Use And Care Manual

Page 6
SAFETY INSTRUCTIONS
SAFETY INSTRUCTIONS FOR ALL
SAWS
CUTTING PROCEDURES
DANGER:
Keep hands away from
cutting area and the blade. Keep your
second hand on auxiliary handle, or motor
housing. If both hands are holding the saw,
they cannot be cut by the blade.
1. Do not reach underneath the workpiece.
The guard cannot protect you from the blade
below the workpiece.
2. Adjust the cutting depth to the
thickness of the workpiece. Less than a
full tooth of the blade teeth should be visible
below the workpiece.
3. Never hold the workpiece in your hands
or across your leg while cutting. Secure
the workpiece to a stable platform. It is
important to support the work properly to
minimize body exposure, blade binding, or
loss of control.
4. Hold the power tool by insulated
gripping surfaces, when performing an
operation where the cutting tool may
contact hidden wiring or its own cord.
Contact with a “live” wire will also make
exposed metal parts of the power tool “live”
and could give the operator an electric shock.
5. When ripping, always use a rip fence
or straight edge guide. This improves the
accuracy of cut and reduces the chance of
blade binding.
6. Always use blades with correct size
and shape (diamond versus round) of arbor
holes. Blades that do not match the mounting
hardware of the saw will run off-center,
causing loss of control.
7. Never use damaged or incorrect blade
washers or bolt. The blade washers and
bolt were specially designed for your saw,
for optimum performance and safety of
operation.
FURTHER SAFETY INSTRUC-
TIONS FOR ALL SAWS
KICKBACK CAUSES AND
RELATED WARNINGS
- Kickback is a sudden reaction to a pinched,
jammed or misaligned saw blade, causing
an uncontrolled saw to lift up and out of the
workpiece toward the operator;
When the blade is pinched or jammed
tightly by the kerf closing down, the blade
stalls and the motor reaction drives the unit
rapidly back toward the operator;
If the blade becomes twisted or misaligned
in the cut, the teeth at the back edge of the
blade can dig into the top surface of the
wood causing the blade to climb out of the
kerf and jump back toward the operator.
Kickback is the result of saw misuse and/
or incorrect operating procedures or
conditions and can be avoided by taking
proper precautions as given below.
1. Maintain a firm grip with both hands on
the saw and position your arms to resist
kickback forces. Position your body to
either side of the blade, but not in line with
the blade. Kickback could cause the saw
to jump backwards, but kickback forces
can be controlled by the operator, if proper
precautions are taken.
2. When blade is binding, or when
interrupting a cut for any reason, release
the trigger and hold the saw motionless
in the material until the blade comes to a
complete stop. Never attempt to remove
the saw from the work or pull the saw
backward while the blade is in motion or
kickback may occur. Investigate and take
corrective actions to eliminate the cause of
blade binding.
3. When restarting a saw in the workpiece,
center the saw blade in the kerf so that
the saw teeth are not engaged into the
material. If a saw blade binds, it may walk
up or kickback from the workpiece as the
saw is restarted.
4. Support large panels to minimize the
risk of blade pinching and kickback. Large
panels tend to sag under their own weight.
Supports must be placed under the panel on
both sides, near the line of cut and near the
edge of the panel.
5. Do not use dull or damaged blades.
Unsharpened or improperly set blades
produce narrow kerf causing excessive
friction, blade binding and kickback.