JessEm guide

Re: JessEm guide

I have it, Eliot. It works very well on both the Hammer K3 slider rip fence, as well as the router table fence.

These guide work as a hold down (which prevents the work piece moving backward), and also to steer the work piece against the fence using angled wheels.

Regards from Perth

Derek

Re: JessEm guide

Thanks, Derek. Mine should arrive tomorrow. I've always done fine with my so-called finger saver that rides along a track on top of my fence along with various feather boards. But I thought for added safety I would spring for this JessEm. I was a little worried about how I would rip narrow boards with it, but that's not such a good idea anyway. I discussed it all with the Lee Valley rep. I pointed out to him that I thought this JessEm would actually be most appropriate for dealing with large sheet goods. He didn't really follow what I was getting at. But so be it. I believe I will be happy with it, and Lee Valley offers a no cost 90 day return, should I feel differently after using it for a bit.

Re: JessEm guide

Agree with D. Cohen's comment about table saw use.

Re: JessEm guide

Thanks, Derek. Mine should arrive tomorrow. I've always done fine with my so-called finger saver that rides along a track on top of my fence along with various feather boards. But I thought for added safety I would spring for this JessEm. I was a little worried about how I would rip narrow boards with it, but that's not such a good idea anyway. I discussed it all with the Lee Valley rep. I pointed out to him that I thought this JessEm would actually be most appropriate for dealing with large sheet goods. He didn't really follow what I was getting at. But so be it. I believe I will be happy with it, and Lee Valley offers a no cost 90 day return, should I feel differently after using it for a bit.

Hi Eliot

The strength of ripping with the JessEm guides is that they force the board to hug the rip fence. This enables straight rip cuts as the board will not wander from the fence. While this may work well with panels, it also work very well with narrow stock.

The main difficulty in ripping narrow boards to that the wheels get in the way of a push stick. What I use is a 3/8" dowel stick with a rubber disk at on end. This is slim enough to work around the wheels. The rod is stored inside the rip fence extrusion ...

You can see here that a narrow board has been ripped. 

Regards from Perth

Derek

Re: JessEm guide

I have a Ripstrate that I've used since the 1970's that uses the principle of the angled wheels with down pressure, the main difference being the distance between the wheels.  The Ripstrate wheel alxes are only about 6 inches apart.  It has always been satisfactory in ripping narrow boards as well as the sheet goods.  I've always recommended it. I use a 3/4 inch square stick as my push rod but there are plenty of saw marks in the business end of it.

a couple of thoughts

I don't usually like to spend so much on what I thought was mostly a safety feature. I never had any problems for many years with kickback when using my old finger saver with various feather boards. But the real benefit (along with excellent kickback reduction)  is a superior  cut. This devise holds the far end of the board very tightly against the fence. That, in my opinion, is the real benefit. Feather boards hold the near part of the blade tight against the fence, but they really can't do it perfectly at the far end.(And, of course, you don't dare use them beyond the blade!) I definitely see better cuts with this device in place. It's incredible!

I hated the thing at first because it got in the way of the ordinary push stick for narrow boards. But (as Derek shows) that is  easily overcome and turns out not to be a problem at all.

And it is indeed more or less impossible to get a kickback unless you do something really careless.

There is one thing that is very important when using it -- and I didn't see that the instructions showed this -- is that you have to set height of the rollers NOT with the rollers touching the board -- but with the roller HOLDER  touching the board. So the rollers go a bit further down toward the TS surface, THEN you get really firm pressure against the board. I watched a video by someone with an otherwise very advanced TS set up do it with the rollers only touching the board. I believe he actually had it wrong. Well, not wrong, but not getting the most benefit from the jig.

Re: a couple of thoughts

Correct all round, Eliot. 

A rip using the JessEm is cleaner and straighter owing to the board being held against the fence and not being able to deviate.

Set the wheels with light pressure (using the holder), otherwise you will make it harder to push, as well as wear out the wheels.

Regards from Perth

Derek

Re: a couple of thoughts

I was trying to distinguish between adjusting the pressure by setting the wheel holder against the stock, which I believe is the right way to do it, as compared to just touching the wheels themselves  against the stock, which I found to be insufficient pressure. The difference is the thickness of the tires on the wheels. Derek, do you believe I've got it wrong?

Re: a couple of thoughts

Eliot, you are doing it correctly. What I meant by “light pressure” is that you allow the wheel holder to rest on the work piece, and do not push it downward (so increasing pressure). Try it with- and without downforce and you will understand what I mean.

I have a slider, and the cleanest ripping is done on the wagon. In this situation, the work piece is captured  before moving past the blade. When the rip fence is used, the JessEm does something similar, that is, it captures the work piece against the fence. This is why I recommend it.

Regards from Perth

Derek

Re: a couple of thoughts

OK. Great. I believe we we are on the  same page. I have been getting wonderful results, and I am really happy with this addition to my table saw set up. I use a Forrest Woodworker II blade and the cut is good enough right off the TS for anything I want. Hand planning makes it even better.

One thing I would like to mention to others is that on narrow stock with the thin push stick, one should still be very careful not to get careless and let the stick hit the blade. Things a a bit tight in there!

Re: a couple of thoughts

The instructions sheet does explain how the guides should be set, not using the rollers but the arms/guides. 

Re: JessEm guide

Derek... your router guides appear to be the model 4215. Did you look at the model 4250?

Re: JessEm guide

Pat, I did not even know that there was a model 4250. I looked it up ... weird looking

Is this the one?

Regards from Perth

Derek

Re: JessEm guide

No... this is the 4250 on Jessem site.

Re: JessEm guide

Ah ha .. I see. It is a new product. It was not available when I purchased mine. Not sure what the advantages of the new one over the original ones are.

Regards from Perth

Derek

Re: a couple of thoughts

I must missed that, but I saw some video where it was done right. I do it always with the guide. Funny, but when actually talking to a rep from JessEm, he didn't think setting the roller down on the work piece was so bad --  provided you do it with sufficient force to depress the rollers somewhat. He seemed to be saying that such an approach was more or less somewhere in between going down to the guide and just using the rollers. I actually don't agree with him and feel that not going all the way down to the guide would defeat the whole purpose of the tool.

Re: a couple of thoughts

You ever wonder if everybody else is on vacation??

Re: JessEm guide

Just got mine installed this morning. I had been cutting lengthwise 45's on boards with featherboards where possible and just manual control. Experimented with fence on right and left of blade but wasn't happy with results. The Jessem stock guide made all the difference in the world. Making the same cuts now takes almost no effort and way less stress. I did have to modify the mounting screws as they were too long to tighten the rail to the t-slot on the top of the fence.

Re: JessEm guide

Great to see this Pat. 

It is very telling that you can saw mitres with the fence on the right and a right-leaning blade. Generally this is a no-no, with fears of work being trapped between blade and fence, leading to kick back. However, the very strength of the JessEm is to hold the work piece against the fence, which it does with an iron first. The work piece cannot skew into the blade unless the fence is angled into the blade (which it should not be).

Regards from Perth

Derek