Rip fence off vertical on Craftsman

[thestinker]

I have by bt on a mobile base....but from the sounds of getting everything level...maybe it should be stationaly and the rest of the shop moiblie.

[eddy merckx]

I had the same problem with my BT3100. The problem turned out to be that the table wasn't level. I had to shim my saw between the saw body and legs using washers under the mounting bolts. As soon as the table was level, the fence became square. I also made sure the rails were level.

It's worth mentioning that you should check the table for level on both front and back, as the table can be twisted pretty easily.

I used a 4' level, nothing fancy.

Eddy

[RodKirby]

but if the rip fence is not truly vertical, how do you get your jig to be true vertical if it references the top edge of the fence?
rlah

Shims do the job.

[rlah]

Black Wallnut- I have not waxed the rails... and I've played with tightening the rip fence handle gently... same result. I have not checked the front rail levelness to the table though... I'll double check that.

Rod Kirby - I think I understand your jig... but if the rip fence is not truly vertical, how do you get your jig to be true vertical if it references the top edge of the fence? Maybe you align your blade to this jig I suppose ... I have built a tenoning type fence (see below) recently and so I've got this option for true vertical needs. But I will think about your setup.

JimD - I wonder that I might try your idea... it seems to me that this is the issue - fence not mounted true vertical on the front fence casting.

BTW, I did get the rip fence back into alignment using a modified Black Wallnut tip from the archives. Also had to realign the SMT table, but the miter fence was "right-on" when I got the SMT table perfectly parallel... at least within about .003".

rlah

[Black wallnut]

Before trying any other alignment make the fence right. Are you over tightening the rip fence handle? It should lock securely just past horizontal. Over tightening can cause the "front block" to raise one one or even both sides. Did you wax the front rail? I hope not but if you have then just wipe them off with paint thinner or mineral spirits. Are you positive that your front rail is installed correctly? It must be parrallel to the main table or the rip fence will not work correctly.

As you can see there is a whole host of issues that may cause your fence to act as it is. Since I can not be there to see for myself i can only tell you what to look for.

Good luck, and keep us aprised of your findings.

[RodKirby]

Easy adjustment for both "parallel to blade" and "vertical to table" - any fence, any saw table (Both easy on/off)

Addon #1


Addon #2


Both like this:

[JimD]

Probably the best way to fix this is not the easiest. My rip fence was not vertical either until I removed the aluminum extrusion - the main part of the fence - from the casting that clamps it in place (the front). If you pull the two bolts you mention (which are 1/4 bolts, I put in hex heads) you can remove the extrusion but when you do it frees the rod that goes from front to back to lock the back. It is not super simple to get back in place - but not too hard either. It would be good to look at the parts list in the manual to see the parts before doing this. Anyway, on mine the reason that the extrusion was not verticle was the paint or powder coat on the extrusion. I removed the paint and the extrusion sat verticle. You might even have to file the casting a bit.

A simplier thing to do is what I did at first. I use a melamine piece on the rip fence most of the time anyway so I shimmed it to get it vertical. This works but is not real elegant.

Jim

[rlah]

I had a kickback experience a few days ago (I'm OK, car door has a small dent) and I'm getting around to checking the rip fence alignment... found out it was off and so I'm learning the techniques to re-align the rip fence with some searching on this website.

My question is about the vertical alignment - see picture below. Hopefully you can see the fence is off the vertical by quite a bit - see gap between fence and machinist's square at bottom - I can fit a .025" feeler gauge through that gap. I thought that when I loosened the top 2 screws on the fence I could not only re-align the fence to be parallel to the blade but also make the fence vertical again... but when the screws are tightened, they just force the fence to be off vertical again. I suppose I can live with this situation but is this normal to be this much off vertical? Any suggestions on how to fix it? ... maybe I should get a big Channelocks pliers and bend it into submission?

(I'll get started on the realignment with the blade now and wait for answer on this.)

Thx for any help,
rlah