Jet Pro Shop table saw question

[Don Williams Michigan]

Everyone,

I purchased a new Jet Pro Shop 10" hybrid table saw over a year ago. It has the fence system that came with it. I have had a hard time squaring everything up and cannot seem to get the accuracy I had hoped for.

I have been told that putting on an aftermarket fence is wasting money and that the Jet saw will never be as precise as a good cabinet saw.

Can you offer any advice that will help with these issues? I am really not in a position to purchase a new table saw at this time.

Thanks,

[Prashun Patel]

"I have been told that putting on an aftermarket fence is wasting money and that the Jet saw will never be as precise as a good cabinet saw."

I disagree with this statement. I have a Jet Proshop, and IMHO, the fence is the BEST thing about it. Mine was square out of the box, and has remained so for over 2 years so far.

Perhaps what he meant was that the Jet Proshop's trunions are harder to adjust than a cabinet saw's.

Now, the JPS10 will never be as POWERFUL as a cabinet saw at 3hp+, which means muscling thru 2"+ hardwood can be tougher on our saw, but as for precision and accuracy, I hope my next saw is as good as this one.

I do think it's worthwhile to get an aftermarket miter gauge (I have the Incra).

[scott spencer]

There should be some way of adjusting that fence square. Even if the fence tube has some minor bow to it, you should be able to shim it.

I agree with Shawn's comments.

[Lori Kleinberg]

I have the Jet ProShop probably just shy of 2 years. I love this saw, and it fits my shop perfectly. I seriously doubt I will ever replace this saw.
Just follow directions in manual (not trying to be insulting) to adjust the fence. It takes a little playing with, but since I set it, its been great.

[Don Williams Michigan]

I appreciate all of your comments and quite frankly, feel better about my purchase.

I have tried multiple times to square everything up. I am not sure about using a shim on the fence. Can you direct me to the proper technique? I am sure this is not in the manual.

Thanks,

[Bas Pluim]

I also have the JPS-10, it's a great saw. Squaring up the fence is pretty straightforward. The manual does a good job of walking you through the process. What you need is a dial indicator (which you can get at Harbor Freight for $10 - $15) and a simple jig.
Here is the one made by Joe Scharle, I copied his design:
http://www.ncwoodworker.net/pp/data/194/Alignment_Setup.JPG

In the picture, you can see how the dial indicator is used to ensure the blade is parallel to the miter slot: Measure the tooth at the front, the rotate the blade away from you so the tooth is on the opposite side, slide the jig down and measure again.

Assuming your blade is parallel to the miter slot (within 0.003"), you can then use the same jig to check the fence. Lower the blade below the table, slide the fence to roughly where the blade is, and measure at the front and back of the fence. Ideally, you want the far side of the fence to be toed out by 0.002", to reduce the chance of kickback. My fence has a slight "wave" in it, it dimples in by .002" and sticks out by .001" in a couple of spots. Nothing to worry about. If your fence is really badly warped, you could just attach something flat against it. I've seen postings here where people used Corian, but a stable hardwood or piece of MDF will work too.

Building a jig like this takes a little time (or you can buy a commercial one (http://www.ts-aligner.com/tsalignerjr.htm)). Squaring things up takes a little time as well. If the blade isn't parallel to the miter slot, adjusting the trunnions takes a lot more time. But it's all well worth it, just be prepared to be frustrated that such tiny adjustments take so much effort :-) I don't think an aftermarket fence can give you better results than the fence system that comes with the saw, and even if you bought the absolute top of the line you'd still need to square it up.

[glenn bradley]

+1 on putting in some time and/or money. Dad always said something like "Time or money; one way or the other, you gotta pay". In the case of contractor saws and a lack of funds to forklift upgrade, small items can yield large results.

I put an Align-a-Rip on an old C-man contractor along with the other usual suspects; machined pulleys, link belt, solid wings and so forth. It served me well for years and still serves dear old dad today.

[Matthew Hills]

I appreciate all of your comments and quite frankly, feel better about my purchase.

I have tried multiple times to square everything up. I am not sure about using a shim on the fence. Can you direct me to the proper technique? I am sure this is not in the manual.

How is your miter slot to blade alignment? When you do this, make sure you rotate the blade so that you are measuring distance to same tooth each time. (this helps to avoid getting mixed up by a warped blade or arbor). I haven't made any adjustments to my table alignment -- pretty small error.

For fence, is your aluminum face flat?

You know about the threaded nylon nuts to adjust the angle of your fence?

Why do you think you have alignment errors? have you measured it, or are you getting binding in your cuts?

I'd also be really careful on alignment of the splitter. I had trouble with mine, and it was fiddly, fiddly, fiddly...

Matt

[Larry Rasmussen]

I took delivery of one of these for my small garage shop last October. Due to some of those big dog life disasters I have used it little but did get it set up ok. I think you are being way too general. I'm not sure if there was more than one type of fence but lets assume your is the good kind. In order to know how to describe what is right we need to know what is wrong first. I can't locate my manual at the moment and I am suppost to be working on taxes. However I will check in occasionally over the next few days and go out and locate that sucker if I see you are hung up without an answer. It's like right there, I know it.

OK so start at the beginning. I was going to say it is probably checking the blade and miter slot to left of blade to see if the distance in front of blade and back are equal or rather if they are exactly parallel. There is one picture below us using the gauge for this. Confirm for us if they are exactly even or a little off. Only then turn the page for next step. If the blade isn't aligned with at least the one miter slot on the left you have to fix this before you move on. They tend to be adjusted up well per my reading of reviews, mine was fine. There are instuctions to adjust this blade alignment though.

Next I think is making sure the fence is aligned with that left miter slot and so on. Tell us where you get stopped and wisdom will rain down on you. Check the rails before you start working on the fence.

Good luck,
Larry,
Seattle

[Jon Lanier]

http://www.ncwoodworker.net/pp/data/194/Alignment_Setup.JPG


BAS.... thanks for that pic and idea. I've been trying to figure out how to put my HF version on my saw.

[Burton Jussi]

I also have the JPS-10, it's a great saw. Squaring up the fence is pretty straightforward. The manual does a good job of walking you through the process. What you need is a dial indicator (which you can get at Harbor Freight for $10 - $15) and a simple jig.
Here is the one made by Joe Scharle, I copied his design:
http://www.ncwoodworker.net/pp/data/194/Alignment_Setup.JPG

In the picture, you can see how the dial indicator is used to ensure the blade is parallel to the miter slot: Measure the tooth at the front, the rotate the blade away from you so the tooth is on the opposite side, slide the jig down and measure again.

Assuming your blade is parallel to the miter slot (within 0.003"), you can then use the same jig to check the fence. Lower the blade below the table, slide the fence to roughly where the blade is, and measure at the front and back of the fence. Ideally, you want the far side of the fence to be toed out by 0.002", to reduce the chance of kickback. My fence has a slight "wave" in it, it dimples in by .002" and sticks out by .001" in a couple of spots. Nothing to worry about. If your fence is really badly warped, you could just attach something flat against it. I've seen postings here where people used Corian, but a stable hardwood or piece of MDF will work too.

Building a jig like this takes a little time (or you can buy a commercial one (http://www.ts-aligner.com/tsalignerjr.htm)). Squaring things up takes a little time as well. If the blade isn't parallel to the miter slot, adjusting the trunnions takes a lot more time. But it's all well worth it, just be prepared to be frustrated that such tiny adjustments take so much effort :-) I don't think an aftermarket fence can give you better results than the fence system that comes with the saw, and even if you bought the absolute top of the line you'd still need to square it up.


How did you attach the dial indicator to the wood?