Blade alignment issues on table saw

[Scott Kies]

Hi,

I have a Delta contractors saw and recently developed recurring blade alignment problems. It appears to be caused when I tilt the blade beyond roughly 25 degrees. When I do this the blade is out of alignment by easily as much a 1/16 of an inch or more.

Any idea what might be causing this to occur? It is really annoying me and any insight would be helpful.

Scott

[John Goodridge]

This is posted in the woodcarvers forum. You will likely have better luck if you post in one of the other forums here.

[Norman Hitt]

Scott, search the archives for tablesaw setup, (I can't rememberthe thread title or the orig Poster, since it's been maybe two years ago or more), and I'm out of town for a while and away from "MY" computer. I replied to the poster with a particular article in one of the American Woodworker Magazines that discussed your problem and gave the absolute best and most complete details of how to correct this problem, that I have seen anywhere. The problem is that somehow your saw has gotten out of tune with reference to the mounting of the arbor to the table and either the front or back mounting points need to be shimmed to correct the problem.

You will first need to be sure the blade is perfectly aligned with the miter slot when it is at 90* before proceeding with the tilt problem.

Next, you need to tilt the blade to 45* and then lay a straight edge against the blade (on the 45* angle side, and then measure from the mitre slot to the edge of the straight edge that is touching the blade, at both the infeed and outfeed side of the table.
(Note: Using this method with the straight edge gives a finer adjustment reading because it is over a longer distance than just measuring at the front and back of the blade. you do need to make sure the straight edge is against the body of the blade and not touching any of the teeth at either end of the blade).

(Note: on Right tilt saws, measure from the right miter slot, and for left tilt saws, measure from the left miter slot)

If the blade is closer to the miter slot at the infeed side than the outfeed side, you will need to shim between the table and arbor mount (at both bolts) at the Outfeed mount.

Conversely, if the blade is closer to the miter slot at the outfeed side, you will need to shim between the table and the arbor mount (at both bolts) at the Infeed mount.

You will have to play with it to determine the thickness of the shims needed to get it perfect.

Once you have gotten the tilt problem corrected, be SURE to go back and recheck the alignment at the 90* blade position, (and most likely you will need to tweak this again after having the arbor mount/mounts loosened , but this tweaking should not affect the tilt tuning at this point.

Hope this helps, and good luck.

Let us know how it works out.