Poor man's chunker

Or maybe I should say poor craftsman’s chunker. I’ve thought about this for a while, and finally decided to see whether it would work, or whether it would try to kill me :slightly_smiling_face: :slightly_frowning_face:.

Sorry about the cluttered background. I wasn’t paying attention.
The saw is tilted slightly downward, with the guard locked to keep wood away from parts of the blade that are moving upward. You stand where the camera is, holding the wood with both hands on your side of the saw, and cut by sliding sticks up the base of the saw into the blade. It’s a little tricky keeping the angle between the wood and blade the same as you cut, to keep the blade from binding.

I’m still alive. It does work, but a few improvements are necessary. First, don’t use a blade with carbide tips missing, or that are missing their original edge. This is a family saw, which may have been used on concrete block :slightly_frowning_face:. The next version will have a fixed blade angle, with a narrow slot for the blade. The gap here is about 3/4 inch, say 2 cm. Chunks with a diameter smaller than that can get stuck between the base and the blade. This happened once, with no real problem. The foot switch works well, since you can step back, tap the switch, and stay away from the moving blade. The current blade guard will be replaced with a rigid fence, with something like a 2x6 on top covering the blade. This will form a U-shaped guard with a 2 inch/5 cm slot to slide the sticks into. Less blade exposed, and some protection from pieces flying in the operator’s direction. A chute below and to the right of the blade to fill a bag, bucket, or box would be a good idea also.

It’s noisy, a bit scary, and has limited capacity. On the positive side, it’s cheap, light, relatively easy to build, and reasonably fast, and cuts any length you want. An induction motor would be quieter and more durable, but heavier and more work. Suggestions are welcome, but if you just think I’m crazy, save your breath, I’ve already been told :slightly_smiling_face:

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I will give you some serious bonus points if you figure out how to incorporate the Steel wheels. :slight_smile:

be careful, that is essentially a not super well fastened table saw.

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