Contractor Saw Adjustment

[Steve Roxberg]

Well, I just did something pretty darn stupid. I have the back of my contractor saw enclosed to help with dust collection. I went to adjust the saw blade to ensure that it was at a perfect 90 degrees to the table.

So I decide to go ahead and adjust both of the stops for 45 and 90.

You see where this is going, I decide to take the saw to 45 and it fights back a little. I'm thinking the gears are dirtly and it just needs a little more force. (NO, I have not removed the back which does not allow tilting the blade). I remove the back and complete my adjustment and to my amazement the zero clearance throat plate needs to be recut????

YES, I have totaly thrown the trunions out of adjustment. Beside the obvious adjustment to the upper truntion bolts (the ones connected to the underside of the top) do you think I also torqued the bars as well, and if yes how do you adjust those?

Any advice on how to tune this up would be appreciated, or warnings on things to check.

So much for my first dovetails this evening with my new Leigh D4.

[Mark Rios]

I will look forward to any info on adjusting the trunion bar thingys as well however I can recommend the Contractor PALS from In-Line Industries. This kit makes adjusting the blade much easier than tapping (ya right!) on the trunions per the manufacturers instructions.

http://in-lineindustries.com/

http://in-lineindustries.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=II&Product_Code=38SB&Category_Code=CSP

As an added gift to your saw, may I also recommend In-Line's link belt and balanced pulley kit. Very sweet and smooooooooth. They are very helpful and friendly on the phone.

[scott spencer]

Hi Steve - You're not alone! I did something similar with my former GI contractor saw, but I lifted my solid hard maple workbench with the motor. It knocked out the trunnion alignment pretty badly, but did not twist the connecting rods out of whack.

I did the typical loosening of all four trunnion bolts to recenter it, lightly snugged one front bolt, then painstakingly aligned it. I also added a set of PALS while I was at it...$20 well spent. With any luck at all, all you'll need to do is adjust the trunnions, but I've read that Delta's website has instructions for adjusting the connecting rods if needed.

Good luck!

[Steve Roxberg]

I may already have it back in alignment, having done it twice before sure helps. But how would I even measure if the bars/trunion thingies are out of whack.

Would that show when the blade is tilted to 45 degrees? It's dead on at 90 degrees to the table right now to the left miter slot.

I may buy the machined pulley's but I already have the link belt and it was a big help.

You really feel like a fool and man it was out by a ton, I'm really lucky that the zero clearance throat plate had to be cut again. It made my brain stop and say somethings wrong, otherwise I would have tried some cuts with the blade skewed towards the fence, not a good thing.

Does anyone even use the positive stops for 45 and 90, or just use a ruler each time?

[Basil Rathbone]

Gee, you guys have me scared now. Sooner or later I was going to start refurbishing my Beaver 5200 without knowing where to start. Now it may be later rather than sooner. It has the motor hanging off the back and I figured that there aren't that many things that can go wrong, but ignorance is bliss.

I may be calling on you later!!

Basil

[Steve Roxberg]

Don't be that concerned, it took me less than an hour and I'll have to admit that it took 20 minutes to find the rachet for my socket set.

It's not bad, but you need a procedure.

[Mike Canaris]

Steve..to check if the connecting rods are perfectly aligned..get a piece of glass and place it on them..if it wiggles..they are not set right...and everytime you set it for a 45 you'll throw it out of alignment.