Panasonic EY3551 - Manual (Page 5)

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WARNING
To reduce the risk of injury, user must read
instruction manual.
Safety Instructions for
All Saws
DANGER
• Keep hands away from cutting area and
the blade. Keep your second hand on
auxiliary handle, or motor housing. If both
hands are holding the saw, they cannot be
cut by the blade.
• Do not reach underneath the workpiece.
The guard cannot protect you from the
blade below the workpiece.
• Adjust the cutting depth to the thickness of
the workpiece. Less than a full tooth of the blade
teeth should be visible below the workpiece.
• Never hold piece being cut in your hands
or across your leg. Secure the workpiece
to a stable platform. It is important to sup-
port the work properly to minimize body
exposure, blade binding, or loss of control.
• Hold power tool by insulated gripping
surfaces when performing an operation
where the cutting tool may contact hidden
wiring or its own cord. Contact with a “live”
wire will also make exposed metal parts of
the power tool “live” and shock the operator.
• When ripping always use a rip fence or
straight edge guide. This improves the
accuracy of cut and reduces the chance of
blade binding.
• Always use blades with correct size and
shape (diamond versus round) of arbour
holes. Blades that do not match the mount-
ing hardware of the saw will run eccentri-
cally, causing loss of control.
• Never use damaged or incorrect blade
washers or bolt. The blade washers and bolt
were specially designed for your saw, for opti-
mum performance and safety of operation.
Further Safety Instruc-
tions for All Saws
Causes and operator prevention of kickback:
- kickback is a sudden reaction to a pinched,
bound or misaligned saw blade, causing an
uncontrolled saw to lift up and out of the work-
piece toward the operator;
- when the blade is pinched or bound tightly
by the kerf closing down, the blade stalls and
the motor reaction drives the unit rapidly back
toward the operator;
- if the blade becomes twisted or misaligned
in the cut, the teeth at the back edge of the
blade can dig into the top surface of the wood
causing the blade to climb out of the kerf and
jump back toward the operator.
Kickback is the result of saw misuse and/or incor-
rect operating procedures or conditions and can
be avoided by taking proper precautions as given
below.
1) Maintain a firm grip with both hands on the
saw and position your arms to resist kick-
back forces. Position your body to either side
of the blade, but not in line with the blade.
Kickback could cause the saw to jump back-
wards, but kickback forces can be controlled
by the operator, if proper precautions are
taken.
2) When blade is binding, or when interrupt-
ing a cut for any reason, release the trig-
ger and hold the saw motionless in the
material until the blade comes to a com-
plete stop. Never attempt to remove the
saw from the work or pull the saw back-
ward while the blade is in motion or kick-
back may occur.
Investigate and take corrective actions to elim-
inate the cause of blade binding.
3) When restarting a saw in the workpiece,
center the saw blade in the kerf and check
that saw teeth are not engaged into the
material.
If saw blade is binding, it may walk up or kickback
from the workpiece as the saw is restarted.
4) Support large panels to minimize the risk
of blade pinching and kickback.
Large panels tend to sag under their own
weight. Supports must be placed under the
panel on both sides, near the line of cut and
near the edge of the panel.
5) Do not use dull or damaged blades.
Unsharpened or improperly set blades pro-
duce narrow kerf causing excessive friction,
blade binding and kickback.