SMT Adjustment issues

[Greg.B]

Hey guys, over the weekend I made an attempt to get my SMT in alignment.

My first step was to take any slope out of the table buy adjusting the cams and tabs. That went well and my table now has no slop in it.

My next step was to adjust base parallisim. By using a piece of wood with a screw in the end I was able to adjust the table to parallel.

My next step I feel is where my mistake is. I then adjusted the miter fence to 90 to the blade.

When I made my test cut I noted that I was well out of alignment. I think that since I adjusted the base with the wood jig on the SMT fence, and then adjusted the angle of it to 90, I screwed things up. Just not sure.

I want to take another stab at making the adjustments again. But to me it seems like if you adjust 1, it throws the other adjustment out of wack. Any ideas of where I'm going wrong.

[Greg.B]

Too funny when I make my own replies...lol

I just found this on the benchmark website....

Goal: For square cuts, the crosscut fence must be set 90 degrees to the direction of travel of the SMT (NOT the blade). Note, this alignment is also true of standard miter gauge fences.

[pirinst]

notes from the manual.

p.36 the mbase must be ll to the blade as the table slides from the front to the rear of the miter table assembly.

the miter fence must be square to the blade when set exactly to zero on the miter table scale. This is necessary in order to use the scale on the miter table.

These checks and adjustments are being explained in step by step procedures (starting on page 37) however you should be aware that they depend on each other.

I did the step by steps when setting up the saw and had great results. Good luck.

[Greg.B]

I think that the mistake I was making was trying to set the miter fence 90 to the blade, when the correct way is to make it 90 to the travel of the table, which in fact is what I did when I used the jig to have equal distance from the front of the blade to the back as the table slides from the front to the back.

Can anyone verify if what I'm saying sounds right ?

[LCHIEN]

I think that the mistake I was making was trying to set the miter fence 90 to the blade, when the correct way is to make it 90 to the travel of the table, which in fact is what I did when I used the jig to have equal distance from the front of the blade to the back as the table slides from the front to the back.

Can anyone verify if what I'm saying sounds right ?

Geometry rules say that if the blade is paralel to the travel of the SMT, then if the miter fence is 90° to the blade it is also 90° to the travel path.

What makes you say the saw is out of alignment?
Is the cut not at 90°, or are there burning and or finish problems with the cut? If the fence is 90° to the SMT travel, even if the SMT is not aligned to te blade you WILL have a 90 degree cut but the cut may not be too good.

If the cut is not at 90° then make sure you are using the little orange thingy on the back side of the miter fence to set the angle and not the rear edge of the miter fence, a common mistake.

[Greg.B]

What makes me say this is that the cut is not at 90.

So what your saying is to first using the orange indicator set the adjustable quick stop to 90. The set the SMT travel parallel to the blade, and I should be good ?

Sorry about all the questions. Honestly I thought I knew how to do this, but now I think there is somepart I am overlooking, or looking at in the wrong way.

[gjat]

What makes me say this is that the cut is not at 90.

So what your saying is to first using the orange indicator set the adjustable quick stop to 90. The set the SMT travel parallel to the blade, and I should be good ?

Sorry about all the questions. Honestly I thought I knew how to do this, but now I think there is somepart I am overlooking, or looking at in the wrong way.

The Wizard of OZ would say: Ignore that Orange Thingy on the SMT.
But really... Forget about the miter fence for a minute. In fact, take it off.
Extend your rails all the way to the left and move the smt all the way to the left. Follow the instructions in the book on aligning the smt to the blade. The purpose of moving everything to the left, is that the greater the distance, the greater the difference of a difference in the angle between the blade and smt.

Only after you've aligned the smt, do you then mount the miter fence and sqare it up. Ignore the orange thingy still. To set the Quick Stop for the miter, turn the screw with the stop up and you will see it move back and forth depending on the direction you turn. Turn it so that it just bumps the SMT. DO NOT USE THE QUICK STOP IF YOU WANT A PERFECT 90' CUT. It's only for convenience if you're wacking off lumber and will square it later or you don't need it perfectly square at all. There are no shortcuts when it comes to ensuring your miter fence is square.

[JimD]

I know I do not do things exactly "right" but all I do is take out the slop (done once a long time ago) and set the fence of the SMT at right angles to the rip fence (which is parallel to the blade). I find it easier to set the SMT fence at right angles to the rip fence than the blade because of the need to contact the carbide tips of the blade. I ignore the settings on the SMT except for a gross indication of angle. I also make a test cut on a piece of scrap to make sure I am getting a square cut.

Jim

[gmack5]

SMT adjustment instructions

I wrote this quite a while ago for someone here on the Forum.

As far as I know it's still valid and workable.

The problem that most people have is getting past the fact that the BT3X00 Saws are NOT conventional and therefore follow a different set of "rules" when it comes to adjustments and setting up your saw.


EVERYTHING, both fences, the Dual Slot Miter Table (DSMT), and the SMT all reference off of the SAW BLADE.

The first thing to do is make sure you're locking down the SMT to the RAIL correctly. Lock down the FRONT two tabs first, then the BACK two tabs. Once you have the Base of the SMT locked down, you can then check it's parallism to the Saw Blade, using the Jig listed below and a 1 1/2" Cube of Aluminum or Hardwood.

To check the SMT Base, mount the Jig to the side of your Saw Blade with the Probe facing the SMT, attach the Jig such that the Probe is at the operator end and the Sliding table is all the way back. Move the SMT Base so that the edge of it is close or barely touching the end of the Probe. Now, Reverse the position of the Jig such that the Probe is towards the rear of the Saw and the Sliding Table is all the way towards the front of the Saw, towards the operator. The end of the Probe should be the same distance from the SMT Base as it was in the front.

Any difference in the distance would indicate that the SMT Base is NOT parallel to the Blade. Adjust the Base in small increments until it's parallel to the blade, using the adjusting screws that hold it to the rails.

Once this is done, you can proceed to adjusting the Sliding Table parallel to the Saw Blade.

OK, lets check to see if the SMT is parallel to the SAW BLADE. (This is what you've been waiting for!)

Move the SMT base a little closer than you had it in the last check for the SMT Base, such that the Probe on the Jig is about an inch or so over the edge of the Sliding Table, towards the front of the Saw.
Place the Block on the Sliding Table, such that one corner of it is just barely brushed when you move the Sliding Table towards the rear. Now reverse the Jig so the Probe is towards the Rear of the Saw, without touching the Block and move the Sliding Table farther back so that the Probe just barely touches the Block (the Block shouldn't move at all). If this condition exsists, then your Sliding Table is Parallel to the Saw Blade and no adjustment is necessary.

If this is NOT the case, then follow the adjustment proceedure below to bring the Sliding Table parallel to the Saw Blade.

There are four screws envolved, a "normal" shoulder screw and three eccentric shoulder screws.
The normal screw is the pivot point and should never require adjustment, since the others use it as a reference point to adjust for parallel and to take the slop out of the SMT, with respect to the base.
The RIGHT FRONT screw is the "normal" screw.

CAUTION: the eccentric screws are a little delicate, so be careful that you don't torque them too hard, as they WILL break off.

To make the SMT Sliding Table run parallel to the saw blade, be sure the LEFT front eccentric screw is "snug", but not tight, to the base, loosen the LEFT REAR eccentric screw and make sure the SMT is good and sloppy (Don't want it to interfere with the effort to bring the SMT parallel)

The Right REAR eccentric screw is used to bring the SMT parallel to the saw blade, adjust it by applying a slight pressure to the RIGHT side of the SMT as you adjust for parallel by rotating the RIGHT REAR screw.
Once you're sure you're parallel to the saw blade, lock down the eccentric screw by keeping it in it's rotational position with a screw driver (I find that an offset screw driver works very well for this) from the bottom as you snug up the nut on the top side of the screw.

NOW take the slop out of the REAR end of the SMT by rotating the LEFT REAR eccentric screw, until the SMT is snug, but not tight, you should be able to push the SMT towards the back with very little effort, in other words, it should "glide" smoothly, with very little or no side to side play.

Now snug up the Left Front Eccentric Screw, if needed.

Be sure you hold the screw in position with a screw driver to keep the screw from rotating as you tighten the nut on the top of the screw.
Your SMT should now glide parallel to the saw blade!

Your Miter Fence, while not directly envolved in the adjustment, needs to be adjusted also. This is accomplished by adjusting the "Quick Stop", located on the Left side of the SMT, about mid-way down the side.

Adjust your "Quick Stop" (the little tab that swings up on the left edge of the SMT) so that it brings your MITER FENCE square to the blade (it's also an eccentric screw) when you gently swing the miter fence up against it.

You can also check your Rip Fence with the same Jig by mounting the Jig with the Probe towards the Rip fence, just barely touching it. Now reverse the Jig with the Probe at the back of the Saw, if the Rip Fence is the same distance from the Probe as it was with the Probe near the front of the Saw, then it's parallel, if not, there are two Screws near the front of the Saw on top of the Rip Fence that are used to adjust the Rip Fence Parallel to the Saw Blade.

I would only loosen ONE of them at a time, using the other one as a pivot when aligning the Rip Fence.

One other thing to be considered.... The Clamp for the Miter Fence consists of a 5/16-18 bolt that passes thru a plastic bracket that provides the clamping pressure to hold the Miter Fence in whatever position you put it. The hex head on the clamping bolt rides IN a grove on the bottom of the SMT. The groove is sized in such a way that it prevents the bolt's turning as you tighten the knob on top of the bracket.

If the Clamping Bolt is properly installed (head in the groove) there is no way that it could deform the Sliding Miter Table, since it merely clamps a piece of Aluminum (the SMT Sliding Table) between the Miter Fence and the Hex Head of the bolt. If you put a washer under the clamping bolt (on the bottom) in an effort to straddle the sides of the groove that it was designed to ride in, it might deform the SMT when pressure is applied by clamping the Miter Fence with the Clamping Bolt improperly installed.

NOTE: The washer that's supplied as a part of the Miter Fence Clamping Assembly goes on TOP of the plastic Clamping Bracket under the Clamping Knob (it's there to keep the Knob from binding on the Plastic Clamping Bracket when tightened).

That should do it!

You should be good to go!