TS Alignment Questions

[Art Davis]

I have a Delta contractor's saw and am trying to align it.

Problem 1: The standard ww mag/ts book instructions tell me to first align the blade to the miter slot as follows: chalk a tooth at the input side of the blade, set my dial micrometer to zero, rotate the blade until the chalked tooth is at the output side, and then use my micrometer to read the variation.

The problem here is that if I move the contact on my dial micrometer around on the tooth (yes, I am measuring the carbide tooth portion) I get several thousandths variation. I am using a WWII blade, so I don't think it is a quality of blade issue. The teeth look clean, so I don't think it is due to residue buildup. Anyway, this means that I can get a very imprecise reading when I do the actual measurement by not being able to reposition the micrometer to EXACTLY the same spot.

What do you guys do to solve this problem?

I get a consistent reading when I use the flat of the blade, rather than a tooth, but it is hard to get a reading all the way across because the expansion slots on the blade cause "glitches" in the reading.

Problem 2: This one concerns the fence, which is a Biesemeyer. When I mike along the fence, it starts by going away from the miter slot, then comes nearer! In other words, I don't have a consistent trend away or toward the miter slot. I guess this means my fence is warped? This isn't trivial, maybe seven or eight thousandths.

I have seen folks talk a lot on this forum and others about setting the fence one or two-thousandths further away at the back of the blade than at the front to reduce the danger of kickback, but honestly I can't really get to anywhere near that kind of accuracy.

Probably I am doing something drastically wrong, but until I can align my saw I will never get the kind of accuracy needed for me to advance my ww skills.

Can anyone help?

Thanks.

Art

[Howard Acheson]

Moving you dial contact around on the edge of the blade tip will always result in changing readings. Blade tip sides are ground to a slight bevel in order to improve cutting and reduce burning.

The way I use a dial gauge to set the blade is to find the blade tip that is closest to the miter slot. Mark that tooth with a magic marker. "Zero" the gauge to the point where the blade tip reads the closes to the miter slow. Now rotate the blade to the back and again measure to the blade edge where it is closest to the miter slot. Make your trunnion or top adjustment and go through the process again. Keep at it until the change is reading is no more than 0.003" (0.002" is better).

I am not a proponent of kicking out the back of a fence. There is no reason not to have the fence as exactly parallel to the miter slot as you can get it.

[Chris Rosenberger]

A blade is not a good reference point to use for alignment & even more so when using a dial indiactor. Blade plates are not perfectly flat & teeth are not ground perfectly square. A go alinment plate is the best option when using a dial indicator.

[Lee Schierer]

I'm with Howie. Use the part of the blade that supports a tooth, mark it and use that same area at the outfeed side. This eliminates all blade warp or thickness variation using the same tooth root.

Some fences are not flat. I also have a Beismeyer and it was flat within .001-.002. I also do not angle my fence away at the outfeed side. Just don't have the outfeed portion of the fence angling in.

The trick is to get the saw aligned as close as you can. You aren't making rocket pocket watch parts, you will be making wood pieces, a couple of thousandths one way or the other doesn't mean much in woodworking. Closer is better, but don't lose sleep if you can't get it perfect.

[Douglas Brummett]

As others have mentioned, I used the flat just behind the carbide. In order to reposition my dial indicator I simply mark the tooth with a single dot via Sharpie marker. I then position the indicator tip on that dot. That pretty much eliminates the guess work for getting it back in the same spot.

[Stephen Ash]

Hi Art,

I had a similar problem with the T2 fence on my Delta contractor saw in that it also was not perfectly flat -- it was off by roughly 0.008" in the middle. The fence faces are removable, so I just shimmed beneath them to fix the deviation.

Hope that helps,
Steve

[Thom Sturgill]

Don't remember where I read it, but I use a point on the body of the blade near the gullet. Stay away from the teeth and the area between the gullets. Better to use a plate if you want real accurate measurements, but most of us don't go that far.

Depending on the fence design, the faces should be able to be shimmed, but that means something else to watch in case one comes out or moves. Can the faces be swapped? maybe the other one is straighter.

[Brian Tax]

I also have the Biesemeyer fence that I bought used about 6 months ago, I also noticed that is has a dip in the fence it is only about .003 soI decided to live with it. One thing that I can't figure out on the Biesemeyer fence is how to remove the plywood and laminate fence without destroying it. It looks like the screws are under the laminate and I would have to remove the laminate to remove the screws.

[Art Davis]

I also have the Biesemeyer fence that I bought used about 6 months ago, I also noticed that is has a dip in the fence it is only about .003 soI decided to live with it. One thing that I can't figure out on the Biesemeyer fence is how to remove the plywood and laminate fence without destroying it. It looks like the screws are under the laminate and I would have to remove the laminate to remove the screws.


Brian,

Yeah, I've gone through the same process. I am thinking about contacting the factory and seeing if I can buy new faces. Then they would have to tell me how to remove the faces. What do you think?

Art

[glenn bradley]

You pretty much tear them off. This is why SCTW and others are called Better-than-Bies fences; much more adjustable, etc. I love my Bies. The first one I got indeed had faces that varied outside my tolerance level. The replacement dips about .002" so I'll live with it. I have heard of folks tearing off the faces and replacing them with BB ply or MDF with recessed screws so they can shim.