Setting up a table saw

[Cherryville Chuck]

This is a pretty good video on how to set up a table saw to cut properly (namely smoothly without binding or cutting miters without intending to).
https://www.finewoodworking.com/2018/07 ... 1314652772
Be aware that Kaspern is adjusting a cabinet saw which is different from adjusting a contractor type saw. With cabinet saws the trunnion and motor assembly are firmly attached to the cabinet. With contractor saws they are attached to the top. On my Unisaw I undo the 4 bolts that hold the top to square the top to the saw like in this video. On a contractor saw (the ones I've had at least) you unbolt 4 bolts that hold the trunnion assembly to the top then adjust it and retighten the bolts. It's common to have the assembly move when you retighten the bolts so it may take a few tries to get it where you want it.

Some contractor saws have thin stamped metal throat plates which may not level with screws. One old one I had had metal tabs that you would have to bend with pliers to get the plate level. Unless you are using a digital cube level to level the blade to the top you need that plate to be level to make sure the blade is really level so that the other adjustments are accurate.

At the 5 minute mark it shows her using an adjustable try square to check blade to miter slot alignment. I do the same thing using the slide on a caliper but the edges of my slots are beveled a bit so there is nothing to hook it to. So I stick a metal ruler in the slot and butt my caliper against the ruler. Another method would be to cut a piece of wood to fit tight in the slot that sticks up just enough to register your tool against.

At the 12 minute mark it shows her checking the blade to see if it's coplanar with the trunnion and top. In the cabinet saw you would shim the top. In a cabinet saw you would shim between the trunnion assembly and top. Note that if you're using the fence to register the dial gauge against it has to be flush to the miter slot at both ends.

[Herb Stoops]

This is all foreign to me. In all the years,about 70, that I have used a table saw, or any other kind of stationary power tool have I fiddled with adjustments. Just turn on the switch and make the cut. Of course I make a setup for that cut, but not by adjustments to the basic saw. There are 2 lines of thoughts here, I know woodworkers who spend more time tinkering with the tools than making things. Nothing wrong with that, I am just from the other type who build things with what ever tools are available.
Just because when I started nearly every tool was a hand tool. Hand tools only needed to be sharp. The angle you held the saw was dependent on how well you slept the night before or how much you drank before you went to bed. So if the cut was off a little you corrected it before it was fitted up. Just think of all those old beautiful antique furniture's that never saw a power tool.

Just saying,
Herb

[Cherryville Chuck]

I'm certainly not fanatical about keeping everything fine tuned, in fact I'm closer to what you said Herb but it does pay to check new tools out and every once in a while make sure they are still cutting properly. Things wear and move over time. Getting the insert on a TS level and making sure the blade is parallel to the miter slots are important. Getting the fence set properly is really important and as Kaspern pointed out, if it's closer to the blade at the back it can be dangerous since it forces the board into the back of the blade which can cause it to get thrown. So a properly tuned power tool can be safer to work with too.

I've found that most of the new tools I've bought weren't set up properly. I had assumed they were and couldn't figure out why I was getting poor results with some of them. When I bought my 16" planer for example I was getting wedges and when I finally decided to check the machine to see what was wrong I found the head wasn't level with the bed. I thought sure they'd get that set correctly at the factory but I was wrong. I took the chain off the sprockets that move the individual column screws and turned each sprocket until the head was level and it's been good ever since.

I'm working on my jointer right now. I took the blades and pinch bars out last night and cleaned them. I'm going to try and hone the blades back sharp again. In the meantime I'll check to make sure both tables are coplanar. I've had it for 20 years so it's time to check it. If it's not coplanar it won't do a satisfactory job.

Like you said Herb, some guys love tinkering. I'm not one of them but I hate poor results so once in a while you need to bite the bullet and give all the tools a good diagnostic check up and you definitely need to do it with brand new tools from the experiences I've had.

[Herb Stoops]

I agree with everything you said, Chuck, and come to think of it, maybe someone before me trued up the machine before I used it. Very few of the machines I have owned have been brand new. I was not criticizing you for doing that, I was just pointing out that some people enjoy tuning machines more than woodworking. On another forum there was a fellow who just bought used and old machines just for enjoyment of restoring/ tuning them up. Some people are just born with machinists minds, that goes for the auto people too.
I agree with you about cutting parallel,and at 90°, and flushing the inserts, but those who want to make cuts within .001 are in the wrong trade, they are machinists in my opinion.
Herb

[Cherryville Chuck]

We've seen a few of those guys alright Herb. Machinists in many cases who have added woodworking to their hobbies and can't understand why they can't get repeatable .001" cuts in wood. Jerry Bowen just about drove everyone crazy on the old forum doing that. Cut something to .001" accuracy today and leave it on the bench overnight. Tomorrow it will read something different and probably different again the day after.

With that said, I've purchased quite a few new machines as there don't seem to be a lot of good quality used ones in my remote area. This is a list of the issues I can remember.

Delta cheap 6" jointer. Had to return it. It was cutting wedges. I found out that the slots in the cutter head weren't straight. They were concave so that when you tightened down on the knives it sucked the middles down lower than the ends. How you can even machine them that way I have no idea but they managed to do it.

Delta 16 1/2 drill press. Dowels were falling right through the holes I drilled for them. Found the cause by accident when I tried to center a brad point bit on a mark. It made an 1/8" diameter circle. That's how bad the run out was. It went to a local service center to replace defective parts.

Delta Unisaw. I was adding the out feed table (52" rail) and I couldn't get the support leg under the end of the table. If I lifted the table up enough to get the leg under it would lift the inside base on the cabinet off the floor. I measured the cabinet and the inside was lower than the outside. It went back to the same service center and got a new cabinet. Once it was set up I did have to loosen the table bolts and true the table to the blade too but that was because the service center didn't get it perfect and I wanted to at least start out perfect.

King 16" planer. As mentioned it was planing wedges. Individual columns had to be adjusted to get the head parallel to the bed. Not a complicated job but it was a PITA because you have to lay on your back and reach up and remove the master link in the chain drive. Putting it back up in place and getting the master link back in was at least 3 x harder.

King 108" vertical belt sander. Table brackets weren't 90 degrees so it was sanding edges at an angle. I had to argue with the rep for a few minutes to get new brackets because he couldn't understand why that was important but they did send them to me after I told him it was either get me some square brackets or take the machine back. Since then King has been very easy to deal with so that was a one time issue with a clueless rep.

Not sure about the new King drum sander yet. I have to play with it some more and see if the table needs shimming. Like you mentioned once Herb it isn't easy to get that belt to track. It isn't rubbing so I've given up trying to center it for now.

That's over half the stationary machines in my shop so you can see that an initial inspection is important. After the jointer it's onto the bandsaw. It's about 20 years old too and the aluminum block that the upper wheel is attached to seems to have worn so that it is tilting inward towards the back guard when I tension the blade. Got to see if I can shim it somehow.

[Herb Stoops]

That is interesting, Chuck. On the drumsander I have had 4 of them, 3 Performax, and my current Supermax. Every one has had the run-out on the feed belt. I think I found the reason. All of mine have been set up in my garage shop. As you know the garage floors slope 1/8"-1/4" per foot towards the door. After fighting this problem for years I put a level on the infeed platen and found it was not level across. So after I leveled up the infeed table, by shimming up the castors, it solved the problem.
On my Ridgid bandsaw,which is a typical clone of all the rest of the major bandsaws, I was sawing along and there was a Bang. I shut it off and opened the upper wheel was hanging at an odd angle. I found that the upper spindle hub was made out of Potmetal and had a hardened steel pin in the tilt adjustment. Well the potmetal broke where the pin went through the hub and released the tension on the blade. Now this saw is over 20yo. and had some rough use before I got it cutting steel angles in a utility trailer fab shop. I contacted Ridgid and bought a new upper spindle/hub and installed it. The new one was potmetal too.
So you might want to inspect the upper spindle pivot mechanism.
Herb

[Cherryville Chuck]

That is interesting, Chuck. On the drumsander I have had 4 of them, 3 Performax, and my current Supermax. Every one has had the run-out on the feed belt. I think I found the reason. All of mine have been set up in my garage shop. As you know the garage floors slope 1/8"-1/4" per foot towards the door. After fighting this problem for years I put a level on the infeed platen and found it was not level across. So after I leveled up the infeed table, by shimming up the castors, it solved the problem.

Interesting. I'll have to check mine. I know my floor is very uneven because I have to rotate my shop stool to try and level the legs anytime I move it but the floor doesn't have any particular slope that I know of.

On my Ridgid bandsaw,which is a typical clone of all the rest of the major bandsaws, I was sawing along and there was a Bang. I shut it off and opened the upper wheel was hanging at an odd angle. I found that the upper spindle hub was made out of Potmetal and had a hardened steel pin in the tilt adjustment. Well the potmetal broke where the pin went through the hub and released the tension on the blade. Now this saw is over 20yo. and had some rough use before I got it cutting steel angles in a utility trailer fab shop. I contacted Ridgid and bought a new upper spindle/hub and installed it. The new one was potmetal too.
So you might want to inspect the upper spindle pivot mechanism.
Herb

I'll check that too. Mine is an Elephant brand but I'm pretty sure it was made in the same factory a bunch of others were made in. Even if it was a different factory a lot of the parts got outsourced to the same suppliers as the others and that hub is probably one of them.