Doug Miller wrote:
In article . com, "Wylie" wrote:

Doug Miller wrote:

To clarify: he's referring to the difference between the 90-deg and 45-deg
tilt measurements, not the difference between fore and aft measurements at
any particular tilt setting. A consistent difference between fore and aft
measurements is still a problem, but it's usually very easy to fix.

Let me clarify further, since I didn't state that quite the way I meant to.

1. Measure the distance from the miter slot to the blade at the front and back
of the blade, with the blade at 90 degrees. If they're not the same, that's
only a minor problem in most cases. Don't worry about it. Yet.

2. Tilt the blade to 45 degrees and repeat the measurements. These will not be
the same as the measurements taken in Step 1; this is expected. If they differ
from each other, that's still only a minor problem in most cases. But if the
difference in Step 2 is different from the difference in Step 1 by more than
0.010", that's a much larger problem, and, as Larry said, nothing a beginner
should want to tackle.

Thanks all for the information. One additional question: What are you
using to measure down to .01" ? I'm guessing a measuring tape is not
that accurate?

Indeed it's not. The best way to take measurements like that is with a dial
indicator mounted to the miter gauge, but if you don't have a dial indicator,
here's the poor man's method:

Position the miter gauge adjacent to the front of the blade. Press the bar of
the miter gauge firmly against the side of the miter slot nearer the blade (to
eliminate looseness in the fit of the bar in the slot from affecting the
accuracy of the measurements). Clamp a sharpened pencil to the miter gauge so
that it's almost, but not quite, touching the blade. Measure the distance
between the pencil point and the blade with automotive feeler gauges. Move the
miter gauge to the rear of the blade, taking care to press the bar against the
side of the slot again, as described above, and repeat the measurement.

Compare the fore and aft measurements, and you're done. You don't care what
the measurements actually are. The important part is the difference between
them, and whether that difference *changes* when the blade is tilted from 90
degrees to 45 degrees.

You can get a good set of flat feeler gauges at Sears for five bucks:
http://www.sears.com/sr/javasr/produ...id=00999008000

Any auto parts store will have them, too, for about the same price.

--
Regards,
Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

It's time to throw all their damned tea in the harbor again.


Sweet. Thanks again for taking the time with me.

-wylie