Jack,



In my experience I do believe the blade does deflect on my Chopper 2. There
is too much play where the lever pivots on its axle. I intend (someday, I
need to get one of them "round to its") to replace the axle with a much
longer rod to which I will permanently affix the lever so the whole assembly
is "welded" together as one piece. Then I will have to install bearing
blocks, probably four, two on each side of the lever for the purpose of
keeping the lever and the blade in the lever perfectly vertical.



I do not mean to say that the item being cut is not also flexing but I do
feel that all possible movement of the lever as regards it being
perpendicular to the base must be eliminated.



When I get a "round to it" I'll report on the results.



John Hagen



From: STMFC@... [mailto:STMFC@...] On Behalf Of Jack
Burgess
Sent: Tuesday, October 16, 2012 9:14 AM
To: STMFC@...
Subject: RE: [STMFC] Straight Cuts using a NWSL Chopper




I don't think that the blade is deflecting but that the thin styrene is
flexing. Think of the problem of cutting some HO 1x8s held vertically...as
the blade starts to cut, the strip flexes, resulting in a bad cut.

I'd cut with the base of the channel down (like I'd assuming that you're
doing) but with a piece of stripwood shoved into the space between the webs
to support the webs. You might need to glue a couple of pieces of stripwood
together to fit tightly or sand a thicker one. You could also put a larger
(such as an 8x8) piece of stripwood up against the fence of the chopper and
another on the outside of the channel and hold the combination tightly
together as you make your cut...the pieces of 8x8 stripwood would then
support both the outsides and insides of the channel webs. The combination
would keep the webs from flexing as you make your cut. I'd first try to make
a cut with the stripwood (outside supports and the piece inside) just short
of where you need to cut. If that supports the channel enough, then you
would be needlessly cutting the pieces of stripwood with each cut. If that
doesn't work and the channel is still flexing, then move the stripwood
pieces forward enough so that just the minimum stripwood is cut with each
chop.

Make sense?

Jack Burgess
Newark, CA