My final attempt at setting up the BT3100 and some final thoughts

[LarryG]

It's obvious you're frustrated, and I don't blame you. Sawatzky's post nicely sums up my feelings about the SMT on my now-retired BT: I grew weary of fussing with it, and not being able to trust it. There apparently is some variation from saw to saw. Mine was nowhere near as aggravating to me as yours plainly is to you, but neither was mine one of the adjust-it-once-and-forget-it examples that others here say they have.

Two really elementary questions -- and you may have to excuse me for even asking the first, but it's in the interest of thoroughness:

1. You talk about aligning the SMT base, and the miter fence, but what about the sliding table itself? Does it have any rotational slop in it at all?

2. When you make your test cuts, are you just skimming the edge of the material or is the blade fully buried within the workpiece -- say an inch or so from the edge? Saw blades, especially thin-kerf blades if that's what you have, produce the most accurate cuts when they are running in a kerf that will help keep them from deflecting laterally.

[LCHIEN]

...
My next step is to offer a plane ticket to anyone who thinks they can align this saw better. The caveat is that if you fail, you owe me the price of the ticket plus a steak dinner

yeah, just where are you?

[sailor55330]

I'll answer the questions.

1. yes, I am definitely aligning the SMT base
2. There is no slop in the top of the miter table top. That has been adjusted out using the right rear eccentric. The procedure used was to adjust the eccentrics to allow maximum play in the rear of the table. At that point, the table was pushed to the left and secured with a bungee cord. The miter fence was then brought into square with the blade by adjusting the left rear eccentric. The right rear eccentric was then adjusted to remove any additonal play in the table top. Just snug enough to eliminate any slop, but loose enough to allow the table top to move with gentle pressure.

3. I am cutting approximately 1/2" from the edge. Not skimming

4. I'm in Minneapolis. Ironically enough, I lived in Houston for 18 years---Kingwood to be exact

[thereefgeek]

+ one more for dumping the SMT. I ended up making an MDF table and routing a slot for a miter gauge. Another thought; have you checked your blade for running parallel? I spent some time indexing my arbor washers and blade after I discovered my blade wasn't running true. At 180 degrees out on the washers, I was off by about .005"

[capncarl]

Sailor 55330 I feel your pain.
I diddled with the smt for weeks trying to get it to produce square cuts.
In the process of gathering all the saw goodies I installed the miter slots on the left side of the blade. I discovered that the saw arbor/motor assem was not perfectly square in the saw housing. That is, the blade/arbor/motor assem was not square with the saw housing/front and rear bars. Until the blade runs square with the rest of the saw you can not cut anything square. I am not sure what the books says how to correct theis but at this point I was out of book. This adjustment requires turning the saw on the side and loosening fasteners and getting a little wiggle in the arbor assem. With the blade fully up you have something to reference from. After I was happier with the blade being "more square" with the miter slots all I do is shove the tuned up sliding miter table against the miter slot assem, with a thin spacer like a framing square between the mite slot and the smt. and clamp it down.The degree scale in the smt must be for catalog photographs because it is useless to set up the smt fence. I always use a good square against the fully raised blade to set up the smt fence. Setting up angles are done the same way, using a machinist angle square.

capncarl

[Norm in Fujino]

I hate to overuse the euphemism, but I do "feel your pain." On the other hand, I'm one of those (few? many?) who really like the SMT, and I doubt I'd have gotten the saw without it (the idea of going back to a regular miter gage just gags me). BUT, there is definitely a specific procedure (order of steps) for aligning everything, and if the order isn't followed exactly, it simply won't align. As well, you mentioned replacing parts, and that could obviously have a part to play. (And of course, it might be that I just am less demanding in my settings, although 1/8" over 12" does seem like a lot.)

I love tinkering with things, and I'd love to come play with your saw--even risking the cost of a plane ticket (from Japan!), but I honestly haven't had to align my SMT in a long time, and I'd probably get something wrong. To use a not-very-comforting biblical expression: "go thy way and be ye warmed and filled" (read: "I hope everything works out for you, but I can't help)

[LarryG]

I was sure you had aligned the sliding table as well as the base but, as stated, I wanted to leave no question unasked.

Have you tried moving the SMT to the right side of the main table and making some test cuts from that side? I'm not sure what that would prove, but it might be useful/interesting to find out if the problem remained, unchanged; or remained but with a different out-of-square discrepancy.

[eccentrictinkerer]

Sailor 55330 I feel your pain.
I diddled with the smt for weeks trying to get it to produce square cuts.
In the process of gathering all the saw goodies I installed the miter slots on the left side of the blade. I discovered that the saw arbor/motor assem was not perfectly square in the saw housing. That is, the blade/arbor/motor assem was not square with the saw housing/front and rear bars. Until the blade runs square with the rest of the saw you can not cut anything square. I am not sure what the books says how to correct theis but at this point I was out of book. This adjustment requires turning the saw on the side and loosening fasteners and getting a little wiggle in the arbor assem. With the blade fully up you have something to reference from. After I was happier with the blade being "more square" with the miter slots all I do is shove the tuned up sliding miter table against the miter slot assem, with a thin spacer like a framing square between the mite slot and the smt. and clamp it down.The degree scale in the smt must be for catalog photographs because it is useless to set up the smt fence. I always use a good square against the fully raised blade to set up the smt fence. Setting up angles are done the same way, using a machinist angle square.

capncarl

In the saws most of us are used to, the blade must be adjusted to be square with the table.

But, the BT3x00 saws are different. The blade position is the constant. All accessory item are adjusted parallel with the blade. I've had no trouble with mine and mine is mde up of parts from four different saws (2 BT3000's, a BT3100 and a Craftsman 22811.

I followed the factory manual and used the many tips on this forum and I've had more enjoyment from this saw than tool I own.