Table saw rip blade wobble

[Thomas Williams]

I am ripping poplar on my TS (old Craftsman ) with a Freud full kerf rip blade LM72. About 2 feet into the board the blade starts to wobble like it is loose. The blade is fairly sharp. I do not think it is the bearings in the saw has I have been cutting plywood with another blade with no trouble.
I sure would appreciate any trouble shooting suggestions (besides replacing the Craftsman, not in the budget )

[Tom Pritchard]

Thomas, I used to have an older Craftsman that I would need to check and tighten the mounting bolts for the treaded rods that tilt and raise the motor. When you turn off the saw and unplug it, can you grab the blade with a rag and move it side to side? If you can, you should be able to look underneath while moving the blade and see what's moving. Hopefully it isn't the arbor bearings showing up with the heavier blade and wider kerf....

Keep us posted on what you find. Good luck

[Bob Wingard]

I am ripping poplar on my TS (old Craftsman ) with a Freud full kerf rip blade LM72. About 2 feet into the board the blade starts to wobble like it is loose. The blade is fairly sharp. I do not think it is the bearings in the saw has I have been cutting plywood with another blade with no trouble.
I sure would appreciate any trouble shooting suggestions (besides replacing the Craftsman, not in the budget )

If the blade is getting too hot, it may be warping .. .. I've had this happen once while ripping a bunch of plywood. The blade warped so bad, it scraped the sides of a stock throat plate. When it cooled down, it flattened out perfectly again.

[Charles McCracken]

Thomas,

I think you should perform the check that Tom suggested first and also check the runout of the blade and arbor. If all seems okay the blade may be improperly tensioned or may have lost its tensioning. If the problem persists since you may need to take advantage of the warranty on the blade:
http://www.freudtools.com/about_freud/life_grntee.html