On 3/3/2021 2:40 AM, whit3rd wrote:
On Tuesday, March 2, 2021 at 5:39:45 PM UTC-8, Leon wrote:
On 3/2/2021 5:15 PM, StevenWoodward wrote:
Moving a table saw fence by very small amounts can be hit and miss.
With a dial indicator at the right location on the fence, I found it is
easy to tap the fence and move it by 0.001 inch at a time. ...

You do have a SawStop, right?

I have the ICS model and the Fence rule is good enough. Sometimes I use
a steel rule when setting the fence with a stacked dado.

When do you, need more accuracy than that?

I've built bookshelves with sliding-dovetail shelf connection,
(actually half-dovetail) with that kind of precision (using feeler gages
which is why the half-dovetail is employed; the test shelf is
puzzle-box tight with 0.017" feeler, so the fence needs to move
0.017").

No doubt accuracy with small increments is important.
BUT your tolerance of .017" is more than 1/64". My TS fence rule as
1/32" increments, in between those increments is .015"

The OP is going for moving a distance 17 times shorter than your
measurement of .017. AND he had to reset the fence multiple times to
get the correct setting. The dial indicator basically was doing him no
good other that telling him how much he was guessing where to place the
rip fence. Why use a dial indicator at all if you do not know where the
fence should be to begin with.

I can appreciate him wanting to be accurate but he does not demonstrate
that he knows what the fence setting should be to begin with.




My jig for making the slots is not adjustable, but shrinks and swells
with humidity (I've made a MDF spacer that gets clamped into it
during storage, or it might warp as well).

It's also good for fine-tuning dadoes before gluing... don't want to
waste good white glue in a gap!


1. I use a caliper to measure the thickness of the piece that will fit
into the dado.
2. I estimate the dado stack cutters needed to make a dado that width.
3. I make a test cut and measure the result. Normally the result is
shy of the needed width.
4. I subtract the needed width from the actual width and shim the
difference.
5. Almost always no other adjustment in dado width is needed. Plywood
being the exception because it can vary in thickness anywhere you may cut.