I just acquired an older Sears flex-shaft tablesaw. It seems to run well
enough but I ordered a replacement shaft from Sears (before they're
discontinued) just to have on the shelf. I also ordered an owner's manual.

My questions are these:

1): The rip fence has a total runout (as measured by my dial indicator) of
about .015 inch, which is not linear from front to back At about 2 " from
the front edge and at approximately the center of the blade, the indicator
reads zero. Between those points, it varies a total of about .003-.004 inch
in one direction. All the way from front to back, it varies from about
..008" in one direction to about .007" in the other. Is that too much? It
seems excessive to me. Is there anything I can do about it short of
replacing the fence?

2) The saw sat for a long time and most of the bare surfaces are lightly
pitted with rust. Can I clean it up with steel wool and/or hardware cloth
without compromising accuracy?