Fence Accuracy

[Jack Frederick 135]

I recently bought a Grizzly G0771Z and love it so far. Have one project under my belt with it.

One thing that I noticed that concerned me was the fences accuracy from a distance from blade stand point. Parallel and square is solid.

I zeroed the fence per the the manual which has you set the fence to the 1” mark, measure the real distance from fence to blade, and adjust the little plastic site window at the fence measurement scale to zero it. When I do that and then slide the fence to something in the 15”+ range I am off a 1/16 -1/8”. Further from the blade the worse it is.

In fairness, I am zeroing the fence with a standard Stanley tape measure and then eyeballing the adjustment in the sight window to what I think looks dead nuts on. I can understand completely how being off a tiny bit at one inch extrapolates to 1/16+ at long distances so I’m not looking for an explanation as to WHY it’s messed up but more for advice on how to get it dead nuts on.

I also understand I bought a hybrid saw, not a $3000 dollar cabinet saw. So, if this is what it is due to the saw I bought that’s okay also. I can work around it. This is my first real table saw and I am new to this hobby so I’m just proud to have invested in some good/decent tools to get started.

[Chris Parks]

The dimension tape is not accurate, get a long steel rule and lay it down on the tape and see how far it is out. The steel rule should be a good brand as well, maybe Lufkin or similar.

[Todd Mason-Darnell]

I recently bought a Grizzly G0771Z and love it so far. Have one project under my belt with it.

One thing that I noticed that concerned me was the fences accuracy from a distance from blade stand point. Parallel and square is solid.

I zeroed the fence per the the manual which has you set the fence to the 1” mark, measure the real distance from fence to blade, and adjust the little plastic site window at the fence measurement scale to zero it. When I do that and then slide the fence to something in the 15”+ range I am off a 1/16 -1/8”. Further from the blade the worse it is.

In fairness, I am zeroing the fence with a standard Stanley tape measure and then eyeballing the adjustment in the sight window to what I think looks dead nuts on. I can understand completely how being off a tiny bit at one inch extrapolates to 1/16+ at long distances so I’m not looking for an explanation as to WHY it’s messed up but more for advice on how to get it dead nuts on.

I also understand I bought a hybrid saw, not a $3000 dollar cabinet saw. So, if this is what it is due to the saw I bought that’s okay also. I can work around it. This is my first real table saw and I am new to this hobby so I’m just proud to have invested in some good/decent tools to get started.

Hiya,

There are two possibilities--either your Stanley has a progressive error ( i.e. 1" on the tape actually = 1.02", etc) or the reference ruler on the fence has a progressive error. Either is possible. I recently saw something about progressive errors in less expensive tape measures.

Have you lined up the Stanley tape with the ruler on the saw-doing a side by side comparison? That will not tell you which one is "right", but will let you see the progressive error.

To determine which one is right, I would look at investing in a good combo square (not from a big box store) or one of the Red tools to use as the standard.

If the ruler on the saw has a progressive error, then your only solution is to replace it.

One other comment, I would normally say not to worry about a small disagreement. My philosophy is that you should focus on repeatability more than accuracy--I more interested in ensuring that every time I set my fence at at 15", I am getting the same length cut and not whether the cut is 15" or 15 1/16". In your case, however, it sounds like the error is fairly large.

[scott kinninger]

Buy yourself a budget$30-$40 caliper, one that has graduations in 0.001 inch, that's how to measure accurately. It will last you for years and years if you take care of it and you will use it for more things than you ever thought you would. You're going to need it to make your crosscut sled ( see William Ng YouTube for that ).
I dropped and broke my last one and just ordered an exact replacement , Lyman , from Sinclair international (a rifle and reloading supply store) for I think $32 after shipping and tax.

[Mike Cutler]

Jack

There are going to be inconsistencies in lower quality measuring devices. It's just the nature of things. If you look through the forum there are many, many, threads on accurate measuring devices.
I think Rockler and Woodcraft sell higher quality, adhesive backed, tape rulers to replace the OEM Tape ruler on your table saw. I personally just get the fence close with the OEM tape and then finalize the measurement with either a higher accuracy rule, or the device I used to make the measurement initially.

[Charles Lent]

I added a Wixey DRO to my Unisaw and don't use the scale at all any more. It made a huge difference in the accuracy of my work.

Charley

[Ron Selzer]

" I am zeroing the fence with a standard Stanley tape measure"
check your tape measure first to make sure it is accurate, your fence tape could be right and the Stanley wrong.
I upset my 2cd wife on time by stretching 25' tapes out in a Sears store until I found 6 that matched, only had to check over twenty to get six that agreed. Was building a pole barn with "free help" and wanted tape measures that agreed. Some were off over an inch around 20 feet.

[Simon MacGowen]

I zeroed the fence per the the manual which has you set the fence to the 1” mark, measure the real distance from fence to blade, and adjust the little plastic site window at the fence measurement scale to zero it. When I do that and then slide the fence to something in the 15”+ range I am off a 1/16 -1/8”. Further from the blade the worse it is.

.

Jack,

The rule on the table saw and the tape you used to calibrate were not the same tape, and what you observed was natural. It is unlikely you can get tapes of identical measurements even if they are of the same brand and from the same manufacturer, let alone finding one that would match your saw's. It is not just tapes, but steel rules too. I have two combo squares and the markings on the two are slightly off from each other.

That's the bad news, but the good news is it really does not matter, as long as you stick to one tape and use it to set your saw cut.

If you decide to use saw's rule as your reference, then every cut is made using the saw's rule for the setting. Otherwise, use the tape measure you have to set the fence (from the blade).

This also means you should use only one tape throughout a project ti the end until completion. Don't switch between tapes/saw tape when making critical measurements. If this bothers you, use a story stick.

Simon

[Brian Holcombe]

I use a steel rule in the workshop as my standard and set my machinery with tapes to it. Makes life easy in that I can reliably transfer measurements without having to double check myself.

[Jack Frederick 135]

This is great info! Thank you all very much.

[George Makra]

Set your fence at the 1 or 2 or whatever you want cut the piece of wood and measure the cut piece.
Then adjust your measuring window to the recently cut item.

As an example say you want to cut 1 inch but the piece measures 7/8 than adjust the measure window to 7/8" of an inch.

[Charlie Hinton]

There's a thread in a Facebook group I follow that's bantering about this exact same thing about the same saw.
The OP there reports Grizzly told him the machine that installs the tape occasionally stretches it, however the tape they sent him to self install had the same (but not exact match) issue with progressive error.
My personal experience with tape measures and fence scales has never revealed progressive errors and I hope I never encounter it.
I would replace the factory scale with a Kreg, Starret, or Incra adhesive backed metal fence tape and be done with it.