rough saw cut

[Gene Miller]

I just replaced my stock blade with a new one from forrest. I'm still getting the same hash marks on the stock that I previously blamed on the original blade. I have a minimax cu300 smart combo. I get the marks on both sides of the blade. It doesn't matter if I use the slider or the rip fence. I can go down the street to a friends house with a benchtop saw and get a better cut. It's very disappointing to spend this kind of money and not get a better cut. Thanks for any help. Here a couple of pictures to hopefully help. Minimax has been great to me but they don't seem to have a fix for this problem. The top pic came off the slider if that helps.
http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/ee134/GeneMiller/th_hashmarks002.jpg (http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/ee134/GeneMiller/hashmarks002.jpg)
http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/ee134/GeneMiller/th_hashmarks001.jpg (http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/ee134/GeneMiller/hashmarks001.jpg)

[Mike Marcade]

Have you tried varying the speed at which you feed the stock through the saw? How is your saws alignment? (fence and blade parallel to miter slot, etc.)

[Al Killian]

Are you getting any vibration thru the saw? Try running the saw without the blade, if is vibrating , it could be a bearing problem.

[Randall Frey]

Well I am no expert but I can offer a few suggestions or things to consider.
I think a very close inspection of all mechanical involved would be 1st on my list.
* Maybe a burr on the arbor assembly where the blade face mounts against?
* Bearings on the arbor as previously posted?
* Is the fence solid?
* Feel the belts and run your fingers through the grooves in the pulleys.
* Check the pulley set screws for tightness.
* Get a dial indicator and check blade run-out.
* Crazy I know but if you have an amp meter I would check the amperage of the motor for any oddities.
Then I would go down the road of changing the task to see if the results improve.
* I like the idea of feed speed, my understanding is a rip should be a fast feed speed.
*Has the saw ever produced good results performing the same task?
* Do you get the same results on the same material if you lay the piece flat on the table and rip through the 3/4 dimension?
* If the material is held to the fence with feather boards does this help?
* The species of wood in your picture suggests a hardwood, have you tried pine or fir?
Good luck

[glenn bradley]

As both blades exhibit the problem have you checked your machine. Do any of your blades give you the result you are after? If not I would move past the blade to the next logical suspect.

[Gene Miller]

All are good suggestions. The saw is new so I would hope that it isn't a problem with a bearing. The problem is the same regardless of the material cut. I'm not sure of the correct feed speed but I have tried varying it and it doesn't seem to matter. I will look to see if there is a burr. As far as runout, what is acceptable? I could change out the belt to a linked one and see if that helps. There doesn't seem to be any vibration at all. Since the saw is a slider it doesn't have a miter slot so I don't know what I should check the blade against.

[Mike Marcade]

You would want to make sure the path of your slider is parallel to the blade (for square cuts) and the rip fence is parallel to the blade. Also what type of blade are you using? Number of teeth, tooth grind, etc?

[Gene Miller]

I just checked the run out of the arbor flange and it is 0. I also checked the arbor bolt and it also measures 0. The blade has a run out of .001. I don't know if that is acceptable or not. The blade is a forrest woodworker II 40 tooth. As far as the slider being parallel I'm not sure how to check it. I also don't know how to check if the rip fence is parallel. I also checked for burrs and there were none.

[Mike Marcade]

I think these are things that need to be verified. You will need to rig up a dial indicator to your slider somehow and measure to a tooth on the blade at the front. Then measure to the same tooth when the blade is rotated to the back. This measurement should be in the .001"-.003" vicinity. Then use the same type of dial indicator setup to measure from the slider to the front of the rip fence and then slide the slider to the rear and measure to the rear of the rip fence. Again you should get a value close to the above.

I am not really very familiar with the particulars of your saw. Maybe someone with more experience with the MM machines can chime in here.

[Gene Miller]

Mike you are exactly right. I did go through the saw with every bodys help and both the slider and the rip fence were out. Way out. Since I don't have a fixed miter slot I wasn't sure what to check the alignment with. I ended up using the blade and then rotating it so I could get the same measurement. I really wanted 2 points further apart so I could get it as accurate as possible. The rip was off by 3/16. I guess these are things to check when new but as I am also new at this I didn't know. The slider is a little more difficult to adjust but I kept going until the cut was clean. Now I have to check to make sure that I will end up with a square piece on the slider. That will have to wait until I can stop by orange and get a piece of ply. Thanks for all the help.

[Mike Marcade]

Good deal Gene! Glad we could help you out. :) That rip fence being that far out (especially if it gets closer to the blade in the rear) can be pretty dangerous.