Excuse me if this is an elementary question but I'm really new to table saw
adjustments. I have a Craftsman 10" table saw and it seems to burn the wood
on the fence side of the saw. Is this an indication of a misaligned blade
to miter slot or is the fence too tight at the far end. The fence is funky
and I measure distance of the front and back of the fence to a miter slot
before each cut (yeah, big pain in the ---) to make sure it's even or
slightly wider at the far end. I try to feed the wood as fast as it seems
it wants to be fed (without forcing or hearing the engine bog down) but it
still wants to burn. Is there a way to check blade alignment to miter slot
without expensive gauges?

Thanks for any info you might have for me!!

Gary

Gary wrote: Is there a way to check blade alignment to miter slot
without expensive gauges?

Yep, with just a combination square and a set of feeler gauges. Raise the
sawblade and set the square so its blade just misses a tooth when the body of
the square is tight against the miter slot. Mark the tooth with a pencil or
something. Measure the span from the blade to the tooth. Roll the sawblade over
'til the same tooth is at the other side of the table(fore or aft), slide the
square up or down and repeat the measuring process. Be patient! HTH. Tom
Work at your leisure!

Gary Stephens wrote:
Excuse me if this is an elementary question but I'm really new to table saw
adjustments. I have a Craftsman 10" table saw and it seems to burn the wood
on the fence side of the saw. Is this an indication of a misaligned blade
to miter slot or is the fence too tight at the far end. The fence is funky
and I measure distance of the front and back of the fence to a miter slot
before each cut (yeah, big pain in the ---) to make sure it's even or
slightly wider at the far end. I try to feed the wood as fast as it seems
it wants to be fed (without forcing or hearing the engine bog down) but it
still wants to burn. Is there a way to check blade alignment to miter slot
without expensive gauges?

Thanks for any info you might have for me!!

Gary


There are 2 basic steps to tuning your saw, the first is to make sure
the blade is parallel to the miter slot. A cheap and easy way to do
this is to clamp say a 1/2" square piece of wood to the miter gage,
which should be set approximately square to the blade. Power on the saw
and cut the wood, then, with the saw off, check the cut face with
against the front tooth of the blade, it should be a dead lenght, if it
isn't then you know the blade isn't parallel. You can use a set of car
feeler guages to measure how much the error is. If the cut face is
exact with the front tooth, mark that tooth and rotate it manually until
is is just rising from the insert and move your test piece to check
against the same tooth. Again if the blade is parallel it will be the
dead length. Using feelers it is quite easy to check to within a couple
of thou. Adjustment is normally made by loosening the bolts holding the
saw spinsle assy and giving it a tap with a plastic mallet.

After setting the blade parallel to the miter slot, check the fence, a
cheap way of doing this is to use a square and the feeler guages.
Holding the square againt the fence adjust the fence until the blade of
the square is a couple of thou from touching the front tooth of the saw
blade, measure the gap. Mark that tooth of the blade and rotate it to
the back, move the square and remeasure the gap. Depending on the make
of fence there should be some method to adjust the parallelism. Some
workers prefer to have the blade parallel to the blade, others prefer to
have the back of the blade to 'toe out' slightly, the normal figure is
between 1/32 and 1/64", i.e. between 15 and 30 thou. The thinking
behind having this offset is so that the wood won't get jammed between
the blade and the fence, personally I set mine dead parallel.

Hope this helps.

BernardR

If you are cutting maple of cherry, burning is more likely. Is your blade
CLEAN and Sharp?
A new fence, would probably help greatly especially if your clamps at the
back also. Typically the older Craftsman fences that clamp at the back tend
to readjust when you tighten them down. As for measuring, you should be
measuring less than .005" difference from front to back. And IMHO that is
too much. Dead on parallel is what I shoot for.
As other have stated you want to get the miter slot parallel to the blade
then simply drop a board into that same slot and adjust the fence until it
has no gap between it and the board from front to back.



"Gary Stephens" wrote in message
...
Excuse me if this is an elementary question but I'm really new to table
saw
adjustments. I have a Craftsman 10" table saw and it seems to burn the
wood
on the fence side of the saw. Is this an indication of a misaligned blade
to miter slot or is the fence too tight at the far end. The fence is
funky
and I measure distance of the front and back of the fence to a miter slot
before each cut (yeah, big pain in the ---) to make sure it's even or
slightly wider at the far end. I try to feed the wood as fast as it seems
it wants to be fed (without forcing or hearing the engine bog down) but it
still wants to burn. Is there a way to check blade alignment to miter
slot
without expensive gauges?

Thanks for any info you might have for me!!

Gary

What are you cutting? Cherry is tough to cut without burning.
Any wood can burn on a long cut when you change hands to feed it. So if it
is a long cut or cherry, I wouldn't worry too much about it.

If you are burning a short cut on oak, then you have a problem.

Above are several versions of the blade parallelism adjustment using a
feeler gauge. It works (woodworkers have been using this method for
decades) but takes a while and may not be quite as accurate as using a dial
indicator. I bought mine at Harbor Freight for $13.00, if I recall
correctly.

I attach the dial indicator to the end of a narrow square-cut board and
clamp it in my miter gauge so the plunger is pre-loaded (partially
depressed) against the blade. I mark a tooth near the front of the table as
was previously described, set the plunger on that tooth and zero the dial
indicator. Then I hand rotate the blade so the marked tooth is at the back
of the table and check again with the dial indicator. There should not be
more than about +/- .004 inch of difference. If it measures more than +/-
four thousandths, the probability is (in this order) you have 1) a
misaligned blade, 2) a warped blade, or 3) a bad arbor bearing.

Consult your owner's manual for the procedure for truing the blade with the
miter slot. For a warped blade, if it is a good one (carbide tipped, laser
cut disk, etc.), send it back to the manufacturer for sharpening and truing.
If it is a cheap blade, discard it and get a better one. If the problem is
the arbor bearing it will require someone with tool repair experience. It
is not a do-it-yourself job unless you are mechanically inclined and have
some experience with precision machine assembly.

I also use my dial indicator to set my fence parallel to the miter gauge
slots. For this I use the board and dial indicator assembly clamped in my
miter gauge. With the dial indicator zeroed against the fence near the
front of the table, I exert some sideways pressure to assure there is no
"slop" in the reading and push the rig toward the back of the table while
observing the dial indicator reading. I have mine within .005 inch total
error, front to back.

"Gary Stephens" wrote in message
...
Excuse me if this is an elementary question but I'm really new to table
saw
adjustments. I have a Craftsman 10" table saw and it seems to burn the
wood
on the fence side of the saw. Is this an indication of a misaligned blade
to miter slot or is the fence too tight at the far end. The fence is
funky
and I measure distance of the front and back of the fence to a miter slot
before each cut (yeah, big pain in the ---) to make sure it's even or
slightly wider at the far end. I try to feed the wood as fast as it seems
it wants to be fed (without forcing or hearing the engine bog down) but it
still wants to burn. Is there a way to check blade alignment to miter
slot
without expensive gauges?

Thanks for any info you might have for me!!

Gary

Chuck Hoffman wrote:

I attach the dial indicator to the end of a narrow square-cut board and

I second this suggestion. It's more accurate, and it's faster too. Move
the thing, watch the needle, boom. One of the best little pieces of back
pocket gadgetry I ever picked up.

I mount mine to the miter gauge head with a piece of steel bar I cobbled up
for this purpose. I would also add to your suggestions that you can get
wild measurements from a sloppy bar-to-slot fit. Mine only had a tiny
amount of play in it, but it was enough to be extremely obvious at this
resolution of detail. I stuffed some paper in there to make the fit as
tight as humanly possible while still allowing it to slide. It helped keep
me from chasing the needle.

--
Michael McIntyre ---- Silvan
Linux fanatic, and certified Geek; registered Linux user #243621
http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Rue/5407/
http://rosegarden.sourceforge.net/tutorial/

There are numerous books on table saw tune ups. They have
step-by-step procedures. One (or more) things are obviously out of
whack on your table saw.

On Tue, 21 Dec 2004 20:52:15 -0800, "Gary Stephens"
wrote:

Excuse me if this is an elementary question but I'm really new to table saw
adjustments. I have a Craftsman 10" table saw and it seems to burn the wood
on the fence side of the saw. Is this an indication of a misaligned blade
to miter slot or is the fence too tight at the far end. The fence is funky
and I measure distance of the front and back of the fence to a miter slot
before each cut (yeah, big pain in the ---) to make sure it's even or
slightly wider at the far end. I try to feed the wood as fast as it seems
it wants to be fed (without forcing or hearing the engine bog down) but it
still wants to burn. Is there a way to check blade alignment to miter slot
without expensive gauges?

Thanks for any info you might have for me!!

Gary

On Tue, 21 Dec 2004 20:52:15 -0800, "Gary Stephens"
wrote:

Excuse me if this is an elementary question but I'm really new to table saw
adjustments. I have a Craftsman 10" table saw and it seems to burn the wood
on the fence side of the saw. Is this an indication of a misaligned blade
to miter slot or is the fence too tight at the far end. The fence is funky
and I measure distance of the front and back of the fence to a miter slot
before each cut (yeah, big pain in the ---) to make sure it's even or
slightly wider at the far end. I try to feed the wood as fast as it seems
it wants to be fed (without forcing or hearing the engine bog down) but it
still wants to burn. Is there a way to check blade alignment to miter slot
without expensive gauges?

Thanks for any info you might have for me!!

If you find that it's still burning after everything is aligned
properly, it's not a bad idea to try raising your blade, especially in
thick or very hard stock. It sure seems like that gives the teeth a
much greater opportunity to cool off, and it eliminates pretty much
all burning for me, though your results may vary.

Gary


Aut inveniam viam aut faciam

"Prometheus" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 21 Dec 2004 20:52:15 -0800, "Gary Stephens"
wrote:

Excuse me if this is an elementary question but I'm really new to table
saw
adjustments. I have a Craftsman 10" table saw and it seems to burn the
wood
on the fence side of the saw. Is this an indication of a misaligned
blade
to miter slot or is the fence too tight at the far end. The fence is
funky
and I measure distance of the front and back of the fence to a miter slot
before each cut (yeah, big pain in the ---) to make sure it's even or
slightly wider at the far end. I try to feed the wood as fast as it
seems
it wants to be fed (without forcing or hearing the engine bog down) but
it
still wants to burn. Is there a way to check blade alignment to miter
slot
without expensive gauges?

Thanks for any info you might have for me!!

Perhaps your blade is misaligned. Try measuring from the guide to the blade
as that's what matters.

John

Using one tooth for the measurement eliminates the variations you would get
with a warped bade. It could be nearly folded in half and it wouldn't make
any difference to the measurement.

"Chuck Hoffman" wrote in message
m...
more than about +/- .004 inch of difference. If it measures more than +/-
four thousandths, the probability is (in this order) you have 1) a
misaligned blade, 2) a warped blade, or 3) a bad arbor bearing.