On Fri, 14 Dec 2007 11:41:28 -0500, "John"
wrote:
I've had a 10 inch Craftsman Table Saw ...
[snippage]
The rip fence is not great, so I have to sort of coax it
parallel with the blade. I raise the blade to max height, take measurements,
the distances, at the front and back of the blade to the fence. I try to get
these measurement exact by moving the front or back of the fence.
You shouldn't have to work that hard at it. See next:
I have never made any adjustments to see if the blade is truly parallel
with the guides in the cast iron table top.
You really need to at least measure to see how parallel it is. For one
thing, that affects how square your miter gauge (or cutoff sled) is to
the saw blade. All sorts of bad things can happen if you don't have
the miter slots parallel to the blade.
Once you have that done, then squaring the rip fence is a simple
matter of measuring from the miter slot to the fence, both front and
back (and more precise due to the longer measurement arm). When the
measurements are equal, your fence is parallel to the blade.
I don't know if there is an adjustment.
Not an adjustment per se, but it can and should be adjusted. The
procedure is to loosen the four bolts underneath the table from which
the trunnion assembly hangs. Unless your model has changed, there are
star washers between the bolt heads and the table. Loosen only enough
to be able to move the table with a rap with a mallet. There still
should be some friction which keeps the process from resembling ice
skating.
Measure from one tooth of the saw blade (mark it with a Sharpie or
something) to the miter slot. Rotate the blade (you're doing this with
the saw unplugged, right?) so the tooth is at the other extreme of
rotation (but above the table) and measure to the miter slot. If
necessary, give the table a light rap with the mallet, remasure, both
front and rear, and repeat as necessary until the measurements are
identical.
Snug up a couple of the bolts and repeat the measuring. When all is
perfect, snug up all of the bolts. The ones at the front can be tough
to reach. I found I needed a couple of extensions on my ratchet, and a
flex socket (or universal extension) doesn't hurt, either.
Questions:
1. Can this saw be used in hobby work working, or will I just get
frustrated with the results? Assume I try to build some book cases and
cabinets and then move on to other projects.
What Mike Marlow said, generally.
I have an article on my website (sig below) that discusses making a
silk purse out of a sow's ear. There's a whole list of things to
consider doing to improve the saw's utility.
I had my model 100 (same as his) for several years until I got my
Unisaw, and I was able to accomplish some decent work with it. The
sewing cabinet project on my website was done with the Sears.
2. Would it make sense to spend $300+ on a good fence for this saw ?
Example a Biesemeyer Type if it would fit.
I bought a Sears XR2424 (I think) fence when it was offered as an
aftermarket fence shortly after they introduced it. It was around
$150. That price was worth it for the improvement it netted. I don't
know that $300 would be. Incidentally, the "2424" refers to how they
had it configured for left and right of the blade. After a few months
I realized it would be much more useful set up as a 1236 (or
thereabouts) which I then did.
Also look at the Ridgid saw sold at Home Depot. If their fence is
available separately, it's the same one and would bolt on just fine
(perhaps after drilling some holes--cast iron is easy).
3. Is it possible to get an Owner Manual for this saw?
I sent a PDF of a similar manual on the back channel.
4. I was looking recently at a new 10" General 2 hp , 115 volt Table Saw as
a possible replacement. Thoughts?
General or General International? The first is Canadian built, the
second is Chiwanese built, although distributed by the Canadian
company. It'll be hard to find any American built saw anymore,
particularly in the contractors style. Take a look at the Steel City
line, too, which although still Chiwanese built, the company was put
together by former Delta people.
--
LRod
Master Woodbutcher and seasoned termite
Shamelessly whoring my website since 1999
http://www.woodbutcher.net
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email addy de-spam-ified due to 1,000 spams per month.
If you can't figure out how to use it, I probably wouldn't
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