Loring, I need help

[Bruce Cohen]

Loring,
since I purchased the steel City table saw and it had cabinet mounted trunions, Toolguy sent me this link about setting up the blade geometry.

Unfortunately, I don't understand any of it and considering you know just about everything, I was hoping that perhaps you might take a look at it and explain it to me.
The link is:
https://www.ridgidforum.com/forum/t25836/

Thanks a million in advance and I owe you a very large one.

Bruce

[LCHIEN]

it all makes sense to me. Want to trade saws???

Seriously there are two major steps, the first to make the blade parallel to the miter slot which is pretty much standard.

THe second major step is to make sure the plane around which the blade tilts is parallel to the plane of the top. THis involves some geometric measurements and then some trigonometry to determine how much to shim the top and then placing the shims under the top in the front or the back to tilt the top to match the plane of the blade tilt mechanism.

Where did you lose it?

[cabinetman]

This subject comes up every now and then. What's important is the alignment of the blade to the miter slot. That procedure has been covered many times on this forum. If you aren't familiar with ways to do that I can elaborate.

Once the blade is parallel to the miter slot, the fence should be adjusted to be parallel to the blade (and the miter slot). Now comes the situation of having the blade parallel to the miter slot when it's tilted. The difficulty with that is getting an accurate distance measurement because the blade is tilted, and the front/rear distances point of measure may not be the exact same place on the blade.

If shims are used to change the table, that could change other things like depth of cut. A suggestion; if the blade measures good @90 degrees, and it cuts well, evaluate the cut at a tilted position. It may also be within specs even if the measurement may be off. IOW, the measurement for parallel (if done with a digital gauge may show some differential three places to the right of the decimal), but that actual differential may be due to the method in attaining the measurements.

.

[Bruce Cohen]

it all makes sense to me. Want to trade saws???

Seriously there are two major steps, the first to make the blade parallel to the miter slot which is pretty much standard.

THe second major step is to make sure the plane around which the blade tilts is parallel to the plane of the top. THis involves some geometric measurements and then some trigonometry to determine how much to shim the top and then placing the shims under the top in the front or the back to tilt the top to match the plane of the blade tilt mechanism.

Where did you lose it?

Loring, Thanks for the reply.
I lost it somewhere between the 3 and 5th word.
Seriously, I understood everything about having the blade parallel to the miter slot (s) and the fence to both the blade and the miter slot. I also proved that the blade is perpendicular to the table. All these tests were done with my digital caliper in one of those miter slot holders that now seem to be everywhere. Being the table and leafs re granite, I couldn't use my dial indicator and magnetic base.
So far, all my cross cuts ane spot on. I tested a 45 deg miter cut and that was great too.
I have been seeing a bit of burn on the few rips I've done, and being pretty sure that the blade/fense are parallel, I'll chalk it up to needing my WWII sharpened. But first I'll swap that blade out with my Freud "Glue Line" rip blade.
I haven't, as of yet, tried to cut bevels, but to me and my box making, that just has to be spot on.
I guess when reading that link, with all the Trig. (I sucked in math when I went to school, and they don't teach math in art schools. So I'm totally lacking that ability. I think I understand that some angles change with the blade tilted, but the explanation in the link just made what little is left of my math abilities make my brain shut down.
So to make a long story shorter, I dont understand a thing. Like how to make a 45 deg. angle on my dial indicator for that test. And the shimming up of the table (main) of the saw.
I kind of liked the BT, it was just stupid enough to suit me,

Bruce

[LCHIEN]

It sounds like you understand the 1st half of the procedure.

The second half, well, imagine that the blade tilts - that tilt has an imaginary line you can't see but its the line over which the tilting folds. Think of a piece of paper with a fold, laying on a table with one flap to the right and the other flap pointing up. Take the up-flap and tilt it right or left. THe fold in the paper represents the tilt axis. Actually in the saw there's an offset so the tilt axis is below and to the side but they'll be parallel.

All is well if this line is also parallel with the table top, but you may have problems if the table is tilted with respect to the line. Your blade will measure perfect 90 degrees to the table when vertical, but this tilt axis line and the table top must also line up or you cut will not feed straight through.

If it cuts bevels alright, maybe you should just leave it alone.