock gets bigger, I shift more to featherboards. Of course, a lot of times I just use 2x6 blocks about 6-8 inches long as pushsticks and burn them when they get down to 2x4 size.

Sonny points out that you could get float pads and basically your first cut would give you a groove for the blade and when you had too many grooves, you could just toss or resurface your float pad?

The Gripper is adjustable and has the adjustable stability pad. I have burned a groove through one pad at 1/8" to cut 1/8" strips.

I'm using them on a 1-1/2 hp contractor saw and feel pretty safe with the Gripper--safer than I did before-- and much more in control.

--Bob