Infinity Throat Plate Decision Status

I said in the last post that I’d post my final conclusions about the Infinity Throat Plate, so here I am. But I can’t say for sure these are my final conclusions, so instead let’s just say that this is where my mind is, right now.

CDDS?

I’ve pretty-much decided that the triggering of the “Contact Detected During Standby” warning light pattern is a non-issue. It doesn’t appear to affect anything when actually running the saw, so I guess it doesn’t matter.

Quality

I really like how well the Infinity Throat Plate itself is made, and it fits extremely well in the saw’s throat. But I don’t like the fact that the replaceable inserts don’t match up perfectly with the top of the insert itself.

The above picture is a terrible example, because if anything, it makes it look like the replaceable insert is above the top of the throat plate, when in reality it’s slightly below the top of the throat plate.

But this is how the picture came out, and I don’t want to manufacture evidence, so you’ll just have to take my word for it.

In any case, when I have the throat plate aligned perfectly with the top of my saw, and I cut something narrow like a runner, the runner will hit the table at the rear of the insert. And while I can certainly raise the back end of the throat plate slightly, I shouldn’t have to.

Someone on the SawStop Users’ Group on Facebook may be making CNC versions of the insert, and I may check them out when he gets them ready.

Custom Insert Plates

I took a stab at creating my own insert plate out of plywood.

It fits absolutely perfectly, but the plywood’s not perfectly flat (there’s a slight twist in it), so I can’t get it perfectly level. I don’t have a planer or a jointer, so I can’t mill my own lumber.

So I don’t know if I’ll go with the custom plate or not.

I have a new heat stamp with my logo on order, and I’ll see how it looks.

SawStop Dado Insert Plate

It turns out that the best of the bunch is the SawStop TSI-DLD Dado Lock Down Insert Plate. Check out my article on how I cut the kerf.

This thing is absolutely perfect in the saw’s throat. If it weren’t $50 a pop (which doesn’t sound that bad until you consider I’ll have to buy more than one to handle all my kerf needs), it would be a no-brainer.

In the end, though, even at that price, it stands out as the best.

So what will I do?

I’m actually thinking of using all three. I think I’ll use the SawStop Dado insert most of the time. I’ll probably use the Infinity plate for dados. And I may use my custom plate for miter cuts.

However, if the new heat stamp works well, then I may use my custom plate regardless of how flat it is. I have some new Baltic Birch plywood, so it might be better.

Don’t you just love how decisive I can be? 🙄

Later.