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Hammer K3 – saw blade zero clearance insert



The K3 has an excellent sliding table, but one aspect that frustrated me early on was the wide-ish gap between the blade and the slider. Inevitably, when removing a couple of millimetres of waste when ripping against the rip fence, the waste would shoot down the gap and lodge in the waste shoot, or stick up and interfere with sawing.


The original blade insert is below, alongside a replacement insert for a dado blade …





I attempted to use the dado insert to create a zero clearance insert (ZCI) in the traditional manner: lower the blade, screw in the full insert, start the saw, and raise the blade up and through the insert. Clearance for the riving knife is created by continuing the slot with a jigsaw.


You can see this below …


The problem with this solution is that the outer section of plastic is fragile. It will vibrate with the saw blade, and then it shatters when making contact.


It occurred to me that a repair to the broken ZCI could be not just a fix, but also a durable solution.


The fix is to add a strip of 3mm thick aluminium to the side of the insert. This is attached with tapped holes and screwed on …




The reason for using a 20mm wide section than something narrower is that it was stiffer and less likely to vibrate.





Here is the result …







This has been on my saw for the past 2 years.


Regards from Perth


Derek


October 2020