Table saw tune up

[BD]

I've got a lot of good responses for the saw blades and I think my decision rests b/w the Forrest and the CMT. The decision will come down to what many of you have brought up concerning the performance of the blade. That being the set up of the saw. First off I have a newer Delta contractor style with the after market motor pulleys and link belt. I am very fastidious about keeping my tools tuned and it includes my saw. Recently, on the advice of many people, I toed out my Vega fence from being absolutley parallel to being out at the back of the blade about the thickness of a business card. I ripped a couple of boards and the cut is reasonable clean except for a few burn marks (which is unacceptable). The burn marks are a result of having to force the wood along the fence because it seems to want to travel avvay from the fence on the outfeed side (as if the stock is staying parallel to the blade in the kerf. Is the space on the outfeed side of the fence the result of toeing it out? Is the fence toed out too much? Any advice on further tune ups to really get the performance the Forrest is capable? If not I will settle for the CMT.

[tom]

Maybe try 1/2 (or less) the thickness of a business card? But I'd shoot for dead-nuts parallel, myself. What blade are you using now? You'll need more than one _good_ blade, especially when one of 'em is being sharpened. Tom

[no(SPAM)vasys]

I believe Forrest recommends opening up the back of the fence when necessary to compensate for poor equipment (blade runout, warped fence, etc.). I believe my Woodworker II blade came with instructions for setting up a saw for use with their blade. Check Forrest's web site for their recommendations.

[George]

More than likely your board or fence had some warp or twist. If you push it straight ahead, it has no choice but to go straight, just as if you were crosscutting with your miter gage. If you hold it against the fence all the time, it moves away from the blade. If you adjust clearance for the fence on the right, you'd best remember to correct when you move it left.

[Sonny]

Place your fence square to the table and parallel to the blade, and no other position. Any blade, high or low quality, has every other tooth angled opposite the one next in line. That angling of the teeth allows for any clearance needed when sawing your lumber.

Yes, your lumber was trying to follow the line of cut your blade was creating/had created, and you were trying to force the lumber to follow the fence line. That's why you had the burn marks.

Sonny

[Chris Friesen]

I think I'll object to this statement. While this may be true of an ATB blade, it is not true of all blades.

Consider flat-tooth rip, TCG, or hollow-ground blades or even ATB+R combination blades. They all have something other than just opposite-angled teeth.

The blade is designed to cut a kerf wider than the blade body (either due to "set" in a steel blade or else having carbide inserts). This additional width is what keeps the blade body from rubbing against the wood--not oppositely angled teeth.

Chris

[Sonny]

Agreed. The centerpoint of the tips of every other tooth, on the blades you mention, are off-set to one side of the plane of the blade body, and the other teeth's centerpoints are off-set to the opposite side of the plane of the blade body. In essence (the essence I was trying to convey), they are as angled teeth are, and that off-set allows for the same function as the angling of teeth, to cut for clearance (so there is no burn) while cutting the board.

Position the fence square to the table and parallel to the blade, and no other position.

Sonny

[George]

SNICKER

[Leon]

Snip

Recently, on the advice of many people, I toed out my

YES.

Is the fence toed out too much?

YES

Go back to parallel. The only reason to toe out is to keep the back side of the blade from touching the wood between the fence and the blade. It only agervates the situation as the blade hits the waste side on the back side of the blade. Think about it. This is a "Jerry Rig" to make a saw blade look like it cuts smoother at the WW show. It is hard to keep your wood tracking against the fence because the wast is hitting the back side of the blade. Probably a dangerous situation if you are not using a splitter.

>

[BD]

Well thanks for all the advice. I went with the Forrest blade and set my fence back to parallel. If anything it is .002 toed out if at all just to compensate for any runout etc... as Forrest recommends. So for all is well.

PS I'm glad I got the Forrest.