Minimax CU300 setup

[mark mcfarlane]

I'll probably be posting several questions here over the next week or two as I set up a new-from-the-factory CU300.

After some cajoling with a two by four (tip from salesman) I finally got the shaper spindle to move up and down. I can't get the shaper spindle below the table bed with all of the spacers and bolts on.

1) Am I supposed to remove the spacers and the bolt on top of the spindle when I am not using the shaper, or is the shaper spindle bottoming out earlier than it should?

Picture somehow was rotated 90 degrees clockwise after upload....

368673

[Joshua Bass]

I'll probably be posting several questions here over the next week or two as I set up a new-from-the-factory CU300.

After some cajoling with a two by four (tip from salesman) I finally got the shaper spindle to move up and down. I can't get the shaper spindle below the table bed with all of the spacers and bolts on.

1) Am I supposed to remove the spacers and the bolt on top of the spindle when I am not using the shaper, or is the shaper spindle bottoming out earlier than it should?

Picture somehow was rotated 90 degrees clockwise after upload....

368673

Have you contacted Sam Blasco? He is extremely helpful with Minimax questions.

[mark mcfarlane]

Have you contacted Sam Blasco? He is extremely helpful with Minimax questions.

Never mind question 1 about the spacers. Yes, Sam said to store them in a container with desiccant.

[Jim Becker]

I hope you plan a little field trip to visit Sam sometime...you will learn a huge number of tricks and jigs by seeing his machinery setups. You know...a "Texas-Stay-Cation" :)

[mark mcfarlane]

I hope you plan a little field trip to visit Sam sometime...you will learn a huge number of tricks and jigs by seeing his machinery setups. You know...a "Texas-Stay-Cation" :)

I hope to do so some day this winter, I need a few projects under my belt on the machines.

[mark mcfarlane]

Second question.

I have a small alignment problem, a clamped 1*2 was cut as expected entering the blade, and then is getting slightly shaved at the back of the blade.

2) Is the slider not parallel to the blade, or can their be another problem?

[Bob Varney]

Mark,
I believe the slider should toe out from blade a .001 or so. Since you have a shaper too it is more important not to have too much toe out.

Bob

[john lawson]

Mark,
I believe the slider should toe out from blade a .001 or so. Since you have a shaper too it is more important not to have too much toe out.

Bob

I have seen different numbers on the amount of "runout" that is needed. I set mine up this way using a dial indicator locked in the track. I got about .0005 in 6"-8" which is how much of the blade I could keep the indicator on before it hit a tooth. I extrapolated that to about .010" over the stroke of the slider. In my case that is about 65".

When you are satisfied be sure to check the "fence" on the slider using the five sided cut. If you are not familiar with it do a search and follow the instructions, very important.

[mark mcfarlane]

Thanks Bob and John. I am familiar with the 5-cut method for crosscut fence adjustment. FWIW, it doesn't seem like the crosscut squareness would cause what I am witnessing, where the blade is cutting on the back teeth after the front teeth have already cut the wood.

By toe-out, do you mean I should have a larger gap between slider and the back of the blade, versus the front? I seem to have the opposite situation, otherwise I wouldn't hit the back of the blade after going through the front of it.

3) Is the blade 'parallelness to the sider' adjusted by moving the blade or the slider on this saw? If it is the slider, I might leave it alone at least for now. From what I have read adjusting the slider is a long process and I am likely to make things worse. As I said, it is currently just shaving the board at the back of the blade. You can hear it and barely see it.

I have a dial caliper so I'll try to measure distance from slider slot to front and back of blade this week, but I just got all my ductwork today so I have a fun task ahead.

[john lawson]

Yes, for me toe out or toe in means adjusting the slider, do not attempt to adjust the blade unless there is something grossly out of alignment. To adjust it there are (on my cu300) a pair of adjusting nuts on the front and back of the machine, so four in total. You loosen the top ones and then you can swing the entire slider either away or toward the front of the blade. In my case, and sounds like yours you would slide the back to the left, or the front to right. I loosened mine only enough to be able to move it with a little effort. My slider was also sitting too high and these are the same nuts used to adjust that. I loosened all the top nuts then lowered the bottom nuts exactly the same amount to maintain parallel, then checked everything for still being in plane across the top. I also had to adjust my rip fence, the traditional one that sits to the right of the blade. I got my machine used, it's a 2002 model year and I'm pretty sure it had never been adjusted.

Now, especially on longer stroke machines, many people will tell you not to touch the slider height adjustment until you have leveled the machine in position and let it find it's own level for a few months. If you had the 8' slider I would wait. If you have the short slider and have it leveled I would go ahead and adjust the height. Again most of the people I have talked with suggest the slider should be .010 to .015 higher than the table saw surface.

Some of this is spelled out in the manual and you can find some of it online with searches.

[mark mcfarlane]

Thanks John for the instructions. This raises question 4. I have an 8 footer.

4) How level is level enough and what are people using as shims?

I'm not talking about coplanar components, simply how level (relative to the local gravitational field) does a saw table really need to be? If the whole table tilts uniformly 1/32" from left to right, is that really meaningful?

I have one corner currently shimmed with 1/8" plywood, but now I am down to using paper as shims and I doubt the paper will hold up. Eventually I guess I should plane some hard maple or something similar to use as the floor shims.

[Andy Giddings]

Thanks John for the instructions. This raises question 4. I have an 8 footer.

4) How level is level enough and what are people using as shims?

I'm not talking about coplanar components, simply how level (relative to the local gravitational field) does a saw table really need to be? If the whole table tilts uniformly 1/32" from left to right, is that really meaningful?

I have one corner currently shimmed with 1/8" plywood, but now I am down to using paper as shims and I doubt the paper will hold up. Eventually I guess I should plane some hard maple or something similar to use as the floor shims.
For me, the most important point - are all of the feet are in contact with the ground (and not suspended)? I have 6 adjustable feet on my combi so its fairly easy to check and resolve. I did level it out and marked the floor around the feet so that I can replicate after moving it, but I don't believe it affects machine performance at all, just me being anal.

[Jim Becker]

I agree with Andy...it needs to be "firmly rooted" on the floor. A slight, but consistent slope shouldn't be a major issue. Since my shop floor is sloped (building was a garage structure originally) I purposely placed the slider perpendicular to the slope and raised the front to get the machine "close to level". The only machine in my shop that I've found a need to have "perfectly level" is my lathe.

[mark mcfarlane]

Yes, for me toe out or toe in means adjusting the slider, do not attempt to adjust the blade unless there is something grossly out of alignment. To adjust it there are (on my cu300) a pair of adjusting nuts on the front and back of the machine, so four in total. You loosen the top ones and then you can swing the entire slider either away or toward the front of the blade. ....

John, see attached pic. Are these the wagon adjusting nuts you are talking about? There are 5 such black steel bolts on my CU300, two on each end and one in the middle (right behind the shaper spindle elevation crank). There is also a 6th adjustment point, a metal rod that extends under the infeed side to support the 8.5' slider.

There are also a couple of light-duty silver bolts right next to these heavy duty black bolts, of which purpose I don't know.

FWIW, My wagon alignment is pretty bad, it is well above the table on the infeed side, and then slopes into the cast saw table on the outfeed side, so my straight edge sitting on the aluminum wagon glides well above the infeed side of the cast table, and then drags on the cast table on the outfeed side. I think I will need to adjust it all now, then maybe do a second adjustment after a few months.