PALS Installation on JET Contractor Saw...Anything to Watch Out For?

[Charlie Gummer]

My Contractor Saw PALS kit was just delivered! Finding the 8 mm stud version (listed as JET compatible) was a bit more difficult to obtain; my local Woodcraft only has the 3/8 or 5/16 in stock (can't remember which). My saw is the JPS-10.

I'm planning on hopefully installing tonight. My Pinnacle dial indicator has shown the back of the blade to be around .006" toed in towards the right miter slot (facing from the operators position). I figured that if I was going to make the effort to correct it I might as well wait for the PALS kit to make it somewhat easier. Are there any major hurdles to watch out for in this procedure? On inspection it seems like I'll have enough room to work in the stand with the motor access cover off.

Thoughts?

[Greg Peterson]

The PALs will work really well for getting your blade parallel, at 90 degrees.

However, it is very unlikely your blade will be parallel at 45 degrees. Extremely unlikely just for good measure.

The process for setting parallelism at 45 degrees involves raising/lowering the trunnion assembly, which basically means you'll have to shim the opposite side.

For example, it the back of the blade is off by .006 when the blade is at 45 degrees, you'll need to place shims under the front mounts of the trunnion, thereby lowering the front of the trunnion.

It gets a little wonky when you move off the 90 degree axis. And its all hit or miss when it comes to setting the blade parallel at 45 degrees. But if you want a perfect miter cut you'll need to adjust it.

[glenn bradley]

PALs are a great invention for those trying to better their contractor saw alignment. Makes the job pretty darn easy. I leave everything as it is and install the PALs first. Back the lateral adjustment screws off a bit and loosen (and by loose I mean pretty snug, but not tight) all the bolts except one in the front. This still-tight front bolt becomes your pivot point.

My old C-man had five bolts, some have four. Check for sure so you don't chase your tail. Be careful as you can reach the end of the range of adjustability based on the oversized hole in the trunnion and still not reach your goal. If you keep cranking on the lateral adjuster, you could damage it. If you do run out of room you will have to shift your trunnions one way or the other and adjust from there.

On all but a very few contractor saws, trying for accuracy at 90* and at other angles can be a road to frustration. The lightweight trunnions and the overall flaws of the design just aren't really up to it. I'm not dogging your saw, I just don't want you to drive yourself crazy. Think about what the percentage is on your 90* cuts versus all others and you can see where to focus your energy. Using the PALs and a dial indicator screwed to a piece of wood fitted to the miter slot got my C-man within a thou, no problem (at 90*) :)

[Charlie Gummer]

Thanks for the quick responses. To be truthful I haven't even checked parallelism at 45*...that right there should tell you how often I cut miters.

A little background info: I've had the saw for nearly a year and besides an issue with the clamping action of the fence handle I have had no problems. JET is sending an entire new fence assembly so I think that'll be sorted soon as well. Recently (relative term; 2-3 months ago) I started noticing that I could hear a distinct difference in cut sound as the workpiece engaged the back of the blade. I've checked fence-to-miter-slot alignment and I have the fence towed out ~.005-.010" at the back side of the blade as is commonly recommended. The cut surface seems fine on softwoods and plywood but I have burn marks on harder woods. The worst was the piece of unknown species hardwood that I'm using for a rear fence on a crosscut sled (still in production).

I have no idea whether the blade alignment is causing the difference in cut sound but the 90* alignment has always bugged me (I'm an engineer). I'd like to rule that out completely before moving on.

[Pat Germain]

I put a PALS on my Craftsman CS. It worked well at first, then threads on one side stripped out. The allen screws are awfully small. I know I can simply get a larger screw and re-tap the threads. But that's something else to mess with on a saw that always needs to be messed with. :rolleyes:

You might want to put some Loc-Tite on the threads before you tighten the trunnion bolts. My trunnion bolts won't stay tight no matter how I torque them down.

[James Carmichael]

I'm sure glad I have em on my old Cman, I can't imagine having to pound the trunions, there's no room in there.

As it is, I had to drill a hole in the left-hand side of the cabinet, there was no room for an allen wrench.

After installing the PALS, the whatchamacallit that mounted the splitter and blade guard to the arbor assembly had to be removed before I could tilt to 45, otherwise, it hit the PALS bracket. No loss there, as both pieces were long gone from the saw when I bought it.

[Joseph Tarantino]

regarding the post by greg, the following thread contains a write up by a poster that details the calculation of the adjutsment to which greg refers.

http://www.ridgidforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=25836

the write up is for a ridgid r4511, but i used the principles and the procedure to make the sppropriate adjustment to my ridgid 2412 contractor saw.

[Bob Rufener]

I had a Jet contractor saw for about 13 years before updating to a Unisaw I picked up. I did install PALS on it and it was not difficult to do. It sure made adjustment a lot easier. Just follow the directions and you should have no problems.

[Charlie Gummer]

I finally had a chance to install the PALS last night...the socket head cap screws for the lateral adjustment are too short to reach the edge of the trunnion. I'm going to try for a longer pair of screws and see what I can do. Anybody else have a similar experience?

[Doug Shepard]

I had a set (sort of) on my old CMan contractor saw but on one side it interfered with being able to tilt the blade all the way to 45 degrees. So I used the PALS to do the alignment then removed the bracket on that side and re-installed the original CMan bolt to lock it down. Worked OK, but I just couldn't leave the PALS installed on that side.

[Bill Huber]

I finally had a chance to install the PALS last night...the socket head cap screws for the lateral adjustment are too short to reach the edge of the trunnion. I'm going to try for a longer pair of screws and see what I can do. Anybody else have a similar experience?

You really can do without them, it just takes a little longer.

Don't forget there are 3 screws on the Jet to loosen. I just set my a few weeks ago and got is spot on without the Pals.

I loosened all 6 screws and pushed everything to the left, then snugged the center ones up on both trunnion and that was my starting point.

The thing that really helped me was to set it off, that is every time I would get it set and tighten it down it would come out off again. I then set it off and when I tightened every thing down it pulled it right in.

Here is the thread I posted when I set mine.
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=134143&highlight=spot

[russell lusthaus]

Hi Charlie

How did you make out with the longer bolts. I have the same saw and I am out .008 in the rear. If you do well with the PALS, then I will follow suit.

Did you find access to the trunnions to be difficult, or was access thru the motor cover and from underneath easy? Any tips would be appreciated. Where did you find the 8MM Pals kit?

Russell