Craftsman 21829 Rip Fence not Straight/not Square

[Guest]

I have a Craftsman 21829 and the Rip Fence is not straight or square. The back is about 1/8 of an inch inward towards the blade. I have to measure the front and back and then hold the back in place as I clamp down the fence. As I tighten the fence the back goes to the left slightly. I tried to loosen it but then the whole thing moves. I am not sure what to do now.

How do you set up the rails so the tape measure is accurate also?

[Bill in Buena Park]

Abn,
Welcome to the forum.

There's a procedure in the owner's manual on how to adjust the fence so that when you clamp down the back of the fence adjusts to the correct position in alignment with the blade - it is also available in a FAQ packet available from Loring (User LCHIEN) if you send him a private message requesting a copy.

I believe there's also a procedure in the manual or the FAQ for adjusting the front rail so the fence indicator is useful - but here's a "quick and dirty" thumbnail of it for calibrating the scale for use in ripping to the right of the blade (for AFTER you align the rip fence to the blade). Make sure the saw is unplugged before you start.

1. Remove the SMT and auxiliary table(s) from the rails.
2. With the fence indicator installed in the left-hand opening of the fence headstock, set the fence indicator to zero on the front scale (the scale for ripping to the right of the blade.) If you can't get it to zero because the scale/rail is too far left, loosen the two clamps that secure the front rail and move it to the right until you can get the indicator set to zero. Then lock fence onto the rails.
3. With the front and rear rail clamps loosened, move the rails (together, with fence still clamped to them) to the left until the fence just contacts the right side of the blade (so that the blade moves, but has little drag when rotated by hand). Then back it off to the right about a paper's thickness so that the blade has a no contact/drag on the fence.
4. Lock down the rail clamps to secure the front and rear rails in this position.

My experience with my 21829 set to the position described above is that the SMT will still fit nicely to the left of the blade, but an aux table will be short about 1/2inch of rails on the left to be used there. My fix was to set the front rails just left enough so I could get an aux table to fit, but that left the fence scale off and not useful - so I got an aftermarket scale tape and used double-sided tape to secure it over the original scale.

[pelligrini]

Sounds like you need to align your fence.

I also found that if you pull back on the handle while positioning the fence will stay square to your alignment and positioning. If you flip the fence over and watch how the clamping mechanism works the fence first clamps down on the front rail, then the back clamp will engage. If you put a little force on the fence so the t-square like part of the fence is always snugly against the back of the rail you will get much less movement while clamping it down.

Getting the rail tape exactly aligned is just a matter of futzing with it. You first need to get your fence aligned with your blade. After you get all that done you can position your rail. When I used to move my rails around I would loosen the rail clamps just a little and then use a rubber mallet to fine tune it. I pretty have mine set 10" to the left of zero now (Zero reads 10" at my indicator). The 10" is pretty easy to work with for positioning. I use the tape a lot.

I can fold my 21829 up and the rails won't hit the floor. I also have a set of half rails to the right so loosing the 10" was no problem. My SMT or aux table will fit to the left as well as my miter slots and a narrow aux table on the far left end.

[Guest]

Thank you very much, I got everything correct now. Where can I buy an auxillary table?

[Bill in Buena Park]

Thank you very much, I got everything correct now. Where can I buy an auxillary table?

Sears Parts Direct sells them (use this link). See part 52 of the table assembly. There should have been one with the saw when you got it, and if like me you want more table space at times without having to move your one table around, you can buy additional tables for $60 plus shipping.

Here's a couple pics of my saw with the two aux tables. In the first, front to back is the SMT, main table, empty aux table, and the one with the yellow ring is he second aux tablie in which I keep a router permanently mounted - which is clearer in the second pic. The shop-made router fence attaches to the rip fence and is removable.

[pelligrini]

Thank you very much, I got everything correct now. Where can I buy an auxillary table?

Your 21829 should have come with one new, it's the one with the miter slots. I have a couple BT3 accessory tables. Here's a thread showing some of the differences: http://www.bt3central.com/showthread.php?t=44263 I don't think I paid more than $25 for mine. I got one in the classifieds here and a couple more on ebay.

The photo below is from this post showing how my 21829 is set up: http://www.bt3central.com/showpost.p...92&postcount=7