How do I realign the rip fence?

[Duane867]

Take a look at the rear of your fence, where it grips the aluminum rail. You'll see a small finger, about a centimeter wide, that just barely catches the lip of the rail. Make sure that finger actually goes UNDER the aluminum rail when you tighten down the fence handle. This should make the REAR of the fence grip the rail and be tight BEFORE the front/handle end locks down. If this finger goes above the aluminum rail, or "pushes" on the edge of the rail, the small black phillips screw in the end of the fence assembly (in the metal+plastic mechanism at the back end of the fence) needs to be adjusted. Sometimes the threaded rod inside the whole fence needs to be adjusted if this screw doesn't have enough range of motion to get the finger-to-aluminum-rail grip correct. I suggest this because, when properly adjusted, the rear of the BT3x fence should NOT have any side-to-side motion with the fence handle down. The BT3x fence is one of just a few table saw fence systems that clamps BOTH the rear and the front... nice. That 1/8th inch you talk about sounds like the back end of your fence isn't gripping properly to me, if I understood your post properly.

Once the back end of the fence grips tight - and grips before the front/handle end grips - you should be able to properly align (and use) the fence. The two black hex-head screws on the top of the fence, close to the handle, are what clamp the fence body to the handle assembly and allow you to align the fence body. Some folks have to file a bit of casting flashing off the handle casting though to get the fence aligned. Most folks also find Ryobi used a gorilla to tighten those hex-headed screws to the point where they strip out when folks need to remove them.

Basic blade-to-fence alignment:
Unplug the saw.
A jig folks have made to tune the fence:
* get a flat 1x4 board, about 10 inches long. Glue two small magnets into one long/thin edge so it'll stick to the saw blade (make sure the magnets clear the carbide blade tips)
* On the opposite thin (1-by) face, drive a skinny nail into the board so it's firm/strong with about an inch or more of nail shank sticking out. Cut the nail head off.

Use a marker pen to mark one of the blade teeth. This will be your reference - in case the blade itself is warped or has runout. Rotate the blade to put the marked tooth near the front of the saw. Put the jig against the blade, bring the front of the fence to the cut-off nail end, and clamp the fence. Move the marked blade tooth to the rear of the saw, flip the jig over so the nail is now at the back end of the saw... and see how the rear of the fence compares to the mail. Ideally the nail will be just a smidgen looser at the rear of the fence than at the front meaning the back of the fence is slightly further from the blade - like the playing card crokett described.

mpc

Excellent info !
How the fence locks down is backwards ( in my case any ways ) but none the less excellent description, including the extra material removal.
Thank you !

Oops, looks like some one already mentioned the backwards thing.. sorry.