Table Saw Help

[sjgarr]

I have a Sears table saw that i purchased used from a relative (yeah, I know...). I will be building cabinets for my kitchen remodel. I purchased a new saw blade and did a few experimental cuts last night and found that the wood had burn marks on it. I tried cutting at different rates and still had the marks. I then measured to make sure the blade was perpendicular (which it was) then measured front and back of blade against the fence... it measured about 1/16" off.

Is this enough to cause the problem? And if so, is there an adjustment to correct this? Or am I doing something else wrong. I'm not a new remodeler, but I am a beginner with working with a table saw.

Thanks.

[sjgarr]

I have a Sears table saw that i purchased used from a relative (yeah, I know...). I will be building cabinets for my kitchen remodel. I purchased a new saw blade and did a few experimental cuts last night and found that the wood had burn marks on it. I tried cutting at different rates and still had the marks. I then measured to make sure the blade was perpendicular (which it was) then measured front and back of blade against the fence... it measured about 1/16" off.

Is this enough to cause the problem? And if so, is there an adjustment to correct this? Or am I doing something else wrong. I'm not a new remodeler, but I am a beginner with working with a table saw.

Thanks.

[RayV]

Absolutely 1/16th is enough.

There should be bolts underneath of the table to adjust the motor or trunion so that the blade will be parallel to the miter slot. Then adjust the fence parallel to the slot.

[bremen68]

If it has the same fence that mine does (stock) it will do it. If it's off that much it will wedge the piece in as you push it through.

See another post on Kickbacks for horror stories about what this can cause.

What I do isI take a measurement on the front and back of the fence from the edge of the table to line mine up.

Getting a good fence would fix it, but there's this $$$ issue. ;-)

Good luck.

[James "Cubby" Culbertson]

1/16" is definitely enough to cause that and worse (kickback) particularly if the fence is closer to the blade at the far end of the table. You need to either adjust the fence (not sure if you can on that saw but I'd imagine there's some allowance to) or barring that, adjust the trunnions to get the blade parallel to the fence. Cheers, cc

[Howard]

If I remember the saw correctly the fence has two bolts near the front (on top). If you loosen the bolts you can align the fence to the miter slot. You should confirm that the blade is parallel to the miter slot.

Generally I checked the fence pretty regularly to make sure it was parallel. Finally bought a Jet Supersaw--now no problems.

[Leon]

1/16 is way off. You really want dead parallel to the blade give or take .001". First however you want to make the miter gauge "slot" parallel to the blade and then the fence parallel to that slot.

[Stephen M]

Let me echo that sentiment by saying that 1/16 is not only enough, but that is huge. You are off by roughly and order of magnitude. A well aligned saw should have an out of parallel number more like < .01" (roughly the thickness of a playing card).

-Steve

[Leon]

Add another 0 to make it .001. A playing card is still way to wide.

[marks542004]

The other guys have said it all. Blade parrallel to mitre slot in table top and fence parrallel to mitre slot.

That said the adjustment method on my saw is a loosen the bolt and bash with a hammer method. This does not make it easy to adjust.

You can get a kit that makes adjusting the blade alignment much easier or you can pay sears to send someone out to set the saw up. There is a fee but it may be worth it to get the saw set up correctly to start.

[Stephen M]

Ideally yes, but .001 is more of a realistic expectation for a high-end saw being set up by an experienced user.

To the OP:

If you did not know it before: table saws need to be tuned periodically... like after they are moved between addresses. This is *normal* and

*expected*. There is probably nothing wrong with your saw than an out of tune guitar is broken.

Expect to spend a couple of hours going through the alignment process. This is even required for brand new high-end machines.

So, spend an afternoon and get intimately acquainted with your new toy.

-Steve

[George E. Cawthon]

Whoa! you said front to back of blade? You mean

1/16 inch off over less than 8 inches ? Yes, 1/16" off is bad, very bad. To see how bad that is: 1/16" is about 63/1000" and most people want less than 15/1000" (1/64") and some are shooting for 5/1000. So your saw is a least four times the limit off. Others will tell you how to align the blade, but first align the blade with the miter slot and then make the rip guide parallel with the miter slot.

[George E. Cawthon]

I would not suggest the last to anyone. The chance of getting a Sears technician that really knows what he was doing and would set the saw up perfectly is pretty low. Besides, if the OP has any skill at all, he can read info on several internet sites or in books, learn the procedure, and adjust the saw; and that would be an invaluable learning experience. It may take some time but, if he can't set it up correctly then he should not be using a table saw and he probably will never get anything square.

In addition, he may find that the saw can't be set with great accurately whereas a sears technician would just say, "All done."

[DDG]

Great to see I'm not the only one haveing Craftsman saw alignment problems. I crawled under mine tonight and see three bolts into the cast top on each end but am not seeing this adjustment screw yet. I agree it needs to be close I did not know mine was off that bad until I replaced my fence with a new Xacta and got it true with the miter slots.

"George E. Cawthon" wrote in news:t7RJe.571053$ [e-mail]:

[bridger]

there 'aint no adjustment screw. you loosen those bolds and nudge things around with a hammer.

of course, you have to do this while crawling on one knee, with one arm and a hammer and your head jammed into a space the size of a shoe box, making an adjustment that you can't check until you extract yourself from said shoebox, and of course it isn't right, so you have to crawl back in there and try again....

then, when you get it right you tighten the bolts back and everything shifts.

this is one of the great advantages of cabinet saws.

[bridger]

lots of warnings about kickback. all true.

so you're going to have to tune up your saw.

if you are the kind of sawyer who shifts the fence from side to side of the blade, you will need to get alignment closer than if the fence will always be on the same side of the blade. what you really don't want is to have the back of the blade closer to the fence than the front of the blade.

[DDG]

Ok so I loosen all six slap it into submission the retorque. There doesn't appear to be any slots on the holes for adjustment I'll look again thanks alot.

"bridger" wrote in news: [e-mail]:

[Unquestionably Confused]

Nah, don't loosen them ALL. Leave one at the front of the saw tight. You don't need to move it all that much, you want to be able to pivot the assembly into being parallel with the miter slot. Loosening them all makes it all that much more difficult. Depending upon the angles involved and the amount of muscle you can put on the trunnion, you may want to just leave the rear ones slightly snug and whack away. Less chance of losing your alignment when you tighten up.

[DDG]

THANKS :) it worked great actually couple screws were loose I had to loosen the rest but the a few slaps with a 3# and it finally straigned up then cautiusly tightned the center bolts followed by the remainder and wow my kerf had to be recut in my blade cover and it now cuts using my new fence.

Some times you do just need a bigger hammer!

Unquestionably Confused wrote in news:1sdKe.1008$ [e-mail]: