Ridgid TS3650 fence alignment...

[Vito Baratta]

Hi everyone,

I am having some issues with my Ridgid TS3650 fence. I aligned the fence not long ago and whenever I lock it down it shifts toward the blade. When I slide the fence across the rails, I feel resistance, it doesn't slide smooth.
I am not sure if anyone has had this problem before, however I am looking for some advice as to what I should verify.

Any info would be much appreciated.

Thanks!

[Darius Ferlas]

If I understand correctly, you are trying to do the alignment with the fence unlocked. I aligned mine in the locked position.

As for the sliding along the fence a thin layer of wax it will slide like on ice. You'll need wax to protect the table from rust anyway. Just make sure the wax has no silicon content.

[Jason White]

I have this saw. A couple of thoughts:

1. Are the front and rear fence rails perfectly parallel? Remember that this particular fence locks on both the front and rear rails. The owner's manual explains how to "shim" them parallel using washers and a spacer rod at the farthest end of the table away from the blade. Also, make sure the rear of the fence is locked firmly onto that rear rail.

2. Do you have the lock-down handle on the fence adjusted too tight? You shouldn't have to force it down hard. Try loosening the adjuster screw and see if this helps. It also helps to have one hand push down on the middle of the fence a little while locking the handle with the other hand to keep it aligned while locking (I think that's true of any fence).

3. As another poster suggested, make sure the fence is locked when you check alignment between the fence and the miter slots (after you've already squared the blade to the miter slots, of course).

Good luck and let us know what happens!

Jason


Hi everyone,

I am having some issues with my Ridgid TS3650 fence. I aligned the fence not long ago and whenever I lock it down it shifts toward the blade. When I slide the fence across the rails, I feel resistance, it doesn't slide smooth.
I am not sure if anyone has had this problem before, however I am looking for some advice as to what I should verify.

Any info would be much appreciated.

Thanks!

[Vito Baratta]

So if I understand correctly, that steel rod should be placed at the very end of the rails on the right side of the saw? The steel rod on my saw is just loose in the middle of the rails, I think that's where my problem is. What I will do is loosen the rails, place the steel rod at the end and then slowly tighten them.

Thanks for the tip, I will try it out!

[Darius Ferlas]

Indeed, the steel rod needs to be not only installed at the end of the rails, but you may also have to use supplied washers to make sure the rails remail parallel.

Still, I can't imagine how the steel rod being loose could cause the fence to shift towards the blade. I would have thought that under the scenario it'd go in the other direction. Unless the rod is too long, and the space between the ends of the rails on the right side is larger than the depth of the cast iron table. Or perhaps you forgot to install brass shims along the front and/or rear edge of the table, between the table and the rails. That could affect the alignment.

[Paul Fitzgerald]

Vito,

I had a similar problem with mine. I'm not sure if your situation is the same as mine was, but my problem ended up being an issue with my right extension table, which caused a bow in the aluminum fence rail. The problem manifested itself in a way that made my fence's relative parallelism vary depending upon the lateral position of the fence.

See my thread here (http://sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=81000).

Paul

[Jason White]

Yes, the steel rod and washers that come with the saw are designed to push the rails apart or pull them closer together, until they are perfectly parallel.

It's all explained in the instruction manual. If you don't have a copy, you can probably download a PDF of it from RIDGID's website.

Jason


So if I understand correctly, that steel rod should be placed at the very end of the rails on the right side of the saw? The steel rod on my saw is just loose in the middle of the rails, I think that's where my problem is. What I will do is loosen the rails, place the steel rod at the end and then slowly tighten them.

Thanks for the tip, I will try it out!

[Vito Baratta]

UPDATE:

I finally had some time this week to play around with my saw and verify the alignment of the rails. I moved the steel rod to the far right of the rails. What I noticed is that the rails don't seem to be close enough to each other to hold the steel rod tight even after I tightened all the bolts that hold the front and rear rails to the cast iron table. So basically the steel rod is loose between the front and rear rails. If I add shims to the front and rear rails, won't this make them even further apart?

Thanks again.

[Darius Ferlas]

Add those shims between the rod and the rails so that it is not loose. The ends of the rod which go into the inner sides of the rails are thinner. That's where you need to put a shim or two.

See attached pictures and notice the brass shims.
Also, make sure that you tighten the little hex screw to keep the rod from moving. It's shown in the picture to the right of the brass shims.

[Paul Fitzgerald]

If the front and back rails are straight and parallel, the rod will be a perfect fit.

Check the front and back rails with a good straightedge; the aluminum will flex and cause problems with fence parallelism as well as the fit of the rod (which is there to ensure clamping down the fence to the right of the cast iron extension doesn't cause the fence to be pulled out of parallel.

If the aluminum rail is flexing due to bolting it to the table, you should shim the low spots and recheck the rail's straightness. One you get both rails straight and parallel, the fence will stay parallel to the blade and the rod will fit like a glove between the rails.

Paul

[Vito Baratta]

Darius: A picture is worth a thousand words indeed! I was not installing the shims in the correct place, I was putting them in between the rail and the cast iron table. I will give it another try, now that I know where the shims need to go.

Thank you so much for posting that picture!

I will report back with the results.

[Jason White]

Don't worry about pushing them farther apart, as long as they are parallel to each other all the way across. That's what the shims/washers are there for.

Do you have the owner's manual for the saw? It shows all of this quite clearly.

Jason


UPDATE:

I finally had some time this week to play around with my saw and verify the alignment of the rails. I moved the steel rod to the far right of the rails. What I noticed is that the rails don't seem to be close enough to each other to hold the steel rod tight even after I tightened all the bolts that hold the front and rear rails to the cast iron table. So basically the steel rod is loose between the front and rear rails. If I add shims to the front and rear rails, won't this make them even further apart?

Thanks again.

[Darius Ferlas]

I was not installing the shims in the correct place, I was putting them in between the rail and the cast iron table. I will give it another try, now that I know where the shims need to go.

The shims MAY need to be installed between the fence and the table too, so leave them there.

[Rob Price]

While you're at it, consider adding a table extension or even a router table in the "empty" area at the end of the rails. I added a router table to mine and threw the rod away. Just be sure your table is the same length (front to back) as your cast iron table and it will help keep your rails straight as well. Plenty of guys over at the Rigid forums have done it. I love having a router table on the saw.

[Vito Baratta]

UPDATE #2:

I had some time again last night to work on it again. I reviewed the manual and it shows how the rear of the fence should sit on the back rails when it is not locked. My fence is basically rubbing on the back rail even when it is not locked down.

Could this be why it shifts toward the blade when I lock it down?

[Jason White]

That tells me that you probably need to loosen the adjuster screw on the fence locking mechanism. You probably have it adjusted so tight that when unlocked, the rear "clamp" (or whatever you would call it) is rubbing on the rear rail.

You shouldn't have to apply much force to the handle to lock the fence in place. In fact, you're going to break it if you keep it too tight.

Jason


UPDATE #2:

I had some time again last night to work on it again. I reviewed the manual and it shows how the rear of the fence should sit on the back rails when it is not locked. My fence is basically rubbing on the back rail even when it is not locked down.

Could this be why it shifts toward the blade when I lock it down?