Problem aligning new 21829 TS

[greybeard851]

Earlier today I purchased a Craftsman table saw model 21829. I was assembling it and on page 17 of the instruction book it says "Using the bottom scale (on the front rail) as a guide, the scale will need to be aligned to the saw blade at the 14 in. mark.". After doing that I got to the part where you align the rip fence to the blade.

On page 30 it says, "Use the following steps to set the rip fence scale indicator to the blade. ... Using a framing square, set the rip fence 2 in. from the blade tip edge. Loosen the screw on the scale indicator. Tighten the screw and check the dimension and the rip fence.".

One gets the impression that the rip fence scale should now be at the 2 in. mark on one of the scales, but nothing could be farther from the truth. The indicator reads around 8 in. on the top scale and 12 in. on the bottom. I called the store where I bought it and talked to a salesman. He looked at their display model and said that it is the same as mine... around 13 in. when trying to "zero" the rip fence.

Am I doing something wrong? Am I misunderstanding the instructions? I used to have a bt3000 years ago and don't remember having this much trouble.

Any suggestions or other help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks much,

Grey

[LCHIEN]

Earlier today I purchased a Craftsman table saw model 21829. I was assembling it and on page 17 of the instruction book it says "Using the bottom scale (on the front rail) as a guide, the scale will need to be aligned to the saw blade at the 14 in. mark.". After doing that I got to the part where you align the rip fence to the blade.

On page 30 it says, "Use the following steps to set the rip fence scale indicator to the blade. ... Using a framing square, set the rip fence 2 in. from the blade tip edge. Loosen the screw on the scale indicator. Tighten the screw and check the dimension and the rip fence.".

One gets the impression that the rip fence scale should now be at the 2 in. mark on one of the scales, but nothing could be farther from the truth. The indicator reads around 8 in. on the top scale and 12 in. on the bottom. I called the store where I bought it and talked to a salesman. He looked at their display model and said that it is the same as mine... around 13 in. when trying to "zero" the rip fence.

Am I doing something wrong? Am I misunderstanding the instructions? I used to have a bt3000 years ago and don't remember having this much trouble.

Any suggestions or other help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks much,

Grey

on the BT3000/3100 they put the zero ont he scale at a compromise position int he rail so that there was room on the left for the SMT and on the right for the aux table and all the extra rip capacity on the right.
Of course the rials are movable for extension to either side and if you do that then the zero is off and you have to work with an offset or even measure the distance.

On the Craftsman 21829 for some reason they did not put zero in the convenient spot, it sounds like you have to live with the offset if you like the SMT and Aux tables in the customary positions.