I've got everything square....can I move anything?

[siliconbauhaus]

I took a fair amount of time to get everything squared up. I'm pretty confident when I take off the rip fence and put it back on it's good to go. The SMT however I don't want to move a mm. I'm cacking myself if I move it I'm going to have to though the whole process over again.

How can you move it left to right without it going off 90 ?

[leehljp]

I check my SMT regularly and it stays square. I square it up on placing it on the rails by pulling back on the tabs nearest me and then pushing the down. This sets it to square. I then tighten the rear tabs by pushing them down. This locks it in place.

That is the procedure I use. I moved my saw from where I lived in Osaka to where I am now in Toyota city - 3 hours drive. Replaced the SMT and check. It was square. I use two things to check:

1. I use a form of Lonnie's alignment checker and the SMT itself - is always in alignment. I have not had to adjust the squareness of the SMT for nearly 2 years.

2. Woodhaven.com used to have a registration square kit and I purchased one several years ago. I have had the SMT on and off well over a 100 times or more since last squaring it - and when I put the registration square up to check the SMT fence to the blade, it is square.

I realize that some people do not get this kind of repetitive alignment and it is not always their fault. Some SMTs come with (in my opinion) the holes for the adjustments out of specks. I had just such an SMT on my USA BT. I bought a second SMT from a fellow who parted his BT out. That one stays square also.

I have two BTs, and the first one was dead on square out of the box. I brought this one with me to Japan in '01. I purchased another for use at my USA (MS) home in '03. It had the bad SMT. Because of my experience with the first, I knew what the second one should do in terms of staying in alignment and locking there. It did not. I played with it and discovered that the holes were drilled in such a way that the cams still allowed to much play no matter how it was adjusted. I did make some shims for the sliders to take up the space. That worked some for a while. Then I bought the parted out SMT and it has held its alignment well, even when taking it on and off.

There are two parts to keeping the SMT in alignment:
1. The SMT table on the sled itself. This is adjustable by the cams and sliders, unless the cam holes were drilled and the cams mounted too far apart. It only takes one mm out of specs for the cam and sliders to not hold properly.
2. The levers/tabs and pads. These are adjustable by set screws but care should be used in making any adjustments. This is intended to make the sled be perpendicular to the rails. The SMT is then adjusted to the blade.

[LCHIEN]

sili b haus, I've moved my SMT lots and it always comes back reasonable.
One thing I've always done is as Hank says use the right sequence which is
tighten the two front locks together and then the rear two locks together. There's no real reason why I can see that removing and replacing the SMT would cause it to go out of whack.

[Stytooner]

Mine comes off and on while staying tuned as well. The sequence used is the key.
I suspect that if the SMT guides aren't all adjusted tight enough, then it could possibly go out when moving. They only need to be snug, but all four screws need to be that way. The front and rear tab adjustments may also have something to do with this. They need to all feel like they have the same pressure to lock. If one side is locking harder, it may be pulling to that side.

The longest I have ever spent adjusting the SMT was about 10 minutes. Last time was a couple years ago. My blade is aligned to the ribs on the table as was my previous 3000. The fact that it is this way, may be part of the reason it stays so true. Speculation on my part, but a lot of guys do have trouble with the SMT.

[Pappy]

Shouldn't be a problem. Mine comes off to get it out of the shed and to put it away. I also remove it frequently when I am working.

[siliconbauhaus]

thanks for the tips....maybe I'll make a couple of stops for the rail so I have something to align it with

[LCHIEN]

It should line up square to the blade if the rail is straight, not matter where you put it on the rail, if it was aligned before. Simple geometry rules from 10th grade... Stops should not be needed to make it go back exactly where it was.

And contrary to Lee's comment, the rail clamp Tabs has a fixed side and the cam side, so the fixed (metal) side will always line up to the back of the rail the amount of cam force from the tab should not matter in the angle. Still, a greatly differing force should be an indicator that something is changed or wrong. I find that with the BT, being aluminum and plastic, any unusual force that needs to be applied is a sign that something is wrong and needs to be remedied. Forcing things is not a luxury you have with cast iron that a BT will not withstand. Some people just can't understand that.

[Stytooner]

And contrary to Lee's comment, the rail clamp Tabs has a fixed side and the cam side, so the fixed (metal) side will always line up to the back of the rail the amount of cam force from the tab should not matter in the angle.

Mine has a set screw at the inside of the rails behind the tabs that adjusts the pressure from the cam tabs. There are 4. One on each tab. If your cam tabs are too loose, that set screw will tighten the action up.