Jay Knoll
03-13-2006, 3:40 PM
So, as I was walking around the woodworking show in Orlando I noticed that many of the demonstrators were using little saws, one the same Dewalt 10" bench top that I use, with super accurate cuts.
Of course we all know that the demo machines are tuned to a "T" and very ever readjusted (at least that is my assumption) once they are dead on. Never the less I thought I'd try to get some better performance out of my saw. I'm running a Forrest WWII (can't remember how long it has been on) so I guess the first thing is to get it resharpened.
I've never used a dial indicator before, so apologies to the gear heads in the group with my dumb questions, I guess I should have taken machine shop!
I checked my blade and it is dead on at 90 degrees with the table according to my Starret combination square.
I attached the dial indicator to a piece of wood, and clamped that onto my miter gauge. It is tight in the slot, no slop at all.
If I zero the gauge at the front edge of the fence and then move it to the back the indicator reads 4. I don't know if this is 4/1,000 or 4/10,000. In any event, since it is reading on the plus side of zero I assume that this means that the fence is "toed in" on the back side -- a bad thing I assume.
Then if I put the indicator on the blade below the gullets, zero it and then spin the blade it goes up to 5 and then back down to zero (is this run out?)
If I put the indicator on the same blade tooth in the front of the saw and zero it and then move it to the back it reads -5.
Given that this is a bench top job site saw with a plastic base and an aluminum top are these results indicative of a problem? Can I improve performance with some tuning? I can move the saw blade to get it parallel to the miter and then adjust the fence to the blade, but I'm wondering if I'm trying to achieve a degree of accuracy that is inherently impossible in such a "low mass" saw.
Advice/thoughts are appreciated!
Jay
Of course we all know that the demo machines are tuned to a "T" and very ever readjusted (at least that is my assumption) once they are dead on. Never the less I thought I'd try to get some better performance out of my saw. I'm running a Forrest WWII (can't remember how long it has been on) so I guess the first thing is to get it resharpened.
I've never used a dial indicator before, so apologies to the gear heads in the group with my dumb questions, I guess I should have taken machine shop!
I checked my blade and it is dead on at 90 degrees with the table according to my Starret combination square.
I attached the dial indicator to a piece of wood, and clamped that onto my miter gauge. It is tight in the slot, no slop at all.
If I zero the gauge at the front edge of the fence and then move it to the back the indicator reads 4. I don't know if this is 4/1,000 or 4/10,000. In any event, since it is reading on the plus side of zero I assume that this means that the fence is "toed in" on the back side -- a bad thing I assume.
Then if I put the indicator on the blade below the gullets, zero it and then spin the blade it goes up to 5 and then back down to zero (is this run out?)
If I put the indicator on the same blade tooth in the front of the saw and zero it and then move it to the back it reads -5.
Given that this is a bench top job site saw with a plastic base and an aluminum top are these results indicative of a problem? Can I improve performance with some tuning? I can move the saw blade to get it parallel to the miter and then adjust the fence to the blade, but I'm wondering if I'm trying to achieve a degree of accuracy that is inherently impossible in such a "low mass" saw.
Advice/thoughts are appreciated!
Jay