I have an old Rockwell 34-410 contractor saw (later sold by Delta) and I am
having one HECK of a time aligning the fence parallel to the blade. I have
tried loosening all of the bolts on the top of the fence, pushing it the
way I want to adjust it, and then tightening the bolts.

No matter what I do the rear of the fence is 20-30 thousandths closer to
the blade than the front. Naturally this makes cutting cleanly a problem.

So my questions are;

How do I adjust this thing?
Does anyone know the model number (so I can find a manual?)

if you reply by email (thanks!) please remove SPAMNOT from my email



pictures attached.

AndyB wrote:
I have an old Rockwell 34-410 contractor saw (later sold by Delta) and I am
having one HECK of a time aligning the fence parallel to the blade. I have
tried loosening all of the bolts on the top of the fence, pushing it the
way I want to adjust it, and then tightening the bolts.

No matter what I do the rear of the fence is 20-30 thousandths closer to
the blade than the front. Naturally this makes cutting cleanly a problem.

So my questions are;

How do I adjust this thing?
Does anyone know the model number (so I can find a manual?)

I have a different Rockwell saw, but my top is attached to the base by
four bolts at the corners - you can catch a glimpse by clicking on the
third photo from the bottom at

http://www.iedu.com/DeSoto/Projects/OutfeedTable/

I loosened all four bolts and tightened one to "snug" to be a pivot
point for the table top, and tightened the other three just enough to
not offer a _slight_ resistance to movement.

At that point I started "nudging" the top (and rails and fence) into
alignment with a wood block and a light ball peen hammer. When it seemed
just where it needed to be, I tightened all the bolts a bit and
re-checked (re-nudged, checked, tightened more, etc). It took about an
hour, but when I was done it was dead-on accurate.

If you take this approach, I'd suggest leaving your table insert in
place so you can be sure of blade clearance. I didn't, so I ended up
doing the job twice.

--
Morris Dovey
DeSoto Solar
DeSoto, Iowa USA
http://www.iedu.com/DeSoto/

"Morris Dovey" wrote in message
...
AndyB wrote:

I loosened all four bolts and tightened one to "snug" to be a pivot point
for the table top, and tightened the other three just enough to not offer
a _slight_ resistance to movement.

At that point I started "nudging" the top (and rails and fence) into
alignment with a wood block and a light ball peen hammer. When it seemed
just where it needed to be, I tightened all the bolts a bit and re-checked
(re-nudged, checked, tightened more, etc). It took about an hour, but when
I was done it was dead-on accurate.

Out of curiosity, were your miter slots not parallel to the blade also? If
they were I'd be inclined to shim the rails to adjust the fence to the
blade...

John

John Grossbohlin wrote:

"Morris Dovey" wrote in message
...
AndyB wrote:

I loosened all four bolts and tightened one to "snug" to be a pivot
point for the table top, and tightened the other three just enough to
not offer a _slight_ resistance to movement.

At that point I started "nudging" the top (and rails and fence) into
alignment with a wood block and a light ball peen hammer. When it
seemed just where it needed to be, I tightened all the bolts a bit and
re-checked (re-nudged, checked, tightened more, etc). It took about an
hour, but when I was done it was dead-on accurate.

Out of curiosity, were your miter slots not parallel to the blade also?
If they were I'd be inclined to shim the rails to adjust the fence to
the blade...

I'd removed the top for a move (storage to present rented shop space),
so everything was unaligned. I aligned the top to the blade using a
miter slot as the reference. Immediately after the move I went out and
bought the Incra rail/fence kit - and found that the Incra design made
fence alignment trivially easy.

You're right, though. If the slots are already parallel to the blade,
then shims at diagonally opposite rail stand-offs are probably a good
way to go. I didn't have that problem, and don't know if I was just
lucky or if Delta did a really good job (I've always assumed the latter)
because this is the only table saw I've ever owned (or used).

--
Morris Dovey
DeSoto Solar
DeSoto, Iowa USA
http://www.iedu.com/DeSoto/

"John Grossbohlin" wrote in
m:

Out of curiosity, were your miter slots not parallel to the blade
also? If they were I'd be inclined to shim the rails to adjust the
fence to the blade...

John

I have confirmed that the slots in the table are parallel to the blade
using a dial indicator and a sliding jig. the only thing left is the fence.

"AndyB" wrote in message
...
"John Grossbohlin" wrote in
m:

Out of curiosity, were your miter slots not parallel to the blade
also? If they were I'd be inclined to shim the rails to adjust the
fence to the blade...

John

I have confirmed that the slots in the table are parallel to the blade
using a dial indicator and a sliding jig. the only thing left is the
fence.


That would suggest that the mounting studs be shimmed to change the
relationship of the fence rail to the table...

John

On 25 Jan 2009 18:14:31 GMT, AndyB
wrote:

I have an old Rockwell 34-410 contractor saw (later sold by Delta) and I am
having one HECK of a time aligning the fence parallel to the blade. I have
tried loosening all of the bolts on the top of the fence, pushing it the
way I want to adjust it, and then tightening the bolts.

No matter what I do the rear of the fence is 20-30 thousandths closer to
the blade than the front. Naturally this makes cutting cleanly a problem.

So my questions are;

How do I adjust this thing?
Does anyone know the model number (so I can find a manual?)

if you reply by email (thanks!) please remove SPAMNOT from my email



pictures attached.

check the fence rail. is it strait? is it paralel with the table or
square with the blade? my unisaw came with that fence but the rail was
not strait therefore the fence would not true up. got a biesmeyer and
never looked back.

skeez

On 25 Jan 2009 19:58:06 GMT, AndyB
wrote:

I have confirmed that the slots in the table are parallel to the blade
using a dial indicator and a sliding jig. the only thing left is the fence.

Or the rails.
We used those fences for years and crooked rails can be a cause of
this problem.
You might try to loosen the slotted rod at the front edge of the
fence. This will loosen the grabber at the back of the fence. Loosen
it enough so the back grabber doesn't do anything when you have the
fence snugged down tight at the front.
Next, move the fence a few inches from the slot and with the front of
the Tsquare part of the fence snugged tight (push down on the handle),
loosen the two bolts on the top of the fence. Adjust the fence to be
parallel with your miter guage slot at the front and back and
re-tighten. This is assuming the you have the blade aligned with the
slot. At this point the front is still clamped to the front rail.
Now you know that the fence is good in that position on the rails.

Now slide the fence around on the rail and snug it down and measure
again. If the fence is not good at other locations on the rail then
you probably have a crooked front rail. As has been suggested shim at
the rail bolts to try to make the front rail straight.
Once you get the rail straight re-check the fence in various
locations. You may also want to check the back rail with a staight
edge. While the back rail isn't quite as critical as the front, it
can still throw the fence off when you tighten down if it's not
straight.
Lastly, you want to adjust the back grabber. The front of the fence
should tighten down slightly before the back grabber does. Turn the
slotted bolt at the front of the fence to adjust the back grabber.

A couple things you maight also check are the fence itself. Make sure
it's straight. The other is the grabber bar at the back. Just
eyeball the grabber and make sure it runs pretty straight in line with
the middle of the fence. If the grabber bar has been significantly
bent (to one side or the other) it will push the fence very time you
tighten it.
That's about all I can think of now.
You've probably already noticed that a lot of those fences get
replaced with other fence systems. You can make the factory Jet-Lock
work but they can be a little tricky at times.

Mike O.

On 25 Jan 2009 19:58:06 GMT, AndyB
wrote:

Out of curiosity, were your miter slots not parallel to the blade
also? If they were I'd be inclined to shim the rails to adjust the
fence to the blade...

John

I have confirmed that the slots in the table are parallel to the blade
using a dial indicator and a sliding jig. the only thing left is the fence.


Here is a link to a pdf from OWWM that shows the fence adjustment.
This is not your saw but the fence is basically the same.

http://owwm.com/pubs/1141/537.pdf

Mike O.

Andy,

You are trying to align the wrong parts to each other. You should
align the blade to the miter slot, not to the fence. Then align the
fence to the miter slot, not to the blade.

The only non-adjustable component is the miter slot and that is what
you need to adjust everything to.

G.S.

On 25 Jan 2009 18:14:31 GMT, AndyB
wrote:

I have an old Rockwell 34-410 contractor saw (later sold by Delta) and I am
having one HECK of a time aligning the fence parallel to the blade.

Wow, Mike, thanks for the detailed response.

I was able to shim the rail slightly and fix the problem.

Thanks a million.



Mike wrote in
:

On 25 Jan 2009 19:58:06 GMT, AndyB
wrote:

I have confirmed that the slots in the table are parallel to the blade
using a dial indicator and a sliding jig. the only thing left is the
fence.

Or the rails.
We used those fences for years and crooked rails can be a cause of
this problem.
You might try to loosen the slotted rod at the front edge of the
fence. This will loosen the grabber at the back of the fence. Loosen
it enough so the back grabber doesn't do anything when you have the
fence snugged down tight at the front.
Next, move the fence a few inches from the slot and with the front of
the Tsquare part of the fence snugged tight (push down on the handle),
loosen the two bolts on the top of the fence. Adjust the fence to be
parallel with your miter guage slot at the front and back and
re-tighten. This is assuming the you have the blade aligned with the
slot. At this point the front is still clamped to the front rail.
Now you know that the fence is good in that position on the rails.

Thanks

skeez wrote in
:

check the fence rail. is it strait? is it paralel with the table or
square with the blade? my unisaw came with that fence but the rail was
not strait therefore the fence would not true up. got a biesmeyer and
never looked back.

skeez

The thought of an aftermarket fence has been on my mind. However, I am also
considering (in the slightly more distant future) a full cabinet saw (which
will come with a better fence).

As it is, I have re-wired this contractor saw for 220V operation, but I
sometimes have power issues. (I do mission style furniture and end up
cutting thick oak frequently)

I was able to shim the rail, and that will keep me going for now.