Rip fence off vertical on Craftsman

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  • rlah
    Forum Newbie
    • Dec 2006
    • 73
    • Indiana
    • Craftsman 21829

    #1

    Rip fence off vertical on Craftsman

    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
    Attached Files
  • JimD
    Veteran Member
    • Feb 2003
    • 4187
    • Lexington, SC.

    #2
    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

    Comment

    • RodKirby
      Veteran Member
      • Dec 2002
      • 3136
      • Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
      • Mao Shan TSC-10RAS

      #3
      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:
      Last edited by RodKirby; 12-06-2008, 10:26 PM.
      Downunder ... 1" = 25.4mm

      Comment

      • Black wallnut
        cycling to health
        • Jan 2003
        • 4715
        • Ellensburg, Wa, USA.
        • BT3k 1999

        #4
        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.
        Donate to my Tour de Cure


        marK in WA and Ryobi Fanatic Association State President ©

        Head servant of the forum

        ©

        Comment

        • rlah
          Forum Newbie
          • Dec 2006
          • 73
          • Indiana
          • Craftsman 21829

          #5
          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
          Attached Files

          Comment

          • RodKirby
            Veteran Member
            • Dec 2002
            • 3136
            • Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
            • Mao Shan TSC-10RAS

            #6
            Originally posted by rlah
            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.
            Downunder ... 1" = 25.4mm

            Comment

            • eddy merckx
              Established Member
              • Mar 2006
              • 359
              • Western WA
              • Shop Fox Cabinet

              #7
              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

              Comment

              • thestinker
                Senior Member
                • Oct 2005
                • 613
                • Fort Worth, TX, USA.

                #8
                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.
                Awww forget trying to fix it!!!! Lets just drink beer

                Comment

                • Black wallnut
                  cycling to health
                  • Jan 2003
                  • 4715
                  • Ellensburg, Wa, USA.
                  • BT3k 1999

                  #9
                  Originally posted by 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.
                  That depends. it depends on what type of mobile base you have. If you just have the splayed leg stand, then yes you might be better keeping the saw stationary. If on a mobile base that has a base structure of a torsion box then I believe that the saw will held square. How the new Sears version works is something that I can only guess about, the one with the fold up base.

                  What has been found by owners of the BT3K and BT3100 is that if the saws base is not square and level prior to mounting the saw it would tweak the saw out of square. Which in turn made it almost impossible to fine tune.
                  Donate to my Tour de Cure


                  marK in WA and Ryobi Fanatic Association State President ©

                  Head servant of the forum

                  ©

                  Comment

                  • Andrew Benedetto
                    Veteran Member
                    • Mar 2003
                    • 1071
                    • SoCal, USA
                    • Unisaw w. 52"Bies,22124CM & BT3K

                    #10
                    I added many screws to the right cover and bent the top lip to go on the outside of the main case which adds more ridgidity to the cab. and the BT3K stand I feel is much better than any other versions. The cab . is thin sheetmetal anyway and the stand effects the saws settings especially with the "erector. set" build of the rails, tops SMT..etc.
                    My Unisaw w. 50" Bies iron rails is just a whole different class in terms of stablility.
                    Still like the BT3k for small projects.
                    Andrew

                    Comment

                    • cgallery
                      Veteran Member
                      • Sep 2004
                      • 4503
                      • Milwaukee, WI
                      • BT3K

                      #11
                      I think this is fairly common and I'd like to +1 everything Jim says. I, too, had powder-coat on my casting. I scraped that off and the vertical square of the fence improved. I then used a file and was able to get the fence body PERFECTLY square to the table.

                      Comment

                      • hermit
                        Established Member
                        • Dec 2002
                        • 379
                        • Somerset, PA, USA.

                        #12
                        This isn't exactly your problem, but since you're checking alignment issues, I thought I would mention it. I made a housing for my fence in an "H" design to slip over the stock one. The main reason was to give me more infeed support when starting a cut. One day I noticed the fence wasn't vertically true, but mine went in at the top, not the bottom like yours. I thought I made the add- on haphazardly, so I made another one. Same problem. When I made them I would clamp the side pieces with the fence in place "to keep everything square". Problem was, the fence isn't milled accurately. Its actually a little wider at the base than the top (don't have the actual measurements) causing the add-on fence to exaggerate the difference. So I made a third one, and glued it up off of the fence and it ended up perfect.

                        So, make sure you check the widths of the top and bottom of the fence also.

                        Todd

                        Comment

                        • footprintsinconc
                          Veteran Member
                          • Nov 2006
                          • 1759
                          • Roseville (Sacramento), CA
                          • BT3100

                          #13
                          i have the same problem and i didnt think of filing the extrusion, but now i may have to play with the fence again.

                          what i was planning on doing is what rod has shown, but in particular, i was going to do a setup like you show with shims. this way, i could do a cut on door panels and use the other side for the router table.

                          regards,
                          Last edited by footprintsinconc; 02-18-2007, 07:37 PM.
                          _________________________
                          omar

                          Comment

                          • timb
                            Forum Newbie
                            • Feb 2007
                            • 76
                            • Northern CA, USA
                            • Craftsman 21829

                            #14
                            Just noticed today that my rip fence has the same problem. Not sure why I didn't notice it before. Looks to be at least 1/16 off top to bottom leaning toward the blade and is consitent along the fence. Didn't have time to fiddle with it today but I leveled the table when I set it up and the fence is not raising up - fixed that problem - so it looks like I've got th get the files out again

                            tim

                            Comment

                            • rlah
                              Forum Newbie
                              • Dec 2006
                              • 73
                              • Indiana
                              • Craftsman 21829

                              #15
                              Originally posted by timb
                              Just noticed today that my rip fence has the same problem. Not sure why I didn't notice it before. Looks to be at least 1/16 off top to bottom leaning toward the blade and is consitent along the fence. Didn't have time to fiddle with it today but I leveled the table when I set it up and the fence is not raising up - fixed that problem - so it looks like I've got th get the files out again

                              tim
                              I suspect you got a machine from the same run... or maybe most of the machines are off this much... I suspect JimD's solution is the correct one but I haven't tried it yet... if you do, let me know how it goes. For now, I've been careful on my cuts to make sure the wood doesn't raise up when going thru the rip cut.

                              Thx, rlah.

                              Comment

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