Patent ID: 8695465

Claim:
An apparatus, comprising: a workpiece support arrangement; a saw blade arrangement including a circular saw blade having a diameter and being mounted for rotation in a cutting plane about an axis of rotation and movable along a horizontal linear axis of motion of the circular saw blade extending through the axis of rotation perpendicular to the axis of rotation and within the cutting plane for cutting a workpiece carried by the workpiece support arrangement and extending through the cutting plane along a workpiece axis extending through the cutting plane, with the circular saw blade also defining oppositely oriented first and second faces thereof joined by a cutting edge extending around a periphery of the circular saw blade, the circular saw blade further defining a working side thereof extending toward the workpiece axis along the axis of motion of the circular saw blade and a non-working side thereof extending oppositely from the workpiece axis along the axis of motion of the circular saw blade; a first blade stabilizer mounted to the workpiece support arrangement adjacent the workpiece axis in a fixed relationship to the workpiece axis and having a stabilizer contact element adapted to bear against the circular saw blade and exert a force against the circular saw blade in a direction substantially perpendicular to the cutting plane at a point on at least one of the circular saw blade faces proximate the axis of motion of the circular saw blade on the working side of the circular saw blade as the axis of rotation of the circular saw blade moves laterally along the axis of motion; further comprising, a secondary blade stabilizer mounted opposite the first blade stabilizer substantially along the axis of motion of the circular saw blade in a fixed relationship to the rotational axis of the circular saw blade and having one or more stabilizer contact elements adapted to bear against the circular saw blade and exert a force against the circular saw blade in a direction substantially perpendicular to the cutting plane at a point on at least one of the circular saw blade faces proximate the axis of motion of the circular saw blade on the non-working side of the circular saw blade as the axis of rotation of the circular saw blade moves along the axis of motion of the circular saw blade; and wherein the first blade stabilizer is linearly movable with the circular saw blade along the axis of motion of the circular saw blade and the second blade stabilizer is not linearly movable with the circular saw blade along the axis of motion.