TS Alignment: should I be worried?

[Tim Cleary]

I have been meaning to get a more thorough testing of my table saw. But I haven't taken the time to do this.

So today I tried a quick and dirty method: I clamped a dial indicator to my miter gauge and ran it up and down the slots while keeping it in contact with the fence and then the saw.

Results: the fence seemed to be tilted in slightly at the end - it was maybe .003 to .005 closer to the miter slot at the back than at the end. Saw blade to miter slot seemed .001 to .003.

As a newbie I had 2 questions:

1) obviously it would be better if fence ran slightly out from the blade / from the miter slot. But is .005 inches enough to be worried about?

2) Or, perhaps more importantly: Is my quick and dirty method able to produce results that are even meaningful? Slop in miter gauge etc.

Thanks to all for any suggestions.

Tim Cleary

[Brian Kent]

I wouldn't be concerned with the miter to blade difference, but I'd go ahead and make the slightest adjustment on the fence. You might not have any problems if you use the splitter, but I've had couple of painful kickbacks that I take great measures NOT to repeat.

And yes, I think your measuring system is just fine.

Brian

[Andy Bardowell]

I wouldn't be concerned with the miter to blade difference, but I'd go ahead and make the slightest adjustment on the fence. You might not have any problems if you use the splitter, but I've had couple of painful kickbacks that I take great measures NOT to repeat.

And yes, I think your measuring system is just fine.

Brian
I agree with Brian at the least it will burn anything that is hard such as maple.

[Myk Rian]

Your measuring system is fine. That's what I do.
I can't see spending money for an alignment jig, when I made one for free.
Kick the fence end out a tad.

[John Thompson]

I'm old school on this Tim. Get the entire fence either parallel or.. a slight toe out at rear. It doesn't have to be much as any "toe-in" can cause pinch and burn. As far as the other tolerances you mentioned.. you would have to attach explosives to the hinny of a gnat to blast in through a .003 gap. You are working with wood and it simply won't matter.

Probably the biggest mistake I have seen in 38 years is people trying to tune their imperfect machinery to .0000 tolerances. Align you fence to the blade. Align you miter gauge to the blade. I don't bother to check exactly how much mine is off be it .003 or .012. The cut will telegraph me if it really has become mis-aligned to the point it needs serious attention.

I have cranked out 9 large carcass pieces over the last year and a half since retiring. I have not once checked nor have needed to check the tolerances since originally squared. My suggestion is that alignment is important but.. becoming obsessive with it is a waste of WW time IMO.

Good luck...

Sarge..

[Tim Cleary]

Thanks everyone. I am glad that others have had success with such a basic alignment check. I will toe out the fence slightly, and go from there. BTW the warning sign was that I cut tons of 3/4 ply with no apparent alignment issues (I use SS splitter) but 1st piece of thick maple got burning on the saw side. Based on what I read here, I thought it was a good idea to check. I have no interest in kickback (at least in the sense of experiencing it personally

Tim

[Ed Sallee]

you would have to attach explosives to the hinny of a gnat to blast in through a .003 gap.
Sarge..

We love ya Sarge!

[Tim Cleary]

Thanks everyone. I slightly changed fence alignment - it is either dead flat or .003 runout (or my crude 'clamp-dial-indicator-to-miter-gauge' method doesn't work.

Then I remembered that when I reversed the direction of my TS, I never re-leveled the table. Whoops! One more activity between me and some good sawdust creation.