Tablesaw tuneup questions

[Dave Westover]

Just completed some work on my Delta contractor saw and have some questions. First off, I havent done much cutting on it so I cant attest to the quality of cuts yet but Im just getting started.

How much vibration is acceptable? I swapped the pulleys and belt for the inline industries performance pack and it did reduce vibration substantially, but I dont have any frame of reference to know if there is more vibration than I should be getting from this setup. Any old tricks or tests used to measure vibration? Any other places I could look for causes of vibration? Stand, legs and top are tight and everything sits level, but if there is something else I can do Id like to know about it.

Second, I measured the arbor runout and its near perfect. I put my blade on though and it measures about .003 off in only 1/3 or 1/4 of the blade. I assume thats just an imperfect blade? I checked the arbor flange and washer and both are in good shape. The blade (amana tool) came with the saw used so I dont know how old it is but Im guessing I can live with it being off by that much? Its sharp as a razor, that I learned the hard way. :o

The arbor pulley that came off the saw was about twice the size of the machined pulley I put on from inline. I emailed inline about it and was told (4 days later) that the pulleys they sent would give me a speed of 3800. I find it awful hard to believe that delta would have put out pulleys that didnt put the speed right around the normal 3450 though. Any similar experience with odd sized pulleys, or insight into this? I cant imagine the motor isnt a typical ts motor but complicating things is that its missing any ID tags or plates. Inlines setup is 2 1/2" and 2 1/4" pulleys. Thoughts?

Also the link belt I bought needed to be resized. I matched it to the existing v belt. A small difference in length should not effect tension on a contractor saw though, correct? Just a curiosity but it seems like it comes to a halt quicker with the link belt.

Last, the stock insert has some play in it. Is that normal? Feels like about 1/16 of play all the way around. Thought about wedging it somehow but maybe thats just me being too fussy?

If youre still awake after reading that, thanks for any help you can offer. ;)

[Lance Norris]

How much vibration is acceptable? I swapped the pulleys and belt for the inline industries performance pack and it did reduce vibration substantially, but I dont have any frame of reference to know if there is more vibration than I should be getting from this setup. Any old tricks or tests used to measure vibration?

Here is a link to "the nickel test"

http://www.newwoodworker.com/nickeltest.html

Look around this sight. There is a wealth of knowledge there.

[scott spencer]

There should be very little noticeable vibration on a well tuned saw. You might want to ask to run one at a decent store or a friend's shop. A minor lurch on startup and a minor shudder at shut down isn't anything I'd be concerned about, but if the saw is vibrating noticeably during operation something's not right. One crude test is the nickel test...find a nickel that stands on edge well and set it on your saw....start it up and shut down and see if the nickel stands. If it topples on start it up and shut down, I wouldn't be concerned, but it should be able to stand while running.

Swapping the stock belt for a link belt can improve vibration alot if the stock belt was causing vibration. Same is true of the pulleys. If both the pulleys and the belt were low in vibration, there'll be less improvement. Pulley alignment can also be a cause of vibration. You're correct that a small difference in belt length won't make much difference, but link belts tend to stretch a little over time, so you'll want to watch that and resize accordingly. Trying a different blade can help pinpoint sources of vibration. So can removing the belt and running just the motor.