For accurate cuts with the miter gauge, the miter slots on the table should be parallel to the blade. This is also important for rip cuts because the rip fence should be aligned to the miter slots. In this article, we have discussed on aligning
At first, disconnect power to the saw and raise the blade to its fully raised position. Ensure that the blade which is installed is a clean, high quality blade.
Next, set the tilt angle to zero degrees. When setting the tilt angle and blade elevation, ensure to back the hand wheels off slightly after reaching the limit stops.
Place the combination square on the table surface so that the edge of the combination square is flush against the left side of the right miter slot. After that, loosen the lock knob of the combination square and slide the ruler out until it comes in contact with the edge of a carbide tooth on the blade.
Once the ruler has been positioned, tighten the lock knob on the combination square. Rotate the blade back and forth to ensure the ruler is just slightly contacting the carbide tips of the blade.
Next, select the carbide tooth to use as your reference and mark it with a permanent marker. Rotate the blade 180 degrees so that the marked reference carbide tooth is at the back of the blade. Checked the marked reference carbide tooth with the combination square to see if the ruler comes in contact with the carbide tooth the same as it did when checking at the front of the blade. If the carbide tooth catches on the ruler, the table will need to be rotated in a clockwise direction from the users perspective.
If there is a gap between the ruler and the carbide tips and the ruler does not touch it all, the table will need to be rotated in a counter clockwise direction from the user’s perspective. To adjust the alignment of the table, you will need to first loosen it from the cabinet.
On the professional cabinet saw, there are two bolts at the front of the saw and two bolts inside the cabinet that will need to loosened. The table has a pivot pin which the table will rotate. Using a 17 millimeter wrench, loose the two outer bolt at the front of the saw. Do not bolts out completely, just loosen them. Make sure that you loosen the correct outer bolts.
Move to the right side of the saw and open the side access panel. Locate the bolt at the upper back corner inside the cabinet and loosen it with the 17 millimeter wrench. Be careful about loosen the correct outboard bolt located closest to the corner of the cabinet. Do not lose the inboard bolt.
Next, angel the blade to about 30 degrees to access the left rear bolt inside the cabinet. Open the cabinet on the left side of the saw and locate the bolt on the upper back corner and loosen it with 17 millimeter wrench. Be sure to loosen correct outboard bolt located closest to the corner of the cabinet. Do not loosen the inboard bolt. The inboard bolt hold the trunnion brackets in place on the saw when loosened the saw mechanism can come loose from the trunnion brackets and fall down on the bottom of the cabinet. Once all four bolts have been loosened, the table alignment can now be adjusted with the positioning screws.
The two positioning screws located near the rear of the table. One on the right side of the saw and one on the left. If you are rotating the table counter clockwise from the users perspective, loosen the positioning screw on the right side first.
By using a 5 mm the key, tighten the positioning screw on the left side. If you are rotating the table clockwise from the user’s perspective, loosen the positioning screws on the left side first, then tighten the positioning screw on the right side. Once you have adjusted the positioning screws, set the angel of the blade back to zero degrees and retest the alignment with the combination square.
Align the combination square with the left edge of the right miter slot and inspect the distance between the ruler and your marked reference carbide. Rotate the blade on 180 degrees and move the combination square to check the distance at the back of the blade.
Once you have confirmed the blade alignment has been adjusted properly, the four bolts that you loosened, can now be re-tightened. But we recommend to tight the bolts gradually so that the table does not come out of alignment. Tighten each bolt a little at a time around the saw until all are tight.
Finally, snug up the positioning screws on both side of the saw and be sure to replace the side access panel and close the cabinet door.
Tools:
- 17 MM Wrench Socket or Adjustable wrench
- 5MM Hex Key
- Combination Square
- Permanent Marker
Hopefully, the article helped you a lot to solve elevation travel limit issues for an industrial cabinet saw. You can check our best table saws 2020, it will definitely help you to find your next best table saws.