Buy or build a set of "PALS" .. .. .. makes setting up contractor saws a
breeze .. .. .. AND your adjustment CANNOT slip .. .. ..

"George Eversole Jr." wrote:

Or bringing road debris back from the dead.

Well once again, I got sick of burning wood on my old table saw
(actually it is somewhat new to me) and decided to do something about
it this morning. For the third time since spring I begin to loosen the
trunion bolts to adjust the blade camber to the miter slots. Got the
back three bolts loose easily. Okay now for the front three. All of a
sudden I remember why I hate this job; It is nearly impossible to get
to the front three bolts. So I start looking. Well, I figured that the
sheet metal directly in front of the bolts isn't bearing any weight so
off it comes. I removed (jigsaw/file) enough metal to either side of
the blade tilt lock so I could swing a wrench. Boy did that make
things easier.

Okay, so now all the bolts are loose. I measure the distance to the
same tooth at the front and back with a small dowel and the miter
gauge. Beat trunion with hammer. Measure. Repeat. Problem. Trunion
will not move. Check to make sure bolts are loose. Yep. Try again.
Nothing. Remove a bolts and make sure there is room for play in
trunion casting. Yep.

Huh?

Contemplate situation over a large glass of RC.

Oh.

The trunion screws have an integral star washer. This washer has been
over tightened into the aluminum (?) trunion and has imprinted itself
into the metal, thus effectively removing any allowance for play.
Solution: put flat washers between integral washer and aluminum (?)
trunion to span imprint.

Don't you love the feeling you get when you figure something out, but
hate yourself for not thinking of it sooner?

Tap, Tap, Use dowel to measure, Tighten, Done.

Next comes the fence. Adjust the fence to the miter slot. Easy. Done.

Test on MDF. Still burns. Measure front and rear distance to fence.
Wow, off by almost 1/16". So I checked the miter slots for parallelism
using one of them fancy INCRA rules. They were parallel. Therefore the
blade is not parallel to the miter slot. I get to start over.

However, this time around, I already have access to the front three
trunion bolts. Also, this time I used the INCRA rule to measure the
tooth distance from the miter slot. Done in a few minutes. Then I
reset the fence to the miter slot. The test cut was flawless!! I might
be able to hold off on getting one of those discontinued Beisemeyer
fences. http://www.biesemeyer.com/specials/index.htm

Moral of the story:
If you find a Craftsman table saw on the side of the road and want to
get it running, expect to spend some time and money (the
bearings/arbor assembly was around $80). However, it is better than
nothing if you like to tinker. And if you upgrade to a bigger saw one
day, someone else starting out just might find it serviceable.

-ghe

--
I AM NOT PARANOID .. .. .. but EVERYONE thinks I am !! !! !!

__ Bob __