Grizzly Tenon jig/guide

[Mike Davis]

How do I fix this?
Or does it matter?

Now I remember why I never used it much.

 

[junquecol]

All tools need tuning before use. On my Delta (similar to the Grizzly) I added an out rigger so it doesn't tip as it crosses over throat plate. Out rigger slides on saw top, supporting the tenon jig.

 

[Mike Davis]

I can’t find any adjustments for setting the plate parallel to the blade/guide slots.
guess I’ll just shim it to get by for this job.

 

[pop-pop]

I can’t find any adjustments for setting the plate parallel to the blade/guide slots.
guess I’ll just shim it to get by for this job.

IIRC, on my Delta, the bar that goes in the mitre slot is attached via sloppy holes and that is your adjustability.

 

[Mike Davis]

IIRC, on my Delta, the bar that goes in the mitre slot is attached via sloppy holes and that is your adjustability.

This one is pretty tight, I may file out one of the holes.

Thanks, that is a big help.

 

[tvrgeek]

Can't remember all of what I did, but I did modify the base slightly on my Delta. Might have even drilled new holes.
These were designed to fit the Delta, so like a lot of tools, we have to ne metal workers to make them fit.

 

[JNCarr]

If my estimate of the "run" is right, you'll be off by .45 degrees. That's more than I'd like.

 

[Mike Davis]

If my estimate of the "run" is right, you'll be off by .45 degrees. That's more than I'd like.

More than I like, thanks to pop pop I know how to adjust it now and will as soon as I get a chance.

 

[pop-pop]

This one is pretty tight, I may file out one of the holes.

Thanks, that is a big help.

Here is one of the bar mounting holes and cap screw on my Delta. Forgot to measure but the hole is over a mm larger than the screw.

 

[Mike Davis]

I found a manual that shows how to move the plate to align holes with the screws so I don’t have to disassemble the whole thing again.

 

[Mike Davis]

This tube was in the way so I cut it off. It is only threaded a short bit, about the same as the thickness of the casting there. And I couldn’t figure out why there was a quick turn handle bolt to clamp the tube so I replaced it with a regular hex bolt. Now I can adjust the alignment from top side.

 

[Mike Davis]

OK, this I can live with.

 

[Mike Davis]

Because the stick was held at an angle the tenon and slot would be cut at an angle to the stick. That is the result I had and is now corrected.

Not the same as having the blade out of alignment with the guide slots.

If you set your crosscut guide to 1 degree of angle and cut a dado your dado will be at 1 degree angle to the reference face of board.

 

[tvrgeek]

A fence that far skew will give uneven saw marks on your rips. A riving knife is what helps with kickback. Pushing against a fence that is that far skew is actually more likely to kick back as the rear teeth are hitting the board harder. Same problem with blades that are not true to the slots. More kickback, more splintering, more burning. My fence is out by about .002 front to back total. No burns unless the blade is dirty. Everyone has their methods.

 

[Mike Davis]

In case you’re wondering what Scott and I are talking about. There was a post that questioned the need for alignment of the jig. Someone thought I wasted a lot of time getting it set precisely. Then deleted the post after my answer. They also made mention of the rip fence comparing it to the motion of the tenon jig.

I didn’t just randomly decide to be anal about the adjustment. It needed to be correct for the tenons to be straight otherwise the joints would be crooked and the frames would not lie flat. The problem was there and I was trying to solve that problem.

Also, I don’t type all this because I love to type or see my thoughts in print. It is painful and time consuming. I try to document these moments in case someone else has the same experience and it may help them.

So, if your blade is not aligned to the crosscut guide slots in your table saw it will still cut straight, but the kerf will be wider than the blade. Because the front edge of the blade is cutting one side of the kerf and the back of the blade is cutting the other side of the kerf.

And if your blade is aligned but the fence is not. The fence will pinch the board if the rear of the fence is closer to the blade. If the fence is further away from the blade the board may do one or more of several odd cuts or dangerous things like kicking back.

So, ideally you should have the rip fence nearly parallel with the crosscut guide slots and away from the back of the blade no more that a few thousandths. Never closer at the rear.

In other words the board should be very slightly looser fit between the blade and the fence as it travels through.

Now the third part of the equation is the crosscut guide. If the crosscut guide is not square to the crosscut guide slots the cut will be at an angle. Notice that I did not say square to the blade. We already established that the blade can be out of alignment and still cut straight.

The cross cut guide must be square to the crosscut guide slots.

When you have all three settings correctly aligned the table saw is a beautiful thing to operate.

 

[JNCarr]

Absolutely agree - unless you want something that looks like a Disney cartoon, it's got to be < 0.1 degree.
Mike's now at about 0.01 degree - impressive!

 

[Willemjm]

Mike, it was me. Yep on the tenon jig I had a senior moment. So I deleted it.

I have toed out my table saw fence though for as long as I can remember, and my rip cuts are clean. With a bad blade which is beyond sharpening, they are still clean, but I do get slight burning on the off-cut piece.