Table Saw Re-alignment Impacts to Jigs/Zero Clearance Inserts

[Reed Crofoot]

Hello,
I am an amateur woodworker who has been slowly building skills and creating jigs. I have a Jet JWTS10 contractor saw, which is my first TS and has been a wonderful tool for me. However, I have had to re-align the saw a few times in the past year or two. This saw is very difficult to adjust, and the last time I had to do this I spent the better part of a day getting the saw blade to not only be parallel to the miter slots, but also to align as close as I could to my various jigs and zero clearance insert. This was probably the most frustrated I have been in this hobby. Over the weekend, it warmed up enough here in Chicagoland that I was finally able to re-open the workshop (it is in my unheated garage). My first task was to clean my saw blades and install one on the Jet, and I notice that the blade is probably a half-kerf to the right of the slot in my zero-clearance insert, which means all my jigs are also out of whack again. I don't know if the alignment is due to the cool temperatures or not. The thought of having to invest many hours in re-aligning the saw makes me shudder.

In Googling this issue, there isn't much discussion around this, but I see that the common solution is to make a new zero-clearance insert and cut a new slot. However, this also impacts all my jigs that rely on miter slots. I can't imagine everyone having to re-create a set of jigs each time a saw needs an adjustment, which makes me wonder what more experienced folks to do compensate for this in their jig designs? Also, any suggestions on how to minimize the alignment issues? I have ordered a PALS kit and hope that it helps cut down my alignment time, but I'm wondering if there is something else I am missing.

Thanks in advance!
Reed

[Tom M King]

A contractor saw is much harder to adjust than a cabinet saw, just the way it is.

[Andrew Pitonyak]

Sounds like you are correct in all that you say. I am surprised how much your saw goes out of alignment. I don't know if this is typical, but, I have not heard people generally having this problem.

In my mind, I would think that something is amiss that you must continually realign and that it would go so far out of alignment over the winter.

[Daniel O'Neill]

I have a Jet Hybrid saw and it's kept alignment pretty well over the last couple of years. Maybe take the best bolt (the one that holds best) and put some locktite on it. Then you can use that as a pivot to realign in the future. I dunno just an idea.

[Bill Space]

Hi,

You did not mention which way the blade is shifted (unless I missed it) with respect to the slot in your ZCI, but if it is shifted to the side opposite the arbor nut, perhaps you could add a spacer between the arbor flange and the blade, to shift the blade back into alignment with the ZCI slot. 1/16 of an inch is a lot...of course it would be less than that if you are using a thin blade.

If a spacer worked it would be an easy temporary fix, and you could watch and see what happens as you use the saw. Perhaps something is loose and causing things to change? You may want to check that the alignment of the blade is still good.

If the blade is shifted towards the arbor nut side...the above idea will not work for you obviously...

Bill

[Matt Schroeder]

If you have multiple saw blades I would try a different blade or two to see how they line up. Maybe one blade is a little warped, or maybe you have a mix of thin and full kerf blades that got mixed up? Another thing to check would be if there is any debris on the plate of the blade against the arbor flange--that might be shifting things a bit out of alignment (although if we use the same orientation of "right" on your saw it seems this would be the wrong direction from your description).

I have the same saw. It has been in an unheated garage for 13 years (Maryland, so not quite as cold but more heat) and I have not had to do any alignment since the original set up. If you are having to adjust frequently and it isn't a blade issue I would be digging deeper to find loose fasteners or something else seriously amiss.

Matt

[Garth Almgren]

I think the PALS will help a LOT. Makes it much easier to align in the first place, and hopefully it'll hold that alignment.
My saw is in an unheated shop with open eaves (lot of air movement), and I haven't had any noticeable alignment issues since I aligned it a little over 2 years ago with PALS.

Another thought - have you checked the arbor bearings for runout? It's possible that the bearings are starting to go, causing the blade to wander...

[Art Mann]

I have owned my latest contractor saw, which is a Ridgid 3650, for about 10 years. I calibrated it carefully when I bought it and haven't messed with it since. "If it ain't broke, don't fix it". I have to wonder if there is a problem that could be fixed to stop the saw from going out of calibration.

[Robert Engel]

Why are you having to realign the saw more than once?
That doesn't sound right to me, but I don't own one, either.

[Frank Pratt]

I had a Jet contractor saw for about 15 years. Got it all calibrated when new & never had to adjust anything again. Something is not right there.

[Reed Crofoot]

Update: I did some poking around yesterday and discovered that the trunnion bars were out of alignment. I fixed that and then tilted the mechanism from 0-45 degrees and noticed that the motor bracket mechanism hits my after-market Biesemeyer fence bracket at about 43 degrees. This explains why I am out of alignment frequently - I can't make an angled cut without torquing the mechanism. So, until I figure out a solution for that, I will have to live with no cuts greater than ~40 degrees.

The good news is the wife suggested that perhaps I need a new TS, so now I need to weigh the expense of a new SawStop versus how frequently I may need to do that type of cut. But my earlier question still applies here - if my jigs are all constructed precisely for my current TS, they won't necessarily work for a different TS because the blade-to-miter slot distance won't be exactly the same. How do you all compensate for this? Adjustable miter bars?

Appreciate all the responses - this is helpful!

[Cody Jensen]

I would guess that most people only buy a different table saw every 5-10 years, so remaking some things (cross cut sleds, ZCIs) are not the biggest deal. If you make more than a 3-4 jigs for a table saw, then you may have to plan on leaving the running temporarily fastened with screws. Alternatively, I have seen some jigs with replaceable zero clearance inserts on the jigs themselves, so you could just swap those out, assuming that the difference from one table saw to another isn't more than ~1".

[Ben Rivel]

Personally if it were me Id throw all those jigs in with the sale of the table saw and make all new nicer ones for my new saw. Especially if you are going to pony up and get a super nice saw like a SawStop!

[glenn bradley]

In Googling this issue, there isn't much discussion around this, but I see that the common solution is to make a new zero-clearance insert and cut a new slot.

The short answer is "yes" your jigs and inserts that were built to the out of alignment saw will not fit an aligned saw; its a do-over. As stated table mounted trunnions make alignment more difficult. If you aren't moving your saw around, once you align it with PALs and leave them in place you should just stay aligned. If your contractor format saw is mobile you are running into a tough row to hoe. I would integrate replaceable inserts into any jig I could.

Med-Sled-Used-2011 003.jpg

Nearly all my sleds have replaceable inserts. A shortcut to revive a ZCI is to put a piece of packing tape over the slot, turn it over and fill the slot with epoxy.

ZCI repair (1).jpg . ZCI repair (4).jpg

You really only need to fill the first 2 - 3 inches to get the ZCI effect back.

[pat warner]

Table saws are essentially rippers and x-cutters.
But there a few things that saws do that other tools can't do well (bridal joints, e.g.).
Keep it for the basics and take up routing.
They say that routers get where the saw will not.