PALS alignment system

[George Pell]

Hello. I have a Delta contractors saw, and after years of using a hammer and block of wood to align it I finally broke down and bought the PALS Alignment System. I got the blade aligned to within a few thousandths of an inch. I then tilted the blade to a 45-degree angle and checked the alignment again, but found it was 1/100th of an inch off. What would cause it to be more out of alignment when tilted to a 45-degree angle? I considered trying to align it while tilted, but I'm assuming it would mess up the alignment when the blade is back at 90 degrees. I'm sure this is going to be complicated to fix, and will cost me what little sanity I have left. Any suggestions or help would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance.

George

[Sam Chambers]

George:

Sounds like the tie bars are out of parallel. It's a fairly common problem with contractor's saws, as I understand it.

Here's what Delta's Web Site (http://www.deltamachinery.com/index.asp?e=144&p=462) has to say on the subject.

Hope this helps! Happy adjusting!

[Robert E Lee]

George, I slipped some thin shims between the trunnion and the top to square the 45. Don’t how I came up with that, but they went in the front on mine.
Bob

[Michael Ballent]

Also the weight of the motor can cause the blade to shift around since the is being supported via the table and not held in place via the cabinet. When you tilt the blade a lot of torque is being applied to the trunnion.

[Bart Leetch]

I then tilted the blade to a 45-degree angle and checked the alignment again, but found it was 1/100th of an inch off.

I just gotta ask what wood your using that won't change at least 1/100 of an inch or even more. When looking at a finished project can you see 1/100th of an inch difference with the naked eye? Also how often do you cut with the blade tilted?

Reality Check :D

[George Pell]

Hi Bart,
Good point about the wood movement. I guess I got a bit caught up in wanting to have it perfectly aligned. It was such a pain to get it aligned using the "hammer and block of wood" approach, and I grew tired of having sloppy fitting joints. Now that I have the capability of getting it aligned properly I want to take advantage of that so I have joints that fit right. I tilt the blade quite a bit to make mitered cuts for jewelry boxes, so it's important that the alignment be as close as possible. But you're right, I guess I need to relax and not expect perfection.

George

[Greg Mann]

Hi Bart,
Good point about the wood movement. I guess I got a bit caught up in wanting to have it perfectly aligned. It was such a pain to get it aligned using the "hammer and block of wood" approach, and I grew tired of having sloppy fitting joints. Now that I have the capability of getting it aligned properly I want to take advantage of that so I have joints that fit right. I tilt the blade quite a bit to make mitered cuts for jewelry boxes, so it's important that the alignment be as close as possible. But you're right, I guess I need to relax and not expect perfection.

George
George,

One one hundredth is still .010" and if you are doing fine joinery could cause minor issues. The mis-alignment at 45 will show up on one side only and then only if you pass the trailing edge. Depending whether the saw is right-tilt or left-tilt, and which side you need the fine cut, it may be no problem at all. The key is to not crowd your finish cut with the trailing edge. It is possible to shim the trunnions for alignment at 45, recheck at 90, readjust if necessary, go back to check at 45, refine, adjust, refine, etc. It might not be that hard and you have this nice new gauge...:D

If you do this, you will learn alot about your saw and also feel you got your money's worth out of the gauge. As far as the weight being an issue, it definately can cause the skew you have, but once you adjust for it your'e done.

Greg