Table Saw Fence Suggestions

[AlexSwansboro]

I have a 10" Craftsman Contractor Table Saw seen here: http://www.sears.com/craftsman-prof...x000001&kpid=00921833000P&kispla=00921833000P

I am so frustrated with the fence as it never seem to be parallel to the blade. I have checked that the blade is straight and it is pretty much dead on. The fence however, is rarely straight. I would like to upgrade and have been looking around. There are a lot of fence systems that seem to be pretty nice. I have 2 questions:
1) Which fences work with my saw and how do I know?
2) Which fences do you recommend?

Your help is much appreciated.

 

[Mark Gottesman]

I was surprised that this saw has alignment problems. A T-Square fence should be trouble free once it is setup properly. Can you tell us a bit more what sort of problems you are seeing? I am not sure what fences currently available will bolt onto your machine. Your going to have to make sure it is the fence and not something else.

The Beismeyer type (t-square) fence is very well thought of.

In looking around for your saw (GOOGLED fence craftsman 21833) I ran into this page that seems to indicate that some saws might have alignment issues related to initial machining. It seems to show up as a blade that does not stay parallel throughout its range of motion. You might also need to check movement at 45 degree setting.

http://www.gbook.org/index.php?opti...ble-saw-review&catid=38:woodworking&Itemid=56

Don't forget to check your blade and the arbor for dings and concentricity.

I use a Delta T2 on an old craftsman (50's) and it just took a bit of drilling to adapt it. About $150 if you can find them.

 

[batk30msu]

I am also surprised, as the extruded aluminum fence itself should be straight/flat.

Do you have a reliable straight edge? If the fence is straight, and the blade dead on, it must be something with the fence adjustment mechanism. From the pic it looks like there are some allen screws to change the fence in relation to the blade.

 

[AlexSwansboro]

I was surprised that this saw has alignment problems. A T-Square fence should be trouble free once it is setup properly. Can you tell us a bit more what sort of problems you are seeing? I am not sure what fences currently available will bolt onto your machine. Your going to have to make sure it is the fence and not something else.

The Beismeyer type (t-square) fence is very well thought of.


In looking around for your saw (GOOGLED fence craftsman 21833) I ran into this page that seems to indicate that some saws might have alignment issues related to initial machining. It seems to show up as a blade that does not stay parallel throughout its range of motion. You might also need to check movement at 45 degree setting.

http://www.gbook.org/index.php?opti...ble-saw-review&catid=38:woodworking&Itemid=56

Don't forget to check your blade and the arbor for dings and concentricity.

I use a Delta T2 on an old craftsman (50's) and it just took a bit of drilling to adapt it. About $150 if you can find them.

The problem I am having is that when I clamp the fence down it doesn't square up. I have tightened it, which makes it a pain to slide and it doesn't slide real well, and I have loosened it up. In both cases I am able to measure my cut at the front of the blade with a smooth cut and when I start to get to the back of the blade I get a lot of burn in and it is much harder to get the wood to pass through the cut.

 

[tryingtokeepmyfingers]

yea have you.first sqaured your blade to the miter slot....


in regards to fence one day I will have this on my saw when I have a shop with more room cause it takes up more space to left side of saw http://www.incra.com/product_tsf_lsts.htm

 

[bluedawg76]

questions:
1) is the fence flat? a reasonable straight edge should suffice for now.
If so, then:
2) just to clarify, does the fence lock down parallel to the blade and move?
or:
3) is it "toed in" toward the blade when locked down (but doesn't move)?

sounds like #3 from your description.

Before proceeding, it is absolutely essential that the blade is parallel to the miter slot. Have you done this?

Assuming you've made the blade to miter slot parallel check, here's my 2 cents on the fence. From the manual you have 3 adjustment mechanisms.
The first regulates the tension of the locked down fence. The fence should move smoothly when unlocked, so back out this nut until it just moves smoothly. Then check that when locked down the fence doesn't move at either end. If it's too tight, you may run the risk of slightly deforming/torquing the fence. If it's a newer craftsman I'm guessing that aluminum is quite thin and flexible.

The 2nd adjustment makes the fence 90 degrees to the table. Check this with a good square. Typically I'll back the screws out until they're not registering, then tighten until they just register, and begin tweaking until I'm satisfied w/ the adjustment.

The third adjustment sounds like you're problem and is a common adjustment for a T-fence. Again, back these screws out so that they do not impede sliding of the unlocked fence and begin tweaking until the fence is parallel to the front and back of the blade. The key is how to determine this. I use a jig from John White's book Care and Repair of Shop Machines. It's a board about 10-12" long and 2-3" wide with a dial indicator mounted on it. This slides along the fence. The other jig is a piece of 3/4" plywood 10" x 2 1/2". Drill a 5/8" inch hole (size of your arbor) about an 1 1/4" from the end. Mount this board onto the arbor and rotate it all the way to the front of the saw. Now, with the fence locked down close enough that the indicator will register on the board mounted on the arbor, slide the board toward the front of the saw as far forward as posslble while it still makes contact w/ the arbor mounted board. Zero the indicator and mark the spot on the board. Now rotate the board toward the back of the saw, slide the jig down the fence and re-measure at the same spot. Adjust the screws on the front of the fence slowly until this measurement is < 0.001". Should be good to go. I'd also highly recommend John White's book for setting up other machines. Also, sorry if these measures were already taken and your problem still persists.

HTH,
Sam

 

[Chilihead]

I've had an older version of this saw for several years. Judging from the picture you sent and their own write up, the fence on it is just an updated version of the one on mine. It is not a true T square fence like a Biesemeyer or one of the many clones that lock and square to the front rail. This fence locks to the rear rail. This locking mechanism is probably your culprit. Even when I had mine set up properly, I occasionally had problems like you describe. Because it squares on the front but pinches from the back rail to lock, the slightest skew can get easily pinned in place. I learned that I had to press the fence forward against the front rail to square it before locking it down and then be very smooth in lowering the lock lever. That seemed to work most of the time. In my experience, this style fence does not have good lateral stability though, and large cuts like sheetgoods would often generate enough lateral pressure to knock it out of alignment midway through a cut.
Don't get me wrong, I've made many pieces of fine furniture with this fence, you just have to know its quirks and limits

 

[NC_Horn]

+1 on the incra. Upgraded saws earlier this year from a good Craftsman contractor saw to a Griz with an Incra fence. Big change was not in the saw itself, tho the Griz is quite an upgrade, but in the fence. I didn't have issues with keeping the fence square but always had trouble with slippage and always felt I needed to re-measure after every cut to make sure the fence hadn't moved. With the Incra, once it is set up, you will have confidence in the cut when you lock the fence at a given mark - measurment repeatable every time.

Duane

 

[batk30msu]

http://vsctools.com/

Check out the fence offered on this site. I have not used it but it has pretty good reviews.

 

[AlexSwansboro]

questions:
1) is the fence flat? a reasonable straight edge should suffice for now.
If so, then:
2) just to clarify, does the fence lock down parallel to the blade and move?
or:
3) is it "toed in" toward the blade when locked down (but doesn't move)?

sounds like #3 from your description.

Before proceeding, it is absolutely essential that the blade is parallel to the miter slot. Have you done this?

Assuming you've made the blade to miter slot parallel check, here's my 2 cents on the fence. From the manual you have 3 adjustment mechanisms.
The first regulates the tension of the locked down fence. The fence should move smoothly when unlocked, so back out this nut until it just moves smoothly. Then check that when locked down the fence doesn't move at either end. If it's too tight, you may run the risk of slightly deforming/torquing the fence. If it's a newer craftsman I'm guessing that aluminum is quite thin and flexible.

The 2nd adjustment makes the fence 90 degrees to the table. Check this with a good square. Typically I'll back the screws out until they're not registering, then tighten until they just register, and begin tweaking until I'm satisfied w/ the adjustment.

The third adjustment sounds like you're problem and is a common adjustment for a T-fence. Again, back these screws out so that they do not impede sliding of the unlocked fence and begin tweaking until the fence is parallel to the front and back of the blade. The key is how to determine this. I use a jig from John White's book Care and Repair of Shop Machines. It's a board about 10-12" long and 2-3" wide with a dial indicator mounted on it. This slides along the fence. The other jig is a piece of 3/4" plywood 10" x 2 1/2". Drill a 5/8" inch hole (size of your arbor) about an 1 1/4" from the end. Mount this board onto the arbor and rotate it all the way to the front of the saw. Now, with the fence locked down close enough that the indicator will register on the board mounted on the arbor, slide the board toward the front of the saw as far forward as posslble while it still makes contact w/ the arbor mounted board. Zero the indicator and mark the spot on the board. Now rotate the board toward the back of the saw, slide the jig down the fence and re-measure at the same spot. Adjust the screws on the front of the fence slowly until this measurement is < 0.001". Should be good to go. I'd also highly recommend John White's book for setting up other machines. Also, sorry if these measures were already taken and your problem still persists.

HTH,
Sam

I have checked that the blade is parallel to the miter slots and it is dead on parallel. I looked at the # 3 you suggested, and don't know which screw you are referring to that I should adjust.

 

[bluedawg76]

There should be screws on each side of the front portion of the fence that are in line w/ the front rail. From the photo, they are to each side of the cursor windows and slightly below. Tightening the left screw would push the rear of the fence away from the blade whereas tightening the right screw would do the opposite. Usually you have to tighten one and loosen the other reciprocally and repeatedly until you get the right alignment.

 

[Rick M]

If you can get hold of a Delta Unifence, they are fantastic.

 

[Mike Camp]

In case you decide to toss the current fence completely I highly recommend the Delta T2 fence system. I paid around $160 if memory serves and it has been worth every penny. I considering it a Biesemeyer lite, but still very accurate and durable.

http://www.toolbarn.com/delta-36t30.html?ref=base&gclid=CM2vrv_W6LcCFQ3l7Aod7BYA1Q

 

[bluedawg76]

so what happened????