Something wrong with rip fence??

[mburdette]

I've had my BT3100 for a couple of years now and am very happy.

The past month or so, we've been doing some remodeling. I've been moving my saw from the rear of the garage to the driveway (to save on cleanup).

Yesterday I noticed that my rip fence was doing something 'new' .... after I'd position it and start to press the handle down to lock it... this is hard to explain... but the 'feel' was different, and although it wasn't some loud noise, what came to my mind was that the mechanism was 'growling' at me... sort of a metal groaning feel and sound. It just wan't the smooth operation I was used to. And.. it seemed to me, the alignment wasn't as dead-on as I'm used to.

I verified that the fence was in the slot both front and rear.

I had been sliding the rails out to be able to be able to accomodate a larger work piece - but I've done that before.

I'm going to pull my manual out and see what I can see, but I wanted to float this here and see what anyone had to say.

Side question number 1: when adjusting the alignment screws on the top of the fence, should the handle be unlocked, locked, partially locked, or what?? I read one system that seemed to say you 'slightly' lock it.


A side question - many of the 'homemade' alignment processes rely on a perfectly square jig... how do you get a perfectly square piece of wood to use for alignment if your saw might not be aligned correctly in the first place?

Thanks for any help.

[gmack5]

I'm going to pull my manual out and see what I can see, but I wanted to float this here and see what anyone had to say.
Side question number 1: when adjusting the alignment screws on the top of the fence, should the handle be unlocked, locked, partially locked, or what?? I read one system that seemed to say you 'slightly' lock it.
A side question - many of the 'homemade' alignment processes rely on a perfectly square jig... how do you get a perfectly square piece of wood to use for alignment if your saw might not be aligned correctly in the first place? Thanks for any help.

The Rip Fence Locking mechanism is a two stage afair. When you start to drop the locking handle, the Cam action clamps the Front Rail, then as you proceed to drop the handle farther, the rear Claw grasps the Rear Rail and completes the Lock Down process.

When adjusting the Rip Fence, you only want the Front ("T" head) locked. The rear end should be left free to move.

As to adjusting the Rip Fence, you should only need to loosen ONE of the two screws. Use the other Screw as a Pivot point. I would loosen the one towards the Rear of the Saw as this will give you the most adjustment (swing).

To get a 90 degree corner, cut a Triangle from the Factory Corner of a sheet of 3/4" Plywood. I would cut a corner at 30 degrees, with a 9 inch base, giving you approximately a 12 inch leg on the other side. (A 30-60 Triangle is a 3-4-5 triangle, Base = multiple of 3, verticle Leg is a Multiple of 4 and the hypotenuse is a multiple of 5)

[RayintheUK]

Are you sure that the rear clamp is correctly situated in the rear slot, as this is quite easy to get wrong. The diagram below may help explain what I'm getting at.

The fence needs to be inserted into the rear slot first (often with the front lifted up at quite an angle in order to get the clamper under the extrusion) - "A" below. If this is not properly seated, the clamp will try to shut on the side of the extrusion ("C" below) instead of the correct location ("B" below). This would produce the sort of groaning noise you refer to.



The adjustment of the rear clamp, once correctly located, is largely a matter of trial and error, plus personal preference. I like my rear clamp to engage with the handle almost horizontal, so that it's fully locked with the handle at about 4 o'clock, when viewed from the left side.

HTH

Ray.

[Garasaki]

I hate to drag up an old thread, but I'm having a problem that I can't clearly figure out how to fix.

How do you adjust the clamping point of the rip fence?

I have to turn mine thru it's entire travel, to where it is pointed at the floor, to get a solid lockdown. And this is totally different then what I read here...

[Thom2]

The end of the fence opposite the handle has an adjustment screw just above the clamp, turn it in to clamp quicker. You'll have to fidget with it a bit to find a sweet spot.

[Lonnie in Orlando]

No-Measure Alignment

A side question - many of the 'homemade' alignment processes rely on a perfectly square jig... how do you get a perfectly square piece of wood to use for alignment if your saw might not be aligned correctly in the first place?

I sent you a PM re: how to align without square jigs. I can't post it because the forum limits pdf uploads to 19K.

- Lonnie

[eezlock]

rip fence problem

I don't know if this is the problem or not but it could be, you said:
(1) you moved the saw to different location to help with clean up
(2) shifted rails for making cuts in larger pieces of stock

(1)IMHO, the problem is most likely in all of this movement of the saw.
If you had the saw in a level work area to begin with the secondary
work area may not be completely level and smooth which can affect the
overall cutting accuracy of the saw.

(2) when you changed the saw's location did you move it around by
pulling /pushing it by the rails? If so these alunimum rails can flex
and start to distort enough to throw everything out of alignment.

(3) when you shifted the rails, did you first remove the rip fence and then
unlock the four lock levers, slide the rails to new position and then
relock the levers before re positioning the rip fence? all of this type
of movement can and will affect the action of the rip fence. If you did
any or all these things....might want to check these areas for problems.

Just my input here but hope it helps....eezlock

[Lonnie in Orlando]

"No-Measure" Alignment

mburdette:

I found the link to an old post re: my "No-Measure" alignment of the BT3K. It doesn't require any measurements or "perfectly square jigs". I don't know if the photos will load. I have it saved as a .pdf file if you cannot see the pics on this post ...

http://www.ryobitools.com/dc/dcboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=109&topic_id=2917&mesg_id=2917&page=2

Here is another way to align the saw without "a perfectly square jig" by Phil Bumbalough ...

http://benchmark.20m.com/tools/BT3100/Alignment/bt3100_alignmentindex.html

>> I perfer Phil Bumbalough's "Five-cut" method to square the miter fence over my "No-Measure" method. Use the "Five-cut" method only after you have aligned the sliding miter table - using either my SMT "No-Measure" method, or Phil's SMT alignment method. Here is the link to the "Five-cut" method ...

http://benchmark.20m.com/tools/BT3100/Alignment/SMT_Fence/BT3100_Align_XcutFence.html

- Lonnie

[Garasaki]

The end of the fence opposite the handle has an adjustment screw just above the clamp, turn it in to clamp quicker. You'll have to fidget with it a bit to find a sweet spot.

Yes I've done that, and it helps a little. But it dosent really seem to address the problem I'm having...

The entire first half of the travel of the rip fence clamp lever is just free play on my saw. The clamp dosent engage at all until the lever is horizontal or even less then that. In order to get a tight clamp, one in which the far end of the fence dosent wobble at all, I have to move the lever absolutely as far as it goes, until it is touching the rail.

Adjusting that screw on the "far" end of the fence dosen't affect the (seemingly) excessive amount of free play in my fence clamping lever.

[timb]

Check the piece of plastic that contacts the front side of the front rail underneath the casting at the front of the rip fence. Sounds like it might be worn out. Its called a "plate" in my diagram.

The way the front block clamps to the front rail is that the locking handle moves a cam they call an "eccentric roller" which pushes the plate against the front of the rail. There are 6 milled wings at the back of the "front block" and when the cam pushes the plate against the front of the rail it draws these tight against the rear of the rail. There is no adjustment as far as I can tell and I suspect you just need to order a new plate.

Remove the rip fence, turn it upside down a check under the large casting at the front - the "front block" and all should become evident.

Sears want $2.16 plus shipping so its not going to break the bank - if it is the problem you might want to order a couple.


Tim

[timb]

One other possibility is the that the front "clamper" lever (part 21 or 22 in rip fence diagram) in the fence front block is not in the correct position to push the rod that operates the rear clamp. This can happen if the fence it taken apart for some reason and you don't make sure to position the clamper lever so it points up and the rod pushes against it. It is possible to re-assemble the fence with the clamper lever fallen so that it is below the push rod. I know, I just did it this weekend

I don't think this is your problem but just a thought

Tim