The sides of the rip fence of my Delta TS350 aren't perfectly perpendicular to the table. Is there anything I can do about this? There are no adjustment bolts, as the thing is welded together. Is it reasonable to complain to Delta when the saw only cost $400?
Mike
IMHO depends on what is meant by "perfectly perpendicular"
If it is far off enough to affect the quality or precision of your work, then sure, complain to Delta. If your talking about a few thousandths that you measured with machinists tools, forget about it.
OTOH, if it IS bad enough to affect your work, and the saw is old or of warranty or Delta can't or won't do anything, the usual approach is to attach some kind of facing to the fence and square it as needed. could just be a nice hardwood board or maybe a piece of UHMW plastic.
I don't think I have ever done anything where a perfectly square fence would matter. Generally the wood is held to the table, not the fence. There are exceptions, like doing a raised panel on your saw, but certainly not common.
How off is it? I have never even check mine.
First off, is it out of kilter in reference to the table or the blade? If it's parallel to the blade, you've got little to complain about.
Also, my first TS was a Delta TS200, (one step down) and there was just enough play in it to align the sucker a little manually before clamping. It's a PITA, but if you're patient and measure from the front and the back of the blade to the fence each time you move it, it's servicable. I'd hope the TS300 is at least a little better, but it's still part of the "Shopmaster" line, and the quality on that whole line leaves a lot to be desired. On the bright side, Delta still has a good enough reputation (increasingly undeserved as it may be) that I was able to sell the TS200 for 75% of the list price after two years of use in about 15 minutes- took it to a job site, and guys were all but fighting over who got to buy it. So if you don't like it and have another $200 or so, I'd sell or return it, and move up to the low end of the industrial line- the difference is like night and day.
Far as complaining to Delta goes, have at it. I don't know if they would care, but it can't hurt anything. If it was my $400, I'd consider that enough $$$ spent to have earned the right to at least grumble a little at someone if the product wasn't up to par- it's not like they gave it to you for nothing at that price.
If it's parallel to the blade, and *not* perpendicular to the table, then the
*blade* is not perpendicular to the table. That's enough of a cause for complaint for me to do something about it.
If you ever cut thick material with a rabbet on the upper side against the fence the fence not being square to the table will cause problems if you use the fence rule to set its distance from the blade.
How far out? These adjustment is some times accomplished by lowering the guide rails on one end or the other to compensate for the problem.
Assuming you mean what you said: | | side of fence | |----------------- table that angle not being exaxtly 90 degrees, I'm not sure there's much you can do about it and it's not likely to make much difference to anything anyway. For precision cuts you have to get out your ruler anyway, and for construction cuts who cares? I suppose you could grab a file and start modifying the handle accordingly, or grind it, but I don't see the problem. Especially since you included no useful detail other than a general statement about it.
Pop`
Yes, that's what I did. I had some thick stock up against the fence to cut rabbets in it and that's when I noticed how imperfect it was. I can take a picture and post in to ABPW. The gap is enough to be seen with a square flat on the table and up against the fence.
Maybe I'm looking for squareness in something that's not expected to have it?
I probably should have built Frank Klausz' tenon jig...that would have kept the work square to the table.
Mike
No, you should expect to have a fence that is square to the table top.
One should expect a fence to be square to the table. Most good fences have this adjustment to correct for squareness and getting precision cuts that are repeatable is not a problem when again using a decent fence. I have not used a tape measure to set up a cut in years unless cutting dado's on a left tilt.
Okay, going back through what I typed I think it could be misinterpreted.
I do have the fence parallel to the blade and whether it's square to the front edge of the table doesn't matter...What I'm expecting is for the fence to point up, away from the ground, at 90 degrees to the table. That is, if the fence extended up further, I'm expecting it's sides to be plumb to the table (of course I'm not expecting high precision).
(front view, expected) ....|#######| ....|#######| ....|#######|
That's true, but I have always cut rabbets as my last operation, so it probably wouldn't come up much.
I think there's some ambiguity about what direction the OP means. You're talking about the vertical part of the fence not being perp. to the tabletop, which doesn't matter as you said. Everyone else is talking about along the horizontal part of the fence, which should be parallel to the blade and need not be perp. to the edge of the table.
Mark
You might be right about what the others think, but his drawing shows the vertical not being perpendicular. Doesn't it?
Well, nothing is ever perfect...
If the fence is well-built (sides parallel to each other), then you can look for its attachment point to the slide/lock mechanism and file the attachment point to change the tilt. If it's 'way out of plumb, shimming (adhesive to hold the shim in place) can work, too.
It's unlikely Delta or the dealer will be happy about swapping parts, since the fence is functional, but they might have some ideas; the slide/lock takes its angular orientation from some surfaces that ride on the rail, and those surfaces might have some adjustability that isn't obvious.
IMHO a user should sharpen all the chisels he uses, and tune all the variables of his tablesaw. I'm even a little disappointed that carbide blades aren't home-resharpenable.
Yes. When I wrote what I did, I hadn't seen his drawing yet. I must have this thread open for an hour or so, and by the time I had a chance to post my response he had already put up the drawing. I responded without refreshing the page, which would have shown the latest info.
Another question is: does the fence lean toward the blade or away from it? If it leans toward the blade, then when/if the back end of the blade grabs the piece, it will be carried up and could get wedged in between the fence and spinning blade. Not good.
Mark
Yes, yes, I caught that- it just seemed like an honest mistake.
The key words there are "good fences"- a TS300 does not have a "good" fence, it has an inexpensive fence. So you make it work, or get a new one.
Ahhhh... Depending on how bad the angle is, it's probably okay- It basically means the scale indicator will be inaccurate with different thicknesses of wood. It could be a problem if you're ripping something on edge- but then I think I'd make a sub-fence that is plumb to the table if you're going to be doing that. As long as you've got is parallel to the blade, and the work slides freely, it shouldn't be dangerous, just annoying.
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