table saw: help please!

[Saaje Cannoncro]

So I have a table saw, a craftsman. Yea, I know, nobody hit me please. But this is what I have and I just am trying to deal with it. The cut is not straight. I have tried to follow the instructions on how to align the blade and it is impossible; the locking bolt and screw you are to turn to shift the rod to adjust the blade are inaccessible. I brought it into Sears and they blamed it on the blade. It is not the blade. It is not the fence.:confused: Does anyone have any experience at all with aligning the blade to cut straight? Is this a common occurence with table saws, aligning the blade? If I force the wood to run along the rip fence, it burns the wood and if I allow it to go as it will, then there is a gap between the fence and the wood at the end of the cut. AHHHHHH!! :mad: I am trying to make small boxes and I am having to fill the tiny cracks which takes quite a bit of time after # boxes. Also, from those who know table saws, if you have any recommendations for the next one that I should buy, please let me know.

[Charlie Plesums]

The first alignment is to get the blade parallel to the miter gauge slot. Then you align the fence to the blade. If you are not going to (or can't) align with the slot, then focus on the fence.

If you cannot adjust the mechanism that holds the blade, it sound like you have a Sears problem, no matter what the blade.

[jason lambert]

I don't know your saw so i know I am not much help but be carful that is how kick back happens when you have odd pressure in the blade like that and the wood twists. If it is a thin kerf blade it could flex a full kerf will not. but that doesn't sound lik your issue.

[scott spencer]

Hi Saaje - A picture and/or model number of your saw would be helpful...Sears has alot of then, so it'd be nice to know which you've got. Is it a full size cast iron model with a belt driven motor hanging off the back, or is a smaller aluminum saw with a universal motor?

[Gordy Anderson]

Mine was doing that until I got the splitter aligned with the blade. It was off juat a little and steering the wood to the left toward the end of the cut. Gordy.

[Lee Schierer]

I have an older crafstman and the trunnion is held to the underside of the table by four studs. On mine you loosen the four nuts on those studs and align the blade so it is centered in the slot in the throat plate and then fine tune that so it is exactly parallel to the miter slot. One thing I noticed when doing the fine tuning was that the lock washers would slide back into the little grooves they had cut in the cast trunnion, pulling the saw back out of alignment every time you tried to tighten them. By rotating the washers so the teeth on the washers didn't line up with those slot, I was able to tighten each bolt about 1/8 turn at a time and keep the alignment right on.

Can you take a photo of your trunnion or scan the directions that came with it?

My saw looks like this:
http://www.home.earthlink.net/~us71na/lsfence5.jpg

[Jim W. White]

To Lee's concern of misalignment driven by the lock washers I would also suggest replacing the spilt ring lock washers with "bellville" lockwashers. They hold just as true and do not torque side-to-side.

Jim in Idaho

[Pat Germain]

I have a Craftsman CS just like Lee's. I'm betting your saw is also a Contractor Saw, Saaje. Here's what I would recommend:

- Buy a dial indicator. Although not essential, it will make adjusting your saw much easier. An inexpensive dial indicator will do.

- Loosen the trunnion bolts on your saw, crank the blade all the way up and use your dial indicator to align the blade with the miter slot. Use a wooden mallet to tap the trunnion into position. Keep checking the alignment as you tighten the trunnion bolts. As Lee mentioned, the trunnion can move as you tighten the bolts.

- Once the blade is aligned to the miter slot, align the fence to the same miter slot. Again, use your dial indicator.

Once you get your blade and fence aligned to a miter slot, your saw will seem like a whole new animal.

** If you simply cannot get your blade aligned to the miter slot, you might want to try a device called a PALS which will assist with this problem. Google "Saw PALS" and you can read all about it. I ended up installing a PALS on my saw and it was a big help.