Table Saw alinged on square Cuts - Gets out of alingnment on Bevel

[tim walker]

I had my table set square to .005" and was thrilled. Then tilted it for a 45 bevel cut and it got so out of alginment that it is pathetic. 0.010"

Anyoime have any idea what would cause this? It is a Powermatic 64 left tilt contractors saw.

Thanks all

[Barry O'Mahony]

I'm not an expert here, but I understand that this is not unusual for contractor-type saws.

[Dan Henry]

Your saw arbor is not in line with the table top horizontally, for a contractor saw, you will to install shims between the trunnion and the top. For a cabinet saw you put shims between the cabinet and the top. experiment with washers of different thickness and sees if the alignment gets better or worse.

I had the same problem, blade at 45 it was so tight that I had sever burning and almost to the point I could not push a piece through the blade.


I put washers between the cabinet and top on the front of the saw

Dan

[Jim VanBramer]

Been there! :( Tried to fix it! :eek: Sold it and bought a cabinet saw!!! :D :D :D

[Ronnie Ferrell]

I had my table set square to .005" and was thrilled. Then tilted it for a 45 bevel cut and it got so out of alginment that it is pathetic. 0.010"

Anyoime have any idea what would cause this? It is a Powermatic 64 left tilt contractors saw.

Thanks all
Shims are the answer. You can cut them out of anything. I've even used coke cans for shim material.

Be ready for a LOT of trial and error. Also a lot of time. You have to install shims, reset the alignment at 90, and then check 45. If it is still off, you have to add more shims and do the whole setup again.

With a left tilt saw and using the left miter as your alignment, if the front of the blade is closer to the miter at 45, you need to shim the back of the trunnion to lower it. If the back is closer to the miter, you have to shim the front on the trunnion.

I use thin sheets of brass or aluminum flashing to cut my shims. I make them "C" shaped to slip in between the trunnion and saw top.

Ronnie

[tim walker]

Thanks Ronnie, it appeared that the rear was farther away from the fence than the front, or possible greater than 45 degrees. Would the shims prevent this?

Thanks,

[Norman Hitt]

Thanks Ronnie, it appeared that the rear was farther away from the fence than the front, or possible greater than 45 degrees. Would the shims prevent this?

Thanks,

Tim, if all else fails, and you just can't get it where it is parallel to the fence when the blade is tilted, you can use a little cheat trick and make the cuts work out OK. Just tilt your blade to the desired angle, and then lay a straight board up against the blade so it touches all the way across the blade, and then fasten a sacrificial fence to your saw's fence, and use playing cards to shim it between the saw's fence and the sacrificial fence until the sacrificial fence is exactly parallel to the board laying against the tilted blade. You can then remove the board laying against the blade, set the fence to the width cut you desire, and make a perfect cut.
Note: This procedure would have to be redone for a cut at each different tilt angle, and the shims adjusted as necessary.

[Ronnie Ferrell]

Thanks Ronnie, it appeared that the rear was farther away from the fence than the front, or possible greater than 45 degrees. Would the shims prevent this?

Thanks,
Let me make sure I have your setup correct because it depends on what I tell you. Is this your setup:<o></o>
Your blade tilts to the left?<o></o>
You fence is to the right of the blade?<o></o>
The rear in farther away from the fence. As in when you cut a piece of wood using the fence, the piece of wood on the left side of the blade hits the back teeth of the saw blade when tilted 45 degrees?<o></o>If all of the above is true, then you need to place shims between the from trunnion mounts and the saws table. And yes, this will fix your issue. BUT it will take a lot or trial and error. The front of the blade is not directly below the mounting bolts, so if your blade is off by .005" more at 45, adding a .005" will not drop the front of the blade enough to correct the issue. You will need to use a shim thicker than your .005" correction. Again a lot of trial and error here. It take a lot of time as well!

I have to use .045" worth of shims under the front trunnion bolts to correct my contractor saw. I cut the shim stock (you can use coke cans for the stock) in about a 1" square. I then stack them and drill about a 3/8" hole in the middle with my drill press. Be sure to place then on a piece of scrap wood when drilling them. Then I take my tin snips and cut a groove out on one side to the drilled out whole. The final shims look like a square "C" shape.

If you want to get real anal (within .001" alignment) you can add layers of masking tape to the top of a shim to make it a little thicker.

HTH

Ronnie