Micah Puscheck
09-21-2020, 1:26 PM
Hello all!
Been lurking around for a while trying to soak up information on my first projects and finally joined up. Unfortunately, I'm making my introduction with a problem. I've been working on building a dining room table out of 8/4 stock and noticed that my table saw cuts were not square. Specifically, the stock and the cutoff were both slightly wider at the top than they were the bottom (typically around 2/100" or so). I could rip several strips of wood and they would all have the same issue. I also noticed that when I went to dry fit making the panel that the ends would join tightly but there would be a gap (another 1/100" or more, big enough to just see daylight through) towards the middle of the lengths.
I should note that I purchased it from a late in-law, and it's a low level Craftsman 137.248880.
I've done the following:
Adjust fence to be parallel with the saw - good thing to do, but didn't help my issue
Redoing the fence face with some plywood - wanted to make sure there weren't some irregularities from the actual fence. Several iterations made no difference in the outcome.
Used multiple new blades including a full kerf Freud Glue Line Rip Blade
Used square and digital indictor to confirm the blade is 90 to the table
Made cuts in two passes as 8/4 hard maple is pretty tough - No change and have had the same issue with 8/4 cherry and walnut.
Took the whole saw and motor apart and gave it a good cleaning
Replaced a frozen bearing at the furthest away from the arbor - Good to do, but this just fit into the plastic housing of the motor and had no difference on the outcome.
Replaced all the other bearings in the motor
The last piece is where I am currently. I realized that when the blade was on, there was a tiny (but perceptible) amount of wiggle coming from the arbor. To make a long story short, I've attached pictures showing the arbor, shaft, and housing for that piece. The bearing fits tightly on the shaft and the outside appears to be a slip fit into the housing. I used retaining compound on the housing fit (probably will regret that later...) to ensure that it was secure and remove a variable.
I now believe that the bearing itself has enough "play" between the inner and outer pieces that the arbor (and thus, the blade) is able to slightly deflect. I've replaced it with a new NTN bearing, but the new SKF bearing sitting next to me seems to have some wiggle in the same way. What I'm wondering is if it is just an economy table saw to be designed this way that or is there anything else that might help fix this issue?
Been lurking around for a while trying to soak up information on my first projects and finally joined up. Unfortunately, I'm making my introduction with a problem. I've been working on building a dining room table out of 8/4 stock and noticed that my table saw cuts were not square. Specifically, the stock and the cutoff were both slightly wider at the top than they were the bottom (typically around 2/100" or so). I could rip several strips of wood and they would all have the same issue. I also noticed that when I went to dry fit making the panel that the ends would join tightly but there would be a gap (another 1/100" or more, big enough to just see daylight through) towards the middle of the lengths.
I should note that I purchased it from a late in-law, and it's a low level Craftsman 137.248880.
I've done the following:
Adjust fence to be parallel with the saw - good thing to do, but didn't help my issue
Redoing the fence face with some plywood - wanted to make sure there weren't some irregularities from the actual fence. Several iterations made no difference in the outcome.
Used multiple new blades including a full kerf Freud Glue Line Rip Blade
Used square and digital indictor to confirm the blade is 90 to the table
Made cuts in two passes as 8/4 hard maple is pretty tough - No change and have had the same issue with 8/4 cherry and walnut.
Took the whole saw and motor apart and gave it a good cleaning
Replaced a frozen bearing at the furthest away from the arbor - Good to do, but this just fit into the plastic housing of the motor and had no difference on the outcome.
Replaced all the other bearings in the motor
The last piece is where I am currently. I realized that when the blade was on, there was a tiny (but perceptible) amount of wiggle coming from the arbor. To make a long story short, I've attached pictures showing the arbor, shaft, and housing for that piece. The bearing fits tightly on the shaft and the outside appears to be a slip fit into the housing. I used retaining compound on the housing fit (probably will regret that later...) to ensure that it was secure and remove a variable.
I now believe that the bearing itself has enough "play" between the inner and outer pieces that the arbor (and thus, the blade) is able to slightly deflect. I've replaced it with a new NTN bearing, but the new SKF bearing sitting next to me seems to have some wiggle in the same way. What I'm wondering is if it is just an economy table saw to be designed this way that or is there anything else that might help fix this issue?