Trustworthy, not trustworthy

[tvrgeek]

Untrustworthy
Thought I had tuned up my TS, but cutting some 8/4 walnut, I was getting a bit of tear out on the back top.
So, checked with my gauge. Looked to be within 2 thou front to back on the blade and blade only out by 1 thou.

Huh? Then I noticed a variance. The expensive flat tip I got for the dial is not flat. HUGE error. The idea was it should register the highest point of a tooth giving the maximum error measurement against the blade. Total Chinese crap. Back to the pointed tip and sure enough, my top is out by 5 thou.

Nifty simple miter gauge. My Osborn seems to have too much slop. The detents are right on. Holds measurement and bar adjustment great. BUT, the center bolt is too sloppy. Over a degree slop. I am thinking how to fix that. Maybe with a tapered bearing and a stack of bevel washers. Makes me wonder as I was considering an Incra 1000 but how do they keep the play down? Maybe just a nylon sleeve?

Trustworthy.
I did get a precision calibrated square. With just a few strokes of sandpaper, my speed-squares are within "no light" of square. I was surprised my cheap protractor was on. Both my igauge combos are square. A tiny tweak to the left 90 stop on my Lyon trimmer and it is dead on.

So, off to re-square my TS top to blade. Again. Thinking how to modify it with either a cam or bolt to give more precise movement over a "whack" but iI shoudl only have to do this again once, so probably not worth it. My contractor saw had a cam and I understand SawStop has positioning bolts.

 

[Mike Davis]

I bought a flat saw plate for setting the blade to slot. I think it is faster and easier because I don't have to worry about teeth or slots being out of place. I just check to be sure it is installed correctly and the shaft is straight then slide my gage against it.

Nice to have everything aligned and know your squares are true.

I think I saw a kit one time for adding adjustment screws to a contractor saw, not sure about cabinet saws but I know some have them.
I have worked on a few Saw Stops and their system is good but access could be better.

My Incra 1000 has countersunk screws in metal split washers that make for good fine adjustment to the slots.
I have had to file the slots on a few saws to make the slide smooth all the way from end to end.

 

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[tvrgeek]

Fixed the TS miter square sort of. Added a foil shim between the nylon pivot and the screw. Bad design. When are the Chinese going to learn not to have threads as a bearing surface! At least it is good for now.

Guess I have aligned my saw enough times, it was easy. All four bolts are assessable and one quick whack, I am 1 1/2 thou off on the blade. That should be close enough not to get the tear-out.

This afternoon is a long outfeed for the BS as it looks like the only way to get the 1/4 lath I need to install my tub is to rip them out of a 2 x 4.
Even if they get back in stock ( local store had no idea, been months) they want way too much for them.

Thought about a flat plate. But I only lose an half inch or so going to a dot right behind a tooth. My last saw had enough spindle runout I could measure and mark the blades so it almost canceled. This saw I can't measure any spindle runout. So far I have noticed, CMT blades tend to be a little flatter than Amana. Never had enough new ones to do a decent analysis. I basically just use one 24 and one 60 tooth.

I had to hone the slots in my Ridgid. So far I have not on my Harvey. It is not perfect, but darn near. As it is a few years old now, it should have relaxed so now would be a good time to see how flat it remains. I guess gone are the days manufactures piled up the castings in the yard for a year before machining. I wonder, modern engines are machined hours from casting. How is it they don't warp?