Table Saw Alignment Question

[Chip Byrd]

Hello,

I have a Delta 36-725 that I purchased from Lowes. Out of the box, it was about 3 thousandths off which was good. After several major projects I checked it and it was out by 13 thousandths. I don't know if I bumped it or what happened, but I pulled out my A-Line It and started to square things up. After some shifting and moving of things, I am about 2 - 3 thousandths off. Great, right? Nope. Somehow my fence is way out of alignment with the blade.

I tried from the left and right miter slot and both gave similar results--blade run out of 2 - 3 thousandths. Yet, if I line the fence up with the miter slot it is off enough to see it clearly by eye in relationship to the blade. I tried two different blades (one a WWII) and used a Wixey to make sure it was at 90 degrees.

The blade is aligned to both miter slots, but if I line the fence up with the miter slots it's out of whack.

I am relatively new to woodworking and this really has me befuddled.

Any constructive suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Chip

[Bruce Page]

It has the Biesemeyer fence, right? Check your manual, the fence is adjustable.

[Garth Almgren]

You might want to pick up some PALS (http://in-lineindustries.com/products/contractor-saw-pals/), really helps to dial in that last 2-3 thou in the blade. Align the blade to the miter slots, then align the fence to the miter slots. Make sure you're picking one tooth on your blade to measure from. You might want to check the arbor runout if all else fails - even in a new saw there might be bearing or arbor defects.

[Chip Byrd]

Thanks for the replies.

I am content with the blade being 2-3 thousandths off from the miter slot. The problem is when I align the fence to the miter it is way off square in relationship to the blade.

It doesn't make sense, I know.

[Bruce Page]

When you align the miter slot to the blade are you using the same spot on the blade? You should mark a dot on your blade with a pencil/sharpie and zero your indicator on the dot. Rotate the blade as far as you can and move the indicator to the dot. you should shoot for as close to zero between the two positions as you can.
If the miter slot is zero to the blade and the fence is zero to the miter then the fence has to be zero to the blade as well.

[Brian Henderson]

How are you checking blade alignment to the miter slots? Mark one tooth on the blade and measure to the slot, then rotate the blade around and check the exact same tooth to the miter slot at the rear of the blade. Is it the same? If so, or within an acceptable margin, do the same thing against the fence. The blade isn't necessarily perfectly flat, that could cause fluctuations, the surface of the fence might not be perfectly flat and your arbor might not be perfectly straight, all of these things could cause issues when measuring.

[Garth Almgren]

Is your miter slot a consistent width? Does your fence maybe have a warp in one if it's faces? Warped blade maybe?

That's about all I can think of. If the blade is aligned to the miter, and the fence is aligned to the miter, then the fence should also be aligned to the blade.

[David Ragan]

My top of the line Sawstop w a special plate designed for this gets it down to about 2-3k. After a while fiddling w it, very methodically, i decided it was close enuff
in the end i just protected myself against kickback and put up the gages

[Wakahisa Shinta]

Did you go through the fence alignment procedure outlined on page 29 of the manual? There are two set screws (part #114 in the part diagram) that you can adjust to align the fence parallel to the miter slot.

[scott spencer]

In a perfect world, both should be in alignment. To cover the basics, you are clamping the fence down before checking the alignment, correct? If things are reasonably close, IMHO, it's more important that the fence and blade be in alignment with each other than the miter slots.

It's worth checking that the miter slots are perfectly straight....same goes for the fence. Sometimes they're not.

[Chip Byrd]

Thanks for the replies.

I have tried on two different blades and I did mark the blade with a sharpie and then spin it around. I am using a A-Line It kit.

I will check tomorrow to make sure the miters are perfectly parallel.

[Don Jarvie]

As a few have said above you need to adjust your fence to the saw. You set the miter slot to the blade and that should be close then set the fence to the blade. If the fence is Bies it can be adjusted.

[David Ragan]

Did you go through the fence alignment procedure outlined on page 29 of the manual? There are two set screws (part #114 in the part diagram) that you can adjust to align the fence parallel to the miter slot.


Yes, I did everything according to the manual. I tired of measuring and adjusting. It beat me.

[Lee Schierer]

Did you raise the blade up as high as it would go to do the alignment? Don't use a tooth, use the flat part of the blade holding the tooth.

Are you using a dial indicator? Do you get repeatable results when you check the blade without changing anything?

[David Ragan]

Did you raise the blade up as high as it would go to do the alignment? Don't use a tooth, use the flat part of the blade holding the tooth.

Are you using a dial indicator? Do you get repeatable results when you check the blade without changing anything?

Yes, I did all that. Got repeatable results. I finally tired of messing with it for 2-3K.

Test, reset/adjust, test again.

Maybe the problem with the 2-3K runout was my gage or I shoulda used a blade instead of the MasterGage MasterPlate--designed for that. At any rate, unless I have a problem with it, am not going through all that again:)

I used to shoot benchrest.....there, 2-3K on a case length, neck thickness/runout, etc can be a big deal.

[Lee Schierer]

You always need to remember that you are working with wood and it can change dimensionally .002-.003 in just a couple of days due to relative humidity changes. Even so, you should be able to adjust your saw with a dial indicator closer than .002-.003 and it should remain there during most normal use for at lest several years.

[David Ragan]

You always need to remember that you are working with wood and it can change dimensionally .002-.003 in just a couple of days due to relative humidity changes. Even so, you should be able to adjust your saw with a dial indicator closer than .002-.003 and it should remain there during most normal use for at lest several years.

Exactly......