TS Question

I align my TS with the teeth and not the flat of the blade

Searcher

Oldest trick in the book.

Raise blade full amount, then place a piece of 6" vertical stock oagainst miter gage and make a test cut about an inch from the end using the left slot for the gage.

Transfer miter gage to right hand slot, turn piece around, and make a cut thru the same slot you just cut.

If the cut edges of the slot are parallel, the blade is vertical.

If not, adjust blade as required and repeat test.

I have about as much need for a saw blade gage as a boar hog with a set of breasts.

Lew

There are "reference plates", instead of blades, that are used by manufacturers to set up saws with the miter slots at the factory, but doing it in a shop for setting blade angle is a bit anal, and unnecessary, IMO.

Simply use a smaller square, or Lew's method, which is fool proof and has the advantage of actually calibrating the tool _combination_ you'll be using.

IOW, it is a good idea to setup any tool with the blade/bit you're going to be using, otherwise you could well be fooling yourself.

Go to Sears and purchase their 10" sanding disk. Remove the stick-on sandpaper, clean off any residue with mineral spirits and use that to align blades. I've cleaned mine up by mounting it and bringing it up to speed and then with a fine grit paper stuck to a 2" wide x 2 ft long board, I polished both sides then applied a coat of wax and buffed.

If you don't have sandpaper on the disc or have a rust inhibitor on it, the blade will rust in humid conditions. Since I have a rotary sander already, I don't use that disc for sanding - just for alignments. If you have a contractor type table saw that has two tie-bars - that disc works great in aligning those too. If you've never done that alignment - maybe you should check it.

Bob S.

Ok, to check for the baled being perpendicular to the table SIMPLY make a test cut through a piece of scrap. Flop one piece over end for end and match the two cut edges back together. If you have a gap you are not cutting square to the table. If you have no gap you are set at 90 degrees.

????? baled ????? BALDE. ;~)

Uh, Leon?

Don't look now but...

You should blead insanity. Crazy 'bout that new saw.

er

LOL...

Hah, now you have a label.

er

I just flip the cutoff and butt the two cut edges together. Any error is doubled.

Barry

tex - No one directly answered your question. This is what you are asking for.

Inviato da X-Privat.Org - Registrazione gratuita

Tex

Good decision. You do not need a tool to tell you what your eyes can see.

Manufacturers do use such plates, both disks and long plates along with special squares to set and check 90 and 45 degree blade alignment to the slot, arbor runnout, and perpendicularity to the table. I have a set, however, I've never seen them available for sale. We made our own and they had to be numbered and calibrated every so often consistent with a gage calibration procedure in a quality manual for ISO 9000.

However, a good square set on the blade body in between teeth on a quality saw blade should certainly get you as close as you need to be. If it is a quality blade any radial runout difference between the body and the plane of the teeth will be miniscule.

Frank

I don't think they're all that useful for the average user, compared to all of the previously mentioned methods, but:

I've also seen blank Forrest and other brand saw blades. FWW has shown the Forrest blank in saw review articles.

I don't know who would make such a thing, but in the latest issue of Fine Woodworking, when they're testing cabinet saws, they specifically show that they are using one to test calibration. (June 2006, page 48, upper picture)

magnetic base. For things involving the table saw slots, the mag base sticks just fine to the mitre gauge.

Chris