Working with circular saws, especially the popular and widely used hand-held circular saw, is one of the most dangerous and accident-prone DIY jobs. Cut injuries to the arms and hands are particularly common.
For your safety:
- Read the operating instructions thoroughly and clarify all open questions calmly and until you have mastered the device safely with an expert. Practice using the device as often as necessary until you can safely handle the saw.
- The riving knife and safety hood are important protective devices. Do not dismantle them and, check them regularly for proper operation.
- Immediately replace cracked or deformed saw blades with intact copies.
- Use a hand broom or similar to remove chips; do not wipe with your hand or sleeve!
- Wear tight-fitting clothing. Wide sleeves or open gowns can easily get caught in moving machine parts.
- No gloves: It is best not to wear gloves when working on the circular saw, because a glove – and with it the whole hand – can be caught by the saw blade.
- Eyes: Protect your eyes best with safety glasses from flying wood or other materials.
- Nose: Wood dust can be harmful to health. Therefore, always use the exhaust devices provided on the machines. Wear a fine dust mask or face shield.
- Ears: Wear ear protection! Circular saws can develop a volume of up to 105 decibels (dB) A. For comparison, a jackhammer at a distance of seven meters emits 90 dB (A).
Work safely with the hand-held circular saw:
- Machines with a motor brake are not yet widespread, but a safety plus: the brake brings the saw blade to a halt shortly after switching off.
- The rigid riving knife behind the saw blade is indispensable! It prevents the cut from contracting again behind the machine, trapping the saw blade. If it is missing, the entire machine could be pushed out of the cut upwards (risk of kickback!).
- The pendulum hood (protective hood) must be and remain movable. It must completely cover the saw blade when idle and only swings back when the machine is in contact with the material. When cutting, only the cutting zone is released.
- Switch-on lock: prevents accidental switch-on.
- Look for a non-locking switch: when the switch is released, the machine also turns off automatically.
Work safely on the table saw:
- Make sure that the table is mounted firmly. At most, the saw blade with motor can be adjusted at an angle.
- After switching off, the saw blade runs for a maximum of ten seconds.
- The riving knife must be firmly seated and positioned exactly in the direction of alignment of the saw blade. It prevents workpieces from kicking back.
- The saw blade is braked via the braking device, which acts directly on the motor shaft and only becomes active after switching off.
- The cover hood over the saw blade (protection against accidental contact) is present and properly adjusted.
- Wood dust: Make sure that, for example, on the cover hood, an exhaust adapter is present, to which you can connect, by means of a flexible hose, a household vacuum cleaner or a general-purpose vacuum cleaner. Harmful wood dust can thus not be released during sawing.
- Use a push stick to guide the workpiece to the saw blade if the distance between the rip fence and the saw blade is less than 120 millimeters.
- Make sure that the part of the saw blade located below the table is secured against contact by a cover.
