Did I screw up my table saw fence and blade?!!

Let me apologize up front if this subject is posted twice. I use Google Groups to view newsgroups and I thought I sent something earlier today but I still don't see it after about 7-8 hours.

I did someting really, REALLY stupid yesterday. I wanted to trim off

1/8" of s piece of 3/4" plywood that was 28"x32". My brain told me to trim it with a striaght edge and a circular saw but the doofus in me won out.

I have a smaller table saw (Delta 36-600) because I have a smaller shop and I put a nice Forrest Woodworker thin kerf blade in it. Since the table is so small, the IDIOT in me tried to trim the 1/8" between the blade and the fence. Of course it was a STUPID idea and I noticed a bunch of paint was worn off on the fence behind the blade when I was done---and I still ended up with a piece of wood that was crooked as a dog's hind leg. Upon closer inspection, I noticed a chunk of the fence was taken out as well.

It is probably in my head but it seemed like some scrap wood I pushed thru was "sticking" in the spot that was worn. I may have done something really stupid in that I hit the spot with a piece of emery cloth to smooth out the gash. It seemed like that helped but it is probably in my head.

I tried a bunch of other pieces of scrap and I think I was pushing them thru too slowly because I got burn spots on most of the pieces because I was trying to see if the gouge was hurting me. When I tried to take an inch off a scrap 2x4, I pushed the wood thru quickly like I am supposed to do and it came out okay. I think there was ridges but it may be in my head.

I have two quesitons:

  1. How do I tell if the blade is screwed? I can't see anything that stands out but I may not know what I am looking at.

  1. Is my fence hosed? SHould I screw a piece of melamine on it to make it smooth again?

Reply to
busbus
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It's hard to fully imagine exactly what you are describing. It sounds like you did do some damage to your fence. But, it's hard to tell what you mean by "chunk". Depending on the size and shape of this "chunk", you might have completely ruined your fence or just created a small cosmetic mark. Were there any loud noises or pieces of the fence flying through the air during the cut?

To see if the saw is OK, I would check for any arbor/flange runout. I would look at blade runout and inspect each tooth for chips to determine if the blade was OK. I would check fence flatness to determine if the fence was OK. Then I would check blade and fence alignment with the miter slot and correct any misalignment. If all this goes OK, then your saw will be in tip-top shape and you can move on to learining the proper techniques for using it.

Let me know if you have any questions.

Thanks, Ed Bennett snipped-for-privacy@ts-aligner.com

snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com wrote:

Reply to
ejb

Ed,

When I say "chunk," I mean it is probably more-or-less cosmetic. I can see an arc made by the blade on the fence at the back of the blade. The "chunk" is a 1 1/2" arc that is less than 1/64" deep at the deepest point. It more or less rubbed out with a couple dozen swipes of emery cloth. I am making it out worse than it probably is.

I do know how to use a table saw, sort of, and I knew in my gut what I was doing was wrong. I was just being lazy and paid for it.

On the plus side, this may be just the thing I can use to get SWMBO to allow me to get a 'real' table saw and get rid of this toy. It is better than a bench top saw but as much as it tries to act like a contractors saw, it just isn't.

I guess I am mainly worried about the blade. I can't see anything that jumps out at me and it still cuts nice but I swear I see more ridges now. I could get it resharpened, I guess, but it is a shame since it proabbly hasn't cut more than 50bf since I installed it.

Thanks for the suggestions, Ed. No matter what, I will do what you suggest.

Reply to
busbus

That never helps a discussion.

I'm not sure a "real" tablesaw is your answer. Let's face it - a saw is a saw at some levels. If you are getting contact between the blade and the fence it's not a saw problem. If your blade is making partial contact with the fence, it's not a saw problem. You can accomplish those same things with a $3,000 saw. If you are getting partial contact between the blade and the fence, then your saw is mis-aligned. Take the time to align it properly so that it will rip a nice even arc into the fence the next time to get it so close.

It cuts fine, so use it. What more should it do that you are worried it's not doing?

Reply to
Mike Marlow

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