A bit frustrated with my bt3100

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  • mantis
    Forum Newbie
    • Jan 2009
    • 12

    A bit frustrated with my bt3100

    I am having trouble getting my bt3100 to do accurate crosscuts. No matter how much I try to 0 it out, I can't seem to get a good crosscut. Whenever I cut with the fence on rip cuts, it is very straight, but not when doing crosscuts with the sliding table. Any help on ways to correctly test and align this would be greatly appreciated!
  • smorris
    Senior Member
    • Apr 2003
    • 695
    • Tampa, Florida, USA.

    #2
    If you send a PM to lchein he has the bt3100 faq that will tell how to calibrate everything.
    --
    Any sufficiently advanced incompetence is indistinguishable from malice

    Comment

    • LCHIEN
      Internet Fact Checker
      • Dec 2002
      • 20914
      • Katy, TX, USA.
      • BT3000 vintage 1999

      #3
      in what way is it not accurate?
      Not straight (curved)
      Not 90 degrees to the edge?
      Board always too short or too long when you cut it?

      What have you tried so far?

      need more specific info than "not accurate".
      Loring in Katy, TX USA
      If your only tool is a hammer, you tend to treat all problems as if they were nails.
      BT3 FAQ - https://www.sawdustzone.org/forum/di...sked-questions

      Comment

      • gary
        Senior Member
        • May 2004
        • 893
        • Versailles, KY, USA.

        #4
        Originally posted by mantis
        I am having trouble getting my bt3100 to do accurate crosscuts. No matter how much I try to 0 it out, I can't seem to get a good crosscut. Whenever I cut with the fence on rip cuts, it is very straight, but not when doing crosscuts with the sliding table. Any help on ways to correctly test and align this would be greatly appreciated!
        Assuming it's aligned. Check the pivot pin is not reversed on the SMT. The SMT fence will have some give when pushing if it's reversed.
        Gary

        Comment

        • RayintheUK
          Veteran Member
          • Sep 2003
          • 1792
          • Crowborough, East Sussex, United Kingdom.
          • Ryobi BT3000

          #5
          Look here in my on-line manual.

          Ray
          Did I offend you? Click here.

          Comment

          • mantis
            Forum Newbie
            • Jan 2009
            • 12

            #6
            [QUOTE=LCHIEN;441010]in what way is it not accurate?
            Not straight (curved)
            Not 90 degrees to the edge?
            Board always too short or too long when you cut it?

            What have you tried so far?

            need more specific info than "not accurate".[/QUOTE

            The inaccuracy lies in the fact that when I attempt a crosscut, I cannot seem to get an accurate 90 degree angle . No matter how much adjusting and aligning I do, I cannot seem to get it just right. When I attempt a crosscut, I do not use my quick stop, because it is not accurate, and I am not certain as to how to adjust it to become so. Also, the plastic piece on the miter fence that is suppossed to tell me how many degrees the cut will be is "stepped" instead of being straight across, so it is hard to tell just how many degrees the fence is at.

            When I attempt to perform a 90 degree crosscut, I place one end of a square on the blade, and the other on the miter fence to try to establish that they have a 90 degree relationship before I lock the fence down. However, when I make my cut the board does not come out square. This makes me think that the SMT is not sliding straight, but I have not been able to adjust it with any improvement.

            I would like to know how you would test the overall alignment of the saw and SMT and how you would fix these problems. Like I said, my rip cuts come out nicely, it is just my crosscuts. I would LOVE to be able to just set the quick stop and go for these crosscuts, but thus far, I have been unable to do that.

            Comment

            • Uncle Cracker
              The Full Monte
              • May 2007
              • 7091
              • Sunshine State
              • BT3000

              #7
              Assuming there is no excess "play" in the table slides, I think the slide vector on your SMT is not parallel to the blade, even though the fence is square. There are adjustments to fix this. Look in Lchien's FAQ or in Ray's tutorial.

              Comment

              • leehljp
                Just me
                • Dec 2002
                • 8429
                • Tunica, MS
                • BT3000/3100

                #8
                OK, I am not 100% sure on a couple of things.

                1. The pivot pen IS in the hole on the right side of the SMT, right?

                2. The SMT Fence is secured by both tightening AND the Quick Stop for 90°.
                Setting up the QuickStop:
                On the side of the Quick Stop you will see the place for a flat bladed screwdriver. The screw is non-concentric and movement with a screwdriver will cause the QS to move forward or backward just a bit. At this point you will want to put a square against the blade and the SMT. Adjust the QS until it makes the SMT Fence square with the Square and blade.

                3. Sometimes we overlook the obvious in situations like this:

                HOW long of a board are you trying to crosscut?

                Is it reasonably balanced? - i.e. not having 3 to 4 feet sticking out on the left side of the SMT. IF so, then it may be a technique problem. Again at this point, Locking the Fence against the QS will help some but the technique of holding the board and pushing from a balanced position so that it does not cant/kant - is important.

                A few cases of bad crosscut has happened simply because of a dirty blade with lots of pitch on it. That pulls against the board and cants it off square rather easily. Dull blades to the same.

                A third note - the SMT has a padding that is about 1/32 in thick underneath at the point that rides on the rails. Sometimes these are removed by the owner because of the height difference of the SMT and the table top. When this happens it causes the board to slide across the table with more drag and the result is similar to what you mentioned.

                Edit in: Forgot about this one: to mount the SMT on the rails - 1. set it on the rails, 2. push down the lock tabs nearest you FIRST, 3, Push down the rear tabs last. The SMT was designed to be squared against the front rail and locked there first. Locking the rear can throw it out of kilter just a tad.

                BACK TO UNSQUARE SMT:
                The above are scenarios that cause unsquare cuts when the SMT IS square. I will let Loring (LCHIEN) or others deal with the unsquare SMT.
                Last edited by leehljp; 12-13-2009, 10:03 AM.
                Hank Lee

                Experience is what you get when you don't get what you wanted!

                Comment

                • Lonnie in Orlando
                  Senior Member
                  • May 2003
                  • 649
                  • Orlando, FL, USA.
                  • BT3000

                  #9
                  Here is a link to the way that I align my BT3000. See "SMT BASE ALIGNMENT" and "SLIDING MITER TABLE AND MITER FENCE ALIGNMENT".
                  This is the place to ask questions about the Ryobi BT3 series table saws. Please limit the posts to this topic only.


                  > Like Uncle Cracker said, adjust the base of the sliding miter table before adjusting the miter fence. Do not skip steps in the miter alignment process.

                  > I use the "Five-Cut" method of finding true 90degree setting. See link in my "No Measure" post. I adjust the quick stop to tweek the exact 90degree setting.

                  > This info on the Quick Stop for the miter fence was copied from Ray's site that he posted above ...
                  ===============
                  1. Loosen the eccentric screw holding the quick-stop.
                  2. Place the quick-stop against the miter fence with miter scale set at zero degrees. See Figure 56.
                  3. Adjust eccentric screw until it holds quick-stop securely against miter fence.
                  4. Retighten hex nut, securing eccentric screw and quick-stop.
                  5. Check your work. If the quick-stop is not at zero degrees, repeat steps 1 -4.


                  ===============

                  All of your worldly worries and concerns will disappear when you get your BT3100 dialed in!!

                  - Lonnie
                  OLD STUFF ... houses, furniture, cars, wine ... I love it all

                  Comment

                  • mantis
                    Forum Newbie
                    • Jan 2009
                    • 12

                    #10
                    thanks for the help. I will try the advice so far.

                    Comment

                    • Brian G
                      Senior Member
                      • Jun 2003
                      • 993
                      • Bloomington, Minnesota.
                      • G0899

                      #11
                      Perhaps you are making the correct adjustments, but the board is drifting during the cut.

                      Use a stop block clamped to the face of the SMT fence to keep shorter pieces of stock from drifting.

                      Another solution is to attach adhesive-backed sandpaper to the lenght of the face of the SMT fence.

                      These two solutions helped me solve the same problem you are having. At the very least, doing so eliminates one variable during set-up.
                      Brian

                      Comment

                      • LCHIEN
                        Internet Fact Checker
                        • Dec 2002
                        • 20914
                        • Katy, TX, USA.
                        • BT3000 vintage 1999

                        #12
                        Hank Lee's description of the zero stop is correct except for one important detail.

                        The stop has a shoulder screw with a larger diameter shoulder and then a screw thread. The zero stop rides on the shoulder portion. The shoulder is off center of the head an screw so that rotating the screw will throw the stop itself forwards and backwards. To make the Adjustment, there's a nut behind the screw and acessible under the SMT table that retains the screw AND holds it in place and does not allow it to turn (and uncalibrate the stop) once set.

                        You have to rotate the screw (and adjust the stop) with a screwdriver but you need a small wrench to loosen just a bit (before adjustment) and then retighten (once the stop position is set and holding the screw in a fixed position with the screwdriver) the nut with the wrench.

                        You should probably request my FAQ, three or four people suggested it above but i have not received yor request. The FAQ is about 82 pages and there's about a full page on SMT problems and solutions.

                        Look at my sig line below.
                        Last edited by LCHIEN; 12-13-2009, 01:22 PM.
                        Loring in Katy, TX USA
                        If your only tool is a hammer, you tend to treat all problems as if they were nails.
                        BT3 FAQ - https://www.sawdustzone.org/forum/di...sked-questions

                        Comment

                        • leehljp
                          Just me
                          • Dec 2002
                          • 8429
                          • Tunica, MS
                          • BT3000/3100

                          #13
                          Originally posted by LCHIEN
                          Hank Lee's description of the zero stop is correct except for one important detail.

                          The stop has a shoulder screw with a larger diameter shoulder and then a screw thread. The zero stop rides on the shoulder portion. The shoulder is off center of the head an screw so that rotating the screw will throw the stop itself forwards and backwards. To make the Adjustment, there's a nut behind the screw and acessible under the SMT table that retains the screw AND holds it in place and does not allow it to turn (and uncalibrate the stop) once set.

                          You have to rotate the screw (and adjust the stop) with a screwdriver but you need a small wrench to loosen just a bit (before adjustment) and then retighten (once the stop position is set and holding the screw in a fixed position with the screwdriver) the nut with the wrench.

                          You should probably request my FAQ, three or four people suggested it above but i have not received yor request. The FAQ is about 82 pages and there's about a full page on SMT problems and solutions.

                          Look at my sig line below.
                          THANKS Loring, You the man! I was trying to do that from memory without going out in the cold to check! I appreciate the correction!
                          Hank Lee

                          Experience is what you get when you don't get what you wanted!

                          Comment

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

                            #14
                            It has been hinted but I will say it a bit more bluntly. The SMT will make accurate cuts once it is adjusted on pieces that are not too heavy. If you are making a door for a cabinet, for instance, the pieces should be easily small and light enough to use the SMT. If you want to cross cut a 8 foot 2x12, there are better ways to do it than the SMT. Some may get good accuracy doing this but I gave up and just resumed using my CMS and radial arm. I acutually do not even have the SMT on the saw at this point because I have the other machines so why not use them? If you don't have a CMS or SCMS or radial arm, then if you adjust the SMT properly and use it for reasonably light pieces, it will work fine.

                            Jim

                            Comment

                            • Garasaki
                              Senior Member
                              • Sep 2006
                              • 550

                              #15
                              Also, when you are actually performing the cut, you want to hold onto and push THE TABLE, not the fence nor the piece being cut.
                              -John

                              "Look, I can't surrender without orders. I mean they emphasized that to me particularly. I don't know exactly why. The guy said "Blake, never surrender without checking"
                              -Henry Blake

                              Comment

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