New Craftsman 21829

[MikeR]

Well, I picked up the saw last night and will be assembling it today.

Will post my experiences and possibly photos.

Really looking forward to it.

Cheers,

MikeR

[Ken Weaver]

Congrats Mike - welcome aboard, make sawdust, have fun and be safe!

[MikeR]

Finished (almost)

1.5 hours, everything fits and it runs.

Haven't checked alignment or cut anything but that's for this afternoon.

Very impressed with overall level of quality.

Cheers,

MikeR

[Garasaki]

I would suggest your first few "projects" include making some pushblocks and featherboards from some cheap scrapwood you pick up somewhere. You'll learn a lot from your first few cuts and end up some with items that make using your saw much safer.

Also, check out all the articles on the front page of the bt3central website. There's some real gold there!!

[MikeR]

Need opinions

OK, first couple of crosscuts resulted in attached. Note that cut runs off to the right.

Miter fence is perpendicular to blade.
SMT is parallel to blade.

At first I thought it might be the riving knife pulling the stock as it went past the back of the blade but as you can see, this piece doesn't even contact the riving blade until it is already cut.

Thoughts? Suggestions?

Cheers,

MikeR

[ofna89]

I made my first cuts with the 21829 tuesday night and ended up making a push stick and featherboard. My cross cuts seem to be on but Ill double check tonite and let you know with a pic hopefully. A nice blade is in the near future. MikeR do you like your blade? Thanks

[JR]

Miter fence is perpendicular to blade.
SMT is parallel to blade.

One of those statements is not true, Mike.

Make sure when setting up the miter fence that your square is flat on the side of the blade, not touching any teeth.

The SMT needs to be parallel to the blade throughout its front-to-back run. Measure the distance from a point on the SMT to a point on the front of the blade. Then move the blade so that same point is at the rear. Move the SMT to the rear and remeasure the same points. The two measurements should be identical.

JR

[ofna89]

Mike what JR explained is in the instruction book, take another look. Mine luckly was aligned right out of the box. Good luck.

[LarryG]

Hmm. Offhand, I can think of only three possibilities:

1. You're inadvertently feeding the workpiece laterally as you make the cut. If the cut is dead straight, albeit skewed, this is unlikely (and I think you'd feel the material moving).

2. The left end of the SMT fence is too far forward; i.e., farther away from you than the right end as you stand at the saw. Since you say the SMT fence is square to the blade, we'll rule this one out for the time being.

3. The SMT is not parallel to the blade. I think this is the most likely culprit. Do you mean the sliding portion of the SMT is parallel to the blade, or do you mean the fixed, non-sliding base portion of the SMT is parallel to the blade? The latter is what matters. The upper sliding portion can actually "dog walk" a bit and it won't hurt a thing as long as the fixed base below is parallel to the blade.

Note that if the sliding portion is "dog walking," it will make the hash marks used to set the SMT fence meaningless. Which brings us back to #2 ... did you check the SMT fence's squareness to the blade with some sort of square (and if so, is it accurate?) or did you set it by the hash marks and trust that they are correct?

[MikeR]

Thanks...

...guys for the suggestions. I'll recheck tomorrow AM and cut again.

The SMT is, in fact, parallel to the blade. Checked with square against blade, no teeth. Rotated blade to rear and same distance there.

I'll go through the same process in the AM.

Thanks again...we'll get this right.

Cheers,

MikeR

[Curly Qsawn]

Might not be the saw - how was the cut line drawn and was the square on the same edge as against the SMT fence. Just a thought.

[MikeR]

Solution??

OK, checked and rechecked all alignment measurements and everything checked out perfectly. Tried a couple of cuts with the same result.

Not having any other thoughts, I decided to change the blade from the Chinese one that was supplied with the saw to a pretty good Freud from my old saw.

Is it possible that the blade is what caused the problem? I now have accurate cuts. Wouldn't have thought it but there it is.

Now I can get to work.

Cheers,

MikeR

[wardprobst]

OK, checked and rechecked all alignment measurements and everything checked out perfectly. Tried a couple of cuts with the same result.

Not having any other thoughts, I decided to change the blade from the Chinese one that was supplied with the saw to a pretty good Freud from my old saw.

Is it possible that the blade is what caused the problem? I now have accurate cuts. Wouldn't have thought it but there it is.

Now I can get to work.

Cheers,

MikeR

Lay it on a flat surface and see if it's warped. If so , Sears should replace it no charge.
DP

[Skeezix]

... did you check the SMT fence's squareness to the blade with some sort of square (and if so, is it accurate?) ?

Hmmmmm. How does one check a square for squareness? I can't afford a $70 square, but these days one cannot afford to assume anything.

[LCHIEN]

Hmmmmm. How does one check a square for squareness? I can't afford a $70 square, but these days one cannot afford to assume anything.

I'll bet Larry's got the answer for that!