FOLLOWUP:
This story has an extraordinarily happy ending. I sent the pictures I made,
along with some drawings to explain the problem to Jet technical support via
email. This was really tough to explain in words, but the pictures really
helped. Two hours later, the technical support rep called and said my
pictures and explanation were very good and showed a manufacturing defect.
Their solution: THEY WILL REPLACE THE WHOLE SAW! They will contact my local
dealer and arrange the whole thing.
Jet has just created an incredibly loyal customer. I've called their
support 4-5 times in the last month and I've found it to be excellent. I
can't say enough good things about them.
Bob
"Bob Davis" wrote in message
ink.net...
I purchased a new Jet "Supersaw" complete with 52 inch rail, table
extension, and sliding table about a month ago. One of the primary
attractions of this saw was the sliding table. I've never felt it worked
as
well as expected. Though its heavy and slides smoothly, it did not seem to
line up with the blade properly. When I did a cross cut, the blade would
cut
deeper into the wood, as it moved into the rear teeth of the blade. This
is
a symptom of the table not sliding parallel to the blade. I had already
had
the dealer check blade alignment with the right side miter slot and it was
dead on. The sliding table alignment is pretty idiot proof. They give you
some .020 shim stock to place between the sliding table and the main saw
table. You just butt the two together and tighten up four bolts. If the
left
side of the main saw table is parallel with the saw blade, the sliding
table
should move parallel.
Well, that last statement is a big assumption. I adjusted and tweaked and
measured until I was blue in the face. Then I decided to check what I
assumed was ok - the left edge of the main saw table. Boy was I in for a
shock. I almost purchased a dial guage and fancy clamp just to accurately
measure how closely things were aligned. But then I thought - "This is
silly". Instead of that, I bought set of good ol' feeler guages and used
my
combination square. I discovered the sliding table was about 0.029"
difference between the front and back side of the blade! Jet's maximum
tolerance is 0.0118" for blade parallelism. I have not gone back to Jet
technical service yet. They told me that this was a simple tuning problem
and walked me through the procedure for aligning things (the ol' mark the
saw tooth and measure against the same tooth front and rear).
I'm convinced that this is a manufacturing defect. Its as if the left side
of the table never received a final machining. I did some gross
measurements using a combination square and took some pictures to
illustrate
the problem. Admittedly, you cannot measure thousandth's of an inch with
a
cheap combination square, but it does hold a constant measurement when
locked and relative measurement is what we are interested in. My pictures
are at http://www.anneldavis.com/bobandanne/table%20saw.htm. If you have
the patience to look these over, I'd appreciate any comments about my
assessment.
Bob