Help for newbie BT3'r in Sacto?

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  • aiyou
    SawdustZone Patron
    • Mar 2006
    • 106
    • Charlotte, NC
    • BT3100

    Help for newbie BT3'r in Sacto?

    Feel dumb asking this, but by chance, might there be someone in the Sacramento area who might be willing to help a newbie BT3'r get the darn thing properly aligned? I've spent probably 6+ hours, and while it's getting closer (I think), it just doesn't seem to be close enough.

    The SMT was a bit sloppy in side-to-side movement, and when I attempted to tighten, I encountered the eccentric screws and threw alignment even further off. I've gotten it a bit back in place, but just keep getting more frustrated.

    Eventually I would like to build a mobile base for it, but since I'm not comfortable with the accuracy yet, don't want to start cutting any significant stock with it misaligned.

    Thanks for the wonderful site!
  • SpkrNuts

    #2
    Don't get too frustrated...have a cold drink and relax until your temper cools as well. Take your time....that is key.
    First step, adjust whatever eccentric screw you need to so that there is no side to side wiggle, but the sled slides free....squareness at this point is not crucial....just that it not have any side wiggle. Now, if you have that, go on to the very first step of squaring the saw....the parallelism of the SMT to the blade.
    A post on this board long ago lined out a jig for this that I made and find very accurate method...more so than the manual. the jig is a 2" X 2" oak stock piece (what I had on hand) that is about 18" long. At one end, spaced about 8" apart, I have two magnets glued to the stock. These magnets I robbed from cheap fridge magnets. They should be about the same thickness. Glue them on and find the exact middle between them and scribe a pencil line all the way around the stock on that middle line. Now, at the other end of the stock, opposite side of the magnets, drill a small hole and mount a finish nail there....about 1" from the end should do. Now, raise the blade nearly all the way up...not all the way up or it will bind..but nearly all up...let the magnets attach to blade, but NOT on the kerf blades. Sight the center of the blade arbor and align the stock's line with that...eyeing it is good enough. The finish nail should be facing away from the blade at this point. Slide the SMT all the way back to the feed end....use a clamped block of something affixed to your SMT's fence and adjust and clamp it so that the material just touches the tip of the finish nail. The SMT fence and "whatever stock" clamped to the SMT fence should stay fixed for all of this. Now, lift the jig you made and flip it over so that the magnets are still attached, but the nail is facing the SMT at the outfeed end of the saw....slide the SMT all the way to the outfeed end of it's motion....compare the clearances....use the manual's instructions on how to adjust the SMT parallelsim for which screws to loosen....adjust back and forth so that there is less than 1/1000 difference between infeed and outfeed distances on the jig. Once you have that, lock it down...you got it. NOW you can fiddle back and forth with the eccentric screws until you get the SMT table surface as much squared with the blade as possible...but don't be surprised if it aint' perfectly 90 with the fence set to the 90 markings....my saw didn't have enough adjustment to get it perfectly 90'ed using the SMT fence set at the 90 mark....it was still about 1 degree short. I suggest looking in the "Articles" section and find Kirby's fence jig's articles...there are about 3 or 4 of them.....they give good ideas on how to make a really accurate crosscut fence....with adjusting screws, and a longer stock support.

    John

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    • SpkrNuts

      #3
      Also, forgot this.....if you need a better description of the "truing jig" email me at SpkrNuts@aol.com and can send you a diagram of how it is layed out. I have my SMT in tandem with a second SMT to make a large sled, so I needed a really accurate parallelism of the primary SMT. I got it to within 1/1000" over a 20" span....more than accurate enough for any saw.

      John

      Comment

      • aiyou
        SawdustZone Patron
        • Mar 2006
        • 106
        • Charlotte, NC
        • BT3100

        #4
        Thanks - I've sent an email as well for additional info regarding your truing jig. I had also tried one of the other jigs from another post, and while it helped some, I know I have some issues with it keeping me from zeroing in.

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