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In this video, I want to give you a tour of basic table saw parts
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And we'll start with the top. In this case, it's made of cast iron, which is a very common material for table saw tops
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Smaller table saws, bench top styles, will have an aluminum top. And occasionally, you'll see a very cheap table saw with a pressed steel top
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But cast iron is the material of choice. And you'll often see slots in table top
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This is called a miter slot because a tool called a miter gauge fits in
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And it gets that name because it can cut wood at different angles, presumably for miter joints
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Another main part of any table saw is the fence. This slides back and forth and locks in position for doing straight cuts
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Generally called rip cuts, although that's a bit of a misnomer, as I'll explain later
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And of course, every table saw has a blade. I've got this saw unplugged so I can touch the blade
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Never touch the blade when the saw is plugged in. This is a fine-tooth cross-cutting blade
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And if you remove this part here, called the throat plate, you can see how the blade spins on a shaft
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And here this shaft is called an arbor shaft. And there's a nut on there that holds the blade to the shaft
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Every saw will also have an on-off switch. This one here is handy, nice to use
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It's very easy to shut off because of the big red paddle
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Cabinet saws like this often have a magnetic switch, which will automatically drop out and shut the power off and leave it off in an intermittent power failure
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And it won't come back on unless you press the button again, the start button
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Cheaper saws, bench top saws, just have a regular on-off switch. So it's a bit of a different style
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Table saws also always have some mechanism for, in this case, raising and lowering the blade
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And that's what you see here. I'm raising the blade now. That's as high as it goes
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And then I'm lowering it as well. The central knob locks the control in position so it doesn't change
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On the side, you'll see another wheel. And this is for controlling the angle of the blade
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So normally, most cuts are done with the blade at 90 degrees to the table
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But you can tilt them over as far as 45 degrees for bevel cutting
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Some smaller bench top saws don't have a wheel for this. They have a lever
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But it's the same idea. All modern table saws can have their blade raised and lowered and changed angle as well
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Now, a couple of words about safety equipment here. I always use safety glasses, hearing protection
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And this is a push stick. You'll see this in action later
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For when you're cutting wood with the fence narrower than the width of your hand
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That's a good rule of thumb. You'll want to use a push stick for that. There's also a blade guard which snaps into place
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You'll be seeing that in action later. I've left it off now so you can see what's going on
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One other feature to consider, and it wasn't always the case, but nowadays, almost all table saws are meant to take dust collection
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This dust is a hassle. It's a health issue. This saw is connected to this dust collector with flex hose
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I've left the back cover of this saw off. So I want to show you how it works
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Come on around here. And you'll see that the entire cabinet is normally sealed
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I've taken the cover off. But the dust will fall off the blade here and fall onto that sloped floor that's on the bottom
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And at the bottom of the sloped floor is the vacuum outlet down inside
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So most of the dust gets collected that way. You will find dust builds up in nooks and crannies
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So regular cleaning maintenance is a good thing to do. But that's it in a nutshell
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This is the parts of the table saw
