Two Questions, One rhetorical

[LDR]

I have an oldie but goodie Rockwell contractor saw (34-400) whose fence is off between 1/16 and 1/8 at the back end. I have gone the route of playing with the trunions and checking the runout, and I am now convinced it is the fence. The rhetorical question first: Is this why Mr. Biesemeyer is revered?

Is anyone familiar with this particular fence and can offer some advice, or perhaps there is some well known general information that I'm missing. Best thanks in advance.

[Jay Pique]

Try here...

guys have old parts lists and manuals for Rockwell tools. Is that the saw with the round rails? Seems like there should be an adjustment for the fence itself, rather than screwing around with the trunions. Then you'll get things out of wack with your miter slots. Generally you square everything to the miter slots. Blade first, then fence. I'd recommend a Table Saw Aligner Jr., but I don't want to start a flame war.

JP

************************************************************ So much classier than "Dial Indicator on a Stick"

[wood_newbie]

Never worry about rhetorical questions.

Where would the world be without them?

[Frank Boettcher]

Mr. Biesemeyer makes a fine product. However, the fence with the least deflection of all is the Jetlock fence that is probably on your saw.

First, the trunions have nothing to do with fence alignment. Align your blade to the slot by adjusting the trunion position. Make sure when you have done that that you can get to a full 45 tilt without contacting your insert.

Make sure that your guide rails are straight. On your model do the guide rails attach to both the table and the wings? Sometimes if a wing is projecting too far to the front or rear of the table, when the guide rails are attached to it it will cause them to bow, giving you a variable alignment depending on how far from the blade you are. You might even have to shim the special bolts a little if your wings are not the same

Also make sure your rear lock adjustment knob is adjusted so that the fence locks with sufficient pressure

Then align your fence to the slot. Lock it. If it stays aligned you are OK. If it does not, unlock the fence, loosen the two machine screws on the top of the fence that hold it to the fence block and adjust it in the direction it needs to go. Tighten and check again. There is not a lot of adjustment here so if you can't get there maybe your fence block is worn out. If so call mr biesemeyer and get a nice fence.

Good luck

Frank

[lwasserm]

If you have a typical jetlock style fence, there should be 2 bolts at the front. Loosen them, tap the fence as required to make it parallel to a miter slot, then retighten the bolts. Recheck the fence for being parallel to the slot, and you're done.

Of course, the blade must be adjusted (via loosening the trunions as you mentioned) to be paralle to the miter slot also.

It is worthwhile checking out a copy of Kelly Mehler's Tablesaw book from the library or purchasing a copy. There are several other equally informative books & authors also, IMO Mehler's book is one of the best.

[Robert Bonomi]

Spelling counts!!!

That word is properly "rhett-orical", and defined as: A question you ask, and frankly my dear, don't give a dam about the answer.

Tara.

obviously. :)