Shimming Unisaw extension table

[Charles Miller]

SWMBO finally let me have my Unisaw (30" Biesemeyer, left-tilt, WAHOO!) When I got it unpacked, main table was out .027". Ouch. Delta promtly sent me another. Only .005" out in a single place, but otherwise ok. When I attached the extention table to the left, it sagged--almost .030"--no matter how I tried to tweek it. Didn't want to send it all back again, so I shimmed between the main and extension tables.

Here's the quandry: I didn't want to cut up a feeler gage to shim, so I used a doubled piece of kitchen foil. Sag solved. The entire table is as flat as my singing. But is aluminum foil ok? Am I looking at a problem with aluminum oxidization down the road affecting the iron? Or any other problem? Should I go back and use a feeler gage shim instead?

Thanks very much! Chuck Miller

[Dave W]

Home Depot has brass shim stock.

[Leon]

Many have used and recomend masking tape.

[Greg O]

Yup! It worked fine for my when mounting the tables the my Dalta CS. Greg

[Eric Tonks]

Don't use paper nor masking tape as a shim. Installing extension tables puts a lot of pressure on whatever is used. Paper, especially the crepe paper and adhesive layer in masking tape will crush over time and the alignment will be out again. Aluminum could flow over time but it is a better choice than a paper product. Aluminum soda or beer cans could be used, or brass shim stock.

[Leon]

That amount that it crushes tends to not be much at all and will most likely show when tightening the bolts. IIRC the manufacturers even suggest doing this for the table extensions.

[Greg O]

Pretty much all the crush happens when tighten the bolts. In 5 years my tables are still level. Greg