Adjusted the fence last night...

[Puckdropper]

It took less than half an hour to diagnose and fix a minor alignment issue with my table saw. The combination square indicated the blade was parallel to the miter slow, and the fence was out slightly.

The initial sign of trouble was that the rising teeth would throw up quite a bit of sawdust. If I stopped pushing the wood through, there would be a circular "rainbow" left where the blade was.

After adjusting the fence the cuts are much smoother, the rising teeth aren't throwing up as much sawdust, and there's no more unwanted "rainbow" effects. The difference is like going from an ok blade to a good one.

Why did I wait so long?

Puckdropper

[eclipsme]

Yes, it truly makes a big difference having your tools tuned up. I was away from woodwoorking for many years. Though I had my tools, they were in storage. Then, with a new house came a new shop.

I began setting up my tools, a PowerMatic table saw among them. I began alligning it, and took great pains to get the slot parallel to the blade, and the fence parallel to the slot, and thus to the blade.

A week later, I was ripping a small piece of plywood and the rising tooth caught the edge closest to the fence and flung the plywood into my belly. dropping me to the floor. Bruising, but no internals damaged, luckily.

I say this all to point out that, IMHO, the fence should not be absolutely parallel to the slot/blade, but should veer away from the blade by a few thousandths of an inch so as to relieve the possible binding described above.

ER visits are expensive!

Harvey

[Steve Turner]

Then, with a new

alligning it, and

to the slot,

caught the edge

parallel to the

Better yet, install a good splitter or riving knife.

[RicodJour]

e. Then, with a new

alligning it, and

arallel to the slot,

th caught the edge

ely parallel to the

an inch so as to

And a hold down. The smaller the piece the more attention to restraining movement on cut piece and off-cut. The ol' F=3DMA shows up on those small pieces, and small pieces tend to enter you instead of bruising or breaking.

R

[Doug Miller]

In article , eclipsme wrote: [...]

Were you using a splitter?

[mdavenport]

with great humility and humbleness, for myself, I have to disagree...

...If for no other reason that the fact that I work on BOTH sides of the blade, so that means that if I kick the back of the fence out by .003" on the right side of the blade, that puts me at double that if I'm on the LEFT side.

I firmly believe that by setting the fence with NO induced variation and then followed by using the correct riving knife/splitter/hold downs is the proper way to handle a fence on a table saw.

Your mileage will vary....side effects include lots of bad things like your willy may fall off and you may go bald...in areas that you don't WANT to be bald.

Luck

Mike

[CW]

Where did the "double" come from? Are the faces not parallel to each other? That's actually a rhetorical question as I know they are not.

Parallel is the way to go. That and a Gripper have worked for me for a long time.

[Brian Grella]

"The combination square indicated the blade was parallel..."

Oy vey.

[mdavenport]

The double comes from the faces of my fence are parallel...as are any I've ever used....granted, that would actually only be 3 others, but that makes for 4 and when you get down to it, that's enough for me...which means that if you move the fence OUT of parallel by 3 thou to the right and your fence is ON the right, the outfeed end will be further away then the infeed end.

If you then move the fence to the other side of the blade and make adjustments, it will be three thou CLOSER to the outfeed as compared to the infeed.

SO....you have positive 3 on the right and negative 3 on the left.....that makes for a total of 6 thou difference

[CW]

No, it doesn't. Think about it.

[mdavenport]

I have....it does....YOU think about it....

....draw it up sometime....

....if the fence is skewed to one side by one degree to the right when it's on the right side of the blade, that will put the end of the fence farther away by X amount...

...move the fence to the left side of the blade but leave the skewing the same, it'll be CLOSER to the blade by the same amount....in effect doubling the difference.

What that gives me is 3 thou or so of EXTRA space between the saw blade and the fence on the right side....

....then when I go to the left, there is 3 thou of interference....

...for a total difference of....SIX thou which is double

Feel free to draw it up sometime

[CW]

1 degree either way.

[Leon]

Snip

Can't agree with that statement, while to some the thought of the fence veering away from the blade to create "some" clearance between the fence,work, and blade this pulls danger out of the right pocket and puts it in the left pocket.

The work tracking away from the right back side of the blade also causes the wood to track into the blade on the opposite side.

Use a splitter to and a parallel fence for best and safest results.

[Leon]

Keep in mind that when you move the fence to the other side of the blade you are no longer using it on the right side. Basically the error does not double in use because you are not using the fence on both sides at the same time. The total amount of error is the same on both sides providing both sides of the fence are parallel.

[-MIKE-]

At least a couple fence manufacturers suggest the set-up technique of having the outboard end on the fence a couple thousandths out.

I don't know if I agree with it or not. I think a splitter does the most to stop kickback.

[Neil Brooks]

Enjoy your "new table saw" !

Some people -- when they lay out the steps for a new project -- include "setting up all the machines," (saws and jointer, for me, primarily) before they begin.

I don't do it *nearly* so often, but ... I think of setup as I think of oil changes, and probably with the same frequency.

Like everything else, once you're in the habit, it only takes a few minutes with a good square (combination, machinist's, or other) to be sure that everything is square and parallel, as it ought to be.

On the bandsaw, for example, the square checks take ... like a minute, and -- almost always -- checking bearing clearance is a lightning fast visual. Mine don't seem to come out of adjustment, unless (obviously) I've done a blade change.

And the difference -- to carry on the car analogy -- IS improved safety AND performance.

[Leon]

I have seen several manufacturers especially the blade manufacturers recommend the tilted out setting. They are mostly trying to sell a blade or fence with particular focus being placed on the piece against the fence. They typically do not rip a 1x8 down the center so much as work pieces with a majority of the wood ending up against the fence.

[Larry Jaques]

CW's right. If you had a sled which was 0.003 off and you cut both sides of a panel with it without flipping it, it would be 0.006 off.

But you're referencing the fence on your saw BUT the splitter holds the board/panel inline. It might bind and burn just a wee bit on the second cut, but there should be no 0.006" difference.

-- Know how to listen, and you will profit even from those who talk badly. -- Plutarch

[mdavenport]

I believe that I have found the problem...

....you are looking at the deviation from nominal...

...whereas I am looking at the total deviation...

in other words, both are wrong and both are right.

We do, however, agree that the BEST way is to set the fence parallel with the blade.

Luck and all that...

Mike

[eclipsme]

You are undoubtedly correct about using the splitter but I admit to not using one because of the PITA quotient. I use hold downs and skew the fence very slightly away from the blade as discussed. I never use the fence on the opposite side, so that really doesn't matter for me.

Harvey