Using a Magnetic Stop Block on Your Table Saw

Let me show you a great way you can set up a temporary stop block, right on the table of your table saw. All you need is a magnet. Now, let me walk you through the procedure here. The first thing we wanna know is back here on the table where the position of the saw blade is. So this is very simple. I'm gonna put a straight edge alongside the blade, got the saw unplugged, I'm gonna be doing my cutting on the left, so I have the straight edge on the left. Using a felt-tip, I'm gonna make a line on the table, what that line does is it basically extends the line of the saw blade, so that I can take measurements over here on this side of the machine. Now, what I need to do is position this magnet relative to the line at the length I wanna make my crosscut. This magnet is something, I don't know what it's from, I got it at a industrial surplus store, what I do know is that it's got quite a bit of oomph to it. Once I set it down it's got a pretty good bite. So I've set my position here with my ruler, now that felt-tip line has got a little width to it, a little body to it, so I'm measuring to the right side of the line, cause that's closest to the blade, sneaking the magnet over, until it touches the end of my ruler, get that dialed in. Now what I would wanna do is make a test cut before I do the real thing. This magnet works pretty well, let me show you something that's really cool. If I take that one off. This magnet is specifically made for jigs and applications likes this. The way it works is, they're a pair of rare earth magnets inside here, there's a switch on the top that aligns or unaligns the polarity of those two rare earth magnets, so right there that switch is in an off position, when I turn that, now it's in an on position, it's got the polarity aligned which increases the magnetic power of this thing so it really gives it a significant bite down here onto the cast iron table. So I can turn this off, come back, I'll just do the setup the exact same way. Measuring from the edge of the line, to my magnet. Lock that. Check my setting. All right, now we're ready for a test cut. I can plug the saw in. And then I can actually do a test cut, check my piece, make sure my setup here is giving me what I want. Now, I just wanna check my work. Make sure that that magnet position is giving me the length I need, if it is, you're ready to go ahead and stack your wood against that material, against that magnet, make as many cuts as you need, very, very, very easy way to set up a temporary stop block on your saw.