I have table saw alignment quesitons

[Trevor Roeder]

I have a rigid R4512 with fence that came with it.

I was setting my fence with my combination square using the miter slot, I was about 1/64th off, so I set it and got it same distance.

I just got a dial indicator in today but have never used one.

Is the combination square good enough for this setting?

[Grant Wilkinson]

I set mine with a square and have never had any binding issues. I would guess that the dial indicator may be more accurate, but I don't have one, so ....

[Chris Padilla]

Probably...depends on how many times you dropped it. :)

The only way to know for sure is to get a really good square that has some guarantee of tolerance associated with it in order to check your square to see how square it is.

There are some tests you can do:

Butt your square (L) up to a piece of wood and draw a perpendicular (90*) line. Now turn the square over (backwards L) and without adjusting anything, draw the line again. If you can draw one line on top of the other, your square is square. If the lines diverge, then it isn't so square.

[Joe Scharle]

1/64" is too small for my eyes anymore, so I like the big dial indicator for close work. 0.0156 is more variance than I like so I get mine to .005-.008. Make or buy something like this and you can check both the blade and fence quickly.
Well, the site won't let me upload but someone else will have a pic; they're pretty common.

[Trevor Roeder]

Probably...depends on how many times you dropped it. :)

The only way to know for sure is to get a really good square that has some guarantee of tolerance associated with it in order to check your square to see how square it is.

There are some tests you can do:

Butt your square (L) up to a piece of wood and draw a perpendicular (90*) line. Now turn the square over (backwards L) and without adjusting anything, draw the line again. If you can draw one line on top of the other, your square is square. If the lines diverge, then it isn't so square.

Thanks for the tip, I will give that a try.
It's a Grizzly combination square.

[Joe Kieve]

If your saw blade is square with the miter gauge slot then you should be able to align the fence with the slot also. Flush the incoming end with the slot and set the outging end about 1/32" wider so that you won't get any binding between your guard and fence.
Hope you're using your guard or riving knife, whichever came with your saw.
Just my 2 cents.

joe

[Jim O'Dell]

You can use one of the adjustable squares to do this also. Only issue is how to tell how far out the back of the fence is from the miter slot. You want some, but not a lot. BUT, you can usually "feel" when the square quits rubbing on the fence and have a pretty good idea if you are in the ball park or not. I did that until I won one of the giveaways here a few years back for a gift certificate to Lee Valley. I purchased a dial indicator with it, then got an TS A Line It Jr. on sale and haven't looked back. Great combination. Jim.

[Joe Scharle]

Here's the jig pic...

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