PM66 Oddity

[Rich P]

David, it's late and I'm tired but FWIW when you first posted your finished pics I thought the fence was too far to the right of the blade. I've seen other saws with the fence installed in the same fashion but I'm not sure this is proper. My 66 has a B fence made for the 66 and it has been installed with the front angle iron component at the very left of the left wing. I'll try to get a pic posted tomorrow. If the fence is "drifting" in on the right side I would consider remounting it more to the left. That might pull it back from the right side of the fence. It may have been the PO was trying for more right side rip capacity than is really needed.

You have seen the angle iron up close and personal and if you think it can be bent "without malice" you must be Vulcan himself! IMHO it's an installation issue.

FWIW, I do have an issue with the settings of the set screws that push the wings back from the fence angle against the square tube. My fence was in such a state that I took the whole thing down to bare metal and rebuilit it. As the fence gets closer to the blade, the locking lever will swing down past the lock point. It's just an adjustment issue with the set screws which I will deal with later this summer when I'm not in the middle of a project.

I must share that I'm rebuilding a 10+ foot outdoor table made from ipe. The 4/4 boards for the top (there are breadboard ends) are over 9' so there was no way of getting them past my little 6" jointer. I wound up using the 66 with a big featherboard and the "in and out, side to side" method to try to square up the board edges. The longer fence and bigger table (as opposed to my old 3100) worked reasonably well.

In all fairness my old trusty 3100, it helped me build a bunch of stuff including this deck and this table (photo below). The rebuild was required by a design flaw that did properly account for the seasonal movement of ipe (which is considerable).



My really biggest issue with the table is the top is so heavy it takes four guys to gracefully get it from the garage workshop up the stairs to the main deck where it is placed. It's also a bit tricky to single hand it in the shop once the glue-up is done! The only other thing I own that seems heavier is my "new" PM66.

Enough of this hijack...will post saw pics tomorrow.

[LarryG]

These Biese-type fence systems usually max out at about a 50" rip capacity right of the blade. I think Rich may be right about the saw being set up for even more rip capacity than that. If your tube is 7' long (give or take), you should be able to position it like mine and still get the same ~50" right of the blade that I have. This would also allow you to move the fence left of the blade, something you cannot do now without the "T" on the fence falling off the left end of the tube.

The angle iron does appear to be correctly installed; only the tube needs to move to the left. (BTW: the tube itself may be original, but the scale may not.) I should mention that on my saw, the angle iron extends farther left than does yours to provide a place for the power switch to mount, via a hanging bracket. If you look closely at my first picture, you'll see that there is no screw into the left-side wing, in the first hole in the angle. Since the fence locks only to the tube, where the ends of the angle are relative to the tube is mostly irrelevant. If my power switch were mounted to the main cabinet, as yours appears to be, my mounting angle could end at the same place as yours.

[cabinetman]

The tube on my Biesemeyer when positioned to give a 50" cut to the right of the blade, ends up about 21" to the left of the blade, to allow the fence about a 15" cut to the left of the blade, and having good contact with the tube.
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[JimD]

It seems there are at least two paths to correction.

If you like to have lots of rip to the right and none to the left, you could slot the holes to allow enough adjustment to get the tube running parallel. A grinding stone in a dremel would probably do it.

If you want some rip to the left and/or think 50 inches to the right is enough, you could remount the tube to the angle bracket. That probably means drilling some new holes.

Either seems like it will work. Depends on what you want.

I have about 60 inches rip capacity with my BT3100 and extension and it is handy sometimes. But not very often. If the back of a cabinet just happens to be >50 inches but less than 60 inches, then the added capacity is useful. That is not real often at my house. If the balde tilts to the right, I would want some rip capacity to the left.

Jim

[Rich P]

David,

FWIW, here are the shots of my fence. The overall tube is exactly 72". Since it was not mounted when I first saw it, I just followed the factory holes to get it back on the saw.

Here is the overall picture:



The setting to the left of the blade:



The right end of the tube:



I can probably get 50" to the right of the blade but that's it. Don't know how much I could get to the left. There is no easily measurable drift in the gap between the tube and the angle iron from left to right.

I built the aux table to exactly fit between the rails after they were mounted on the saw. I have not felt a big need to put legs under the aux table, especially since everything must be mobile in my shop. I figure if I get something heavy on the right side I'll stick something temporarily under it.

I skimped on the mobile base and used the low end wheel kit from Woodcraft. It's rated at 600 lbs but my experience is that's on a good day with the wind at it's back and going downhill. Another project for another time.

Hope this helps.

Rich

[Rich P]

Jim,

To my knowledge, all Powermatics are left tilt. That's why I went for the 66 instead of the Unisaur.

Rich

[crokett]

Thanks fellas. I've concluded that the rails are custom for this saw to get increased rip capacity to the right. The rails are definitely installed so the cutouts line up with the miter slots. I've also decided that being custom the holes are probably off on the rails, the tube or both, at least enough to throw the measuring out of whack. I am also not ruling out user error during assembly being a contributing factor. I am going to move the tube to the left so I have some rip capacity to the left and then I am going to quit worrying about it.

[crokett]

Last night I slid the tube left to give me some rip capacity on the left side of the blade. the issue remains. The tube is still closer at the right end than the left and the rip fence stops about 6" short of the right end because it gets h jammed between the rail and the tube. Right now I am thinking about a metal grinding bit in my rotozip and turning the holes in the rail into slots.

[cabinetman]

Is there a problem with setting the tube spacing 3/4" from the rail, and drilling new holes?
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[Rich P]

If the tube is the problem, I agree with cabinetman. You might even try leaving the "correct" end of the tube attached, align the tube, drill a new hole in the "wrong end" and work your way from left to right until the screw won't fit anymore. If you have enough to hold the tube, call it done.

[crokett]

I'd rather not put new holes in the tube. They are threaded so if I drilled new ones I would need to tap them. Not a problem but I think slotting the holes in the rail would be better. It has the advantage of allowing for adjustment of the tube in the future.

[phi1l]

Last night I slid the tube left to give me some rip capacity on the left side of the blade. the issue remains. The tube is still closer at the right end than the left and the rip fence stops about 6" short of the right end because it gets h jammed between the rail and the tube. Right now I am thinking about a metal grinding bit in my rotozip and turning the holes in the rail into slots.

Or you might try switching the tube ind for end

[JimD]

I have also slotted holes before with a drill. If you put a drill bit the size of the hole in the drill and then wobble it from side to side in the direction you want the slot to appear, you will get one. If that wasn't enough of a slot I would grind or file.

Jim

[LarryG]

phi1l: Typically the holes in the tube are offset toward one edge, which precludes swapping it end-for-end unless a complete new row of holes is drilled and tapped.

David: Slotting the existing holes in the angle seems easier and more flexible to me, too. But before doing anything, you should determine WHY the margin between the angle and the tube varies. Pull a string from one end of the tube to the other, to determine whether it is straight. If it isn't, you may currently have a potentially serious safety problem because as you slide the fence farther to the right, the fence is effectively rotating counter-clockwise. That means that as the fence is moved to the right, its back end is gradually toeing in closer and closer to the blade -- a sure-fire recipe for kickback.

With the slotted holes you may be able to pull the tube perfectly straight (assuming it isn't) so that the fence remains parallel to the blade at any setting. But then again, you may not -- which is why I think it's important to understand the WHY of the problem before attempting to fix it. Even without the possibility for kickback, the fence needs to stay parallel to the blade in order to get the most accurate cut.

[cabinetman]

With the slotted holes you may be able to pull the tube perfectly straight (assuming it isn't) so that it remains parallel to the blade at any setting. But then again, you may not --

I think the tube is perpendicular to the blade, not parallel. Pulling a string on the tube wouldn't tell if the angle iron is bent. Maybe checking the mounted angle iron to see if it's perpendicular to the miter slots, and laying a straightedge to it might tell how straight it is.
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