Problem with table saw allignment-stumped

[Bob Rufener]

For some reason, without any explanation, my Jet 10" contractor is out of wack. It was cutting beautifully when all of a sudden, I noticed that a board I was cutting was binding. Upon checking my blade allignment, I noticed that the edge of the blade away from me is almost 1/8" closer to the fence than the front edge. My fence is true to the miter slot so that is not the problem. I have taken the saw apart and, if I loosen the trunnion bolts and slide it to one side in the rear of the saw and to the other side on the front of the saw, I still can't get it to line up. Any suggestions are appreciated.

[Chuck Lenz]

A set of PAL's should help. http://www.in-lineindustries.com/saw_pals.html

[Bob Rufener]

I have a set of Pals on the saw.

[James Suzda]

Bob,
I’d suggest that you forget about the saw and go to the Milwaukee WW show where you can meet some pretty odd people!! <GRIN>
Okay, a few thoughts I have on your problem. One did you loosen all 4 trunnion bolts and try to align the saw? Whenever I had to align my old Sears saw I would always leave one bolt tight. (Two reasons, one is make a pivot point and the other is because I could never reach it easily) When all 4 bolts are loose then the whole thing just slides around and you can only get it into adjustment if you happen to just hit the sweet spot.
If you do get everything adjusted always just snug up each bolt in sequence so things don’t move out of whack again when you tighten things down.
I hate to suggest the last idea, but if nothing works to get things back into alignment check for cracks in the trunnions.
Good luck!

[Walt Caza]

Hi Bob,
I used a contractor saw for 23 yrs until I upgraded to a cab saw a couple
of summers ago. Due to the design, that heavy motor hangs off back,
exerting sidepull on the arbour and thus trunion. Each cut and every
start-up jolt is torquing on that assembly. This is a common issue with all
contractor saws. I used mine heavy, and of course she went out of
alignment. Pals are a good start to make and hold adjustments.

Getting the blade aligned with a miter slot (pick just one) will require some
form of indicator for real accuracy, or the old low-tech clamp a stick to
the miter guage and use feeler gauges to read gap at blade.
Not all saws have both miter slots in tight alignment, so pick the slot you
will use the most. Myself, I just sent for In-Line Industries Align-it tool.
(you must know them, they sell PALS)

A contractor saw can be a good workhorse. Heck, I was buying MDF
by the lift, 50 sheets at a time, when I ran my old saw, sometimes 10
hours a day. I shoved miles of sheetgoods through that saw, and I
loved it. But going out of alignment will remain a creeping issue.
Just next time, you won't feel so surprised!
Good luck,
Walt
:)

[Bob Rufener]

Jim,

I may take you up on that WW Show. :-). I did loosen all four bolts-moved the rear of the trunnion as far as I could to one side. I did tighten one bolt as you mentioned. I moved the front of the trunnion as far to the other side as I could and I am still about 1/16" out of allighment. Is it possible my tilt mechanism is holding it from moving any further?

[Phil Sanders]

Bob:

You stated everything was fine, then it just went out of wack? Now you cannot bring the blade into alignment. The error you mentioned, 1/8 inch, is a very large error for the trunnion to just jump out of alignment.

My Sears saw may jump a few thousands of an inch out of alignment, but not 0.125.

Something is wrong, way wrong. My suggestion is look for something wrong with the arbour shaft or the pivot assembly the arbour shaft is part of. I have no idea as to anything specific. For a contractor saw, 1/8 inch is a very large alignment error.

I kinda agree with James now that I re-read his post, it just might be a crack in the trunnion iron frame. There could be something wrong with the tilt mechanism and the pivot assembly attachment to the trunnion frame.

Just my guesses.

Phil

[Chuck Lenz]

Something is wrong, way wrong. My suggestion is look for something wrong with the arbour shaft or the pivot assembly the arbour shaft is part of. I have no idea as to anything specific. For a contractor saw, 1/8 inch is a very large alignment error.

I kinda agree with James now that I re-read his post, it just might be a crack in the trunnion iron frame. There could be something wrong with the tilt mechanism and the pivot assembly attachment to the trunnion frame.

Just my guesses.

Phil
Let me guess, you covered the back of the saw with plywood or something for better dust collection and forgot to remove it when beveling the blade for a bevel cut, and cracked the rear trunion.

[Bill Wyko]

I had this problem with my Powermatic contractor saw. When you tilt your saw, the cast iron mount for the motor hits the rear angle iron used to hold the table to the saw. The piece either needs to be swaped front and back and fliped over. I actually took the saw back and exchanged it before I figured out the problem. PM me if you need any more info. Go tilt your saw carefully and watch the mount for the motor at about 35 to 40 degrees.

[Sam Yerardi]

Bob,

I'm not sure if anyone has mentioned this but it may not be anything to do with the blade mounting assembly, etc. It could be the table surface itself has shifted. That might explain why repeated efforts working on the balde assembly didn't help. What aligns the table surface to the blade? Is it something that has some slop? Did it come loose from use? I'd take a hard look at that.

[keith micinski]

The trunion is mounted to the table so no matter how the table moves the trunion should go with it. Are you trying to align it to your mitre slot or your fence? I know you think your fence is true but if this is what you are using I would eliminate this from the equation and try to align it with the mitre slot. What are you using to align it? An 1/8th is a god awful amount for it to have just suddenly shifted especially since you have the pals on it. There has to be something else wrong. The back shouldn't have been able to shift at all so I would start at the front and go from there. I am thinking it is something more obvious like fence out of alignment or something in your trunion had to have broken. Start with the basics and go from there.

[Bob Nazro]

I had a Grizzly contractor saw and after a few years I noticed the same problem. A machinest friend came over and after looking things over ever so slightly looseded the trunion bolts holding it to the table and retightened to a snug fit. Then he took his precision alignment tool (Crowbar) and tweaked the trunion with a little push and then checked the alignment with a dial caliper. A few more tweaksto make up the angle and it was back to perfect. His explination for his method was that whenever you loosed the trunion bolts and tighten down the is a slight movement, enough to push things out of the alignment we want and by snugging up the bolts after breaking them loose and then applying the tweak the movement was smaller and tightening did not shift the alignment. I repeated his method a few more times until I upgraded to a caninet saw. It's science with a big hammer. If you loosen the trunion bolts and move things it can take forever to get back to a somewhat close alignment, let alone be exact. Good luck.

[Chuck Lenz]

I had a Grizzly contractor saw and after a few years I noticed the same problem. A machinest friend came over and after looking things over ever so slightly looseded the trunion bolts holding it to the table and retightened to a snug fit. Then he took his precision alignment tool (Crowbar) and tweaked the trunion with a little push and then checked the alignment with a dial caliper. A few more tweaksto make up the angle and it was back to perfect. His explination for his method was that whenever you loosed the trunion bolts and tighten down the is a slight movement, enough to push things out of the alignment we want and by snugging up the bolts after breaking them loose and then applying the tweak the movement was smaller and tightening did not shift the alignment. I repeated his method a few more times until I upgraded to a caninet saw. It's science with a big hammer. If you loosen the trunion bolts and move things it can take forever to get back to a somewhat close alignment, let alone be exact. Good luck.
I think he said he has a set of PALs on the saw.