Warped fence on a CMS

[Vanilla Gorilla]

Hey guys, sorry it's been so long since I have been here, I hope to be back in full effect pretty soon.

I got out in my shop for the first time in several months (I know, I know) and the fence on my miter saw seems to have warped. Is there any way to square it back up again, short of adding an auxiliary fence shimmed to square??

I am not completely against doing that, but I don't want to lose what precious little cut capacity I now have. Any ideas?

 

[DaveO]

Hey Marco, great to hear from you again. I hope all is well with you. What type of saw do you have? You might be able to tighten or loosen the fence mounting bolts and use shims to force it straight. Generally metal dosen't warp, so I am a little surprised that you are having this issue...could be time for a new tool purchasing opportunity :eusa_thin :eusa_thin :eusa_thin

Dave

 

[rhett]

I have a dewalt that experienced a similar problem. Mainly from abuse though. Loosen the fence and get one side square with the blade. Tighten down the square side and lay a straight edge across the fence. Now gingerly force the opposite loose side back untill the straight edge lays flat across the fence. I had to employ a hammer. Recheck for square and repeat as necessary. It worked for me, good luck.

 

[Vanilla Gorilla]

Here's the story on the saw. It's a craftsman saw, at least 15 years old. But here, the catch. I got it brand new out of the box about a year ago. I was rummaging around in my parent's basement because my dad loves to buy tools and hates to use them. So, I needed something to replace my beater harbor freight scms (which also had a warped fence). I talked my dad out of whatever ridiculous ambitions he had to eventually use it (after 15 years).

I didn't use it to do any precision cutting, so I didn't really notice the fence being out of whack till I tried to tune it up to make a picture frame for a friend. I can kind of get around it by squaring the blade to one side of the fence or another, making an initial cut about 1/8" long and then trimming it square, but that's gonna be a pain.

I would love to just buy a nice new saw, but I need a new table saw and a bandsaw before anything else. But just out of curiosity, any recommendations on a good miter saw for a reasonable price? I haven't really had any luck with the 2 I've owned so far, so any recommendations f or the future would be awesome

 

[peteb301]

I have a dewalt that experienced a similar problem. Mainly from abuse though. Loosen the fence and get one side square with the blade. Tighten down the square side and lay a straight edge across the fence. Now gingerly force the opposite loose side back untill the straight edge lays flat across the fence. I had to employ a hammer. Recheck for square and repeat as necessary. It worked for me, good luck.

Interesting comment on the Dewalt. I had a similair problem as the fence is cast one peice. I called Dewalt to register my disappointment and embellished how many other Dewalt tools I own (only one - the planer).
They sent me a new fence - FREE.