dado/tablesaw question

[Chris Brault]

I bought a hitachi c10Fl tablesaw a few months ago and just purchased a freud dado set for it. I did quite a little bit of research before i bought it and figured it would be the perfect saw for me, on a budget of course and only 120 volt service. I've like the saw alot so far--just doing straight ripping with it. I've never noticed the blade dropping , just ripping boards of course. Put the dado set on today, well now I'm noticing it!!!

There's no way of locking the up and down movement of the blade. It has a blade "angle" lock lever. So, anyways, after a little while the blade ever so slowly drifts down--roughly a 32nd or so every 10 minutes, maybe a little more?????

Any suggestions for this at all?? Or am I just stuck , because I bought a fairly inexpensive tablesaw? I noticed in the grizzly catalog one of the models right at 1000 says chrome handles with "lock" on both.

I'm just kind of wondering now on a big project if this is going to really set me back--cutting alot of dado's, readjusting the saw, slop, etc.?? Or am I being too picky? I'm a beginning woodworker obviously, so you guys tell me-----am I going to notice this in a big project with alot of dado's??Any help would be appreciated!!!!!:)

[Andrew Williams]

I would call Hitachi and complain

A TS should maintain depth of cut.

[Doug Shepard]

Have you tried only raising it into the desired height vs lowering it down to the desired height? It might have enough backlash that you always have to set the height by raising into it.

[Greg Sznajdruk]

I bought a hitachi c10Fl tablesaw a few months ago and just purchased a freud dado set for it. I did quite a little bit of research before i bought it and figured it would be the perfect saw for me, on a budget of course and only 120 volt service. I've like the saw alot so far--just doing straight ripping with it. I've never noticed the blade dropping , just ripping boards of course. Put the dado set on today, well now I'm noticing it!!!

There's no way of locking the up and down movement of the blade. It has a blade "angle" lock lever. So, anyways, after a little while the blade ever so slowly drifts down--roughly a 32nd or so every 10 minutes, maybe a little more?????

Any suggestions for this at all?? Or am I just stuck , because I bought a fairly inexpensive tablesaw? I noticed in the grizzly catalog one of the models right at 1000 says chrome handles with "lock" on both.

I'm just kind of wondering now on a big project if this is going to really set me back--cutting alot of dado's, readjusting the saw, slop, etc.?? Or am I being too picky? I'm a beginning woodworker obviously, so you guys tell me-----am I going to notice this in a big project with alot of dado's??Any help would be appreciated!!!!!:)


If there ends up no way to lock the blade hight then an router may be the way out of this predicament. A reasonably good router is not likely to slip.

Greg

[glenn bradley]

This is one of the things that made me upgrade my first TS. I'm not sure how much room is between the cabinet and the back side of your height wheel but . . . my fix to get me by was to shove a rubber wedge-style door stop between the back of the height wheel and the cabinet body. It worked good enough to get me through to the next TS.

[joe pezza]

chris,

is it a benchtop model? and if so, are you sure you can put a dado blade on it? owners manuel will or should say?

[Chris Brault]

OK, thanks guys for the advice! I had a gut feeling i was in a pinch. I have to honestly say if I had known about this before i bought it, I would have saved my money for a better saw and for an electrician to upgrade me to 220. I've got plenty of free circuits in my service panel in house.

I wasn't trying to be a "tightwad" when I bought this saw. Just tryed to get what i needed for once---instead of going overboard like I usually do on most things.

You know another thing strange about this. I went over to hitachi.com yesterday and checked out there "big brother" saw to this one. It sells for around 1000. I saw a review on it that said it was a real good saw. I looked in the manual on that saw and it looks to me it doesn't have a lock either. It must have , maybe i missed it?

Does anybody know if the grizzly 2HP hybrid for 725 has a blade height lock??? That was the saw I was originally going to get-------------------and still may!!!!!!!!!!!!!:)

[Curt Harms]

I checked Grizzly's online manuals. The hybrid does have a height lock but doesn't appear to have a bevel lock like the 1023 series.

HTH

Curt

OK, thanks guys for the advice! I had a gut feeling i was in a pinch. I have to honestly say if I had known about this before i bought it, I would have saved my money for a better saw and for an electrician to upgrade me to 220. I've got plenty of free circuits in my service panel in house.

I wasn't trying to be a "tightwad" when I bought this saw. Just tryed to get what i needed for once---instead of going overboard like I usually do on most things.

You know another thing strange about this. I went over to hitachi.com yesterday and checked out there "big brother" saw to this one. It sells for around 1000. I saw a review on it that said it was a real good saw. I looked in the manual on that saw and it looks to me it doesn't have a lock either. It must have , maybe i missed it?

Does anybody know if the grizzly 2HP hybrid for 725 has a blade height lock??? That was the saw I was originally going to get-------------------and still may!!!!!!!!!!!!!:)

[Ed Falis]

I think Curt is giving you a hint.

[Chris Brault]

Yes, I think Curt is!!!! I just wrote hitachi customer service asking them about this? I checked my receipt on it this morning and I bought it at lowe's on 4/15/07, just past the 90 days. The saw has a 2 year warranty, but I doubt this is a warranty issue.

[Pat Germain]

I think it's reasonable for you to expect the blade height to remain constant on your saw for more than ten minutes. I don't think one should have to buy high-end saw for such a "feature". I would think a blade lock is extra insurance to keeping the blade height constant.

I use an old Craftsman contractor saw. It doesn't have a blade lock and I've never had a problem with the blade height changing as I use it. Now, if I was doing production work for hours at a time, I might have a problem. However, for what I do, it hasn't been a problem.

I could be way off here, but it seems to me any table saw which won't keep the blade height steady for more than ten minutes is seriously flawed.

[Maurice Ungaro]

Chris,
If you are inclined to take it back to Lowe's, go and speak to the store manager. He/she may be able to flex a few days on that 90 day return policy.

[Bob Childress]

FWIW, I have that same saw. It is a contractor-grade saw, not a bench top.

I have never, ever, experienced the blade changing height over any amount of use and I use the same Freud dado set you have. I think yours is defective and they should replace it under warranty or fix it. Period. Not acceptable.

When set up properly I have found it to be a good saw. :)

[scott spencer]

That's a bummer Chris, but useful info to know for potential buyer's. Most saws have a height lock.

Maybe it'd be possible to place something like a Quickgrip clamp across the wheel and use the tail of the clamp to stop against the underside of the table as an adhoc locking device. Haven't tried it but it's cheap, easy, and low risk to experiment with.

http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/I/31V35GE49PL._SS500_.jpg