Table & Mitre Slot Alignment

[Chris Parks]

I had to move the table on my saw last night and while I was re-aligning it I began to think about what I was doing. I first set the mitre slide to 90 degrees within itself and began the task of aligning the slot to the blade. After a bit of stuffing around I began to wonder if I should be aligning the table to the slot or to the Mitre Guage as it is this that the saw blade references to while being used, not the slot. So that is what I did, set the gauge to 90 degrees within itself and then putting the gauge in the slot I used it to align the table. It is interesting if you place a steel rule against the leading edge of the blade and and clamped or held against the holding face of the mitre gauge, when the gauge is moved to the trailing edge of the blade if the alignment is not correct the distance from the end of the rule to the blade varies. By using this method if you are anal enough and I am not, it would be possible to use a magnetic base dial indicator on the clamping face of the gauge. Comments please.

[David DeCristoforo]

I have always found it easier to align the slot and blade first. My method does not require a dial indicator. I clamp a piece of wood to the miter gauge fence so that the blade will trim it when it is pushed through. At that point the the end of the piece of wood is exactly aligned with the side of the blade teeth at the "leading edge". Then I push the gauge so that the end of the wood is at the "trailing edge" of the blade and l see how much the table must be adjusted to get the slot and blade parallel. In order to compensate for possible "blade runout", I mark one tooth and rotate the blade so that y the same tooth is being used for reference at the "front" and the "back" of the blade.

YM

[Nissim Avrahami]

G'day Chris

I think that first you have to align the blade to be parallel to the miter slot because the miter gauge runs always in the miter slot in a straight line.

For example, just to explain it better, lets say that the blade is at 45° to the miter slot (like this "/")...the front teeth will cut the board but as you go further toward the back teeth, the board will want to "run away" and go with the blade...

Only after the blade is aligned to the miter slot, you have to set the miter gauge to 90° (or whatever angle you want) to the miter slot or the blade.

niki

[Tom Veatch]

...So that is what I did, set the gauge to 90 degrees within itself and then putting the gauge in the slot I used it to align the table. It is interesting if you place a steel rule against the leading edge of the blade and and clamped or held against the holding face of the mitre gauge, when the gauge is moved to the trailing edge of the blade if the alignment is not correct the distance from the end of the rule to the blade varies.

Sounds to me like you are simply using the miter gauge to aline the blade to the slot. What you describe, "steel rule against the leading edge of the blade and and clamped or held against the holding face of the mitre gauge, when the gauge is moved to the trailing edge of the blade", is one of the recommended methods of aligning the blade with the miter slot.