Thanks Rehd,

Just the kind of info I was looking for. I must have dozed off the day they covered that in shop class (40+ years ago).

Ron

: Hi Ron

: A couple of questions: Which part of the wood is cutting under. Fence Side?
: or Waste side? Reason being; you are probably experiencing a bad fence or
: an unsquare blade/arbor. If your measured distance is O.K. at the top of
: the blade, but you are getting an unsquare cut at the bottom, the front
: end of your blade, just as it goes down under the plate, is getting a
: little extra bite or at the back, when it comes up. If it's the back,
: sometimes you can hear it as the end of the wood passes the front of the
: blade, the cutting sound should stop, and you just hear the blade turning.
: If you can still hear some light cutting, then the back of the blade is
: still working back there, "after hours." It's cutting into the
: bottom of you wood either on the inside or outside. Not Good. That means
: either your fence is not squareing up at the back end, or your arbor is a
: little out of whack. Both are easy to check out.

: Unplug the saw, just to be safe, as you will be playing with the blade here.
: Lock your fence in place a few inches away from the blade. Using a steel
: rule, and not a tape measure ( with a loose tip ) Measure one of the flat
: sides of a particular tooth on the inside of the blade, and mark that
: tooth so you can easily see it again. Write down your measurement. That
: should be your cut distance. Now rotate the blade (tooth) to the back,
: down at table level, and measure the same tooth, the same way. Write it
: down. Now rotate the blade to the front at table level. Measure again.
: Write it down. Now, they should all be the same. My guess is that your
: front and/or back measurements are either in or out from the cut distance
: ( top measurement ). That will explain your unsquare cuts.

: Now, measure the distance from the same tooth to one of the miter slots, at
: the inside edge. Same proceedure with the same tooth, front and back. That
: will tell you if your arbor is straight or off a bit.

: Now, measure the fence (locked down still) from the same miter slot, at the
: front of the fence and the back of the fence. That will tell you if and
: how much your fence is off when it's locking down.

: If you have found any discrepencies, you are going to have to do some
: corrections to get it cutting perfect again. The fences are usually easy
: to adjust as some or all have a method of loosening and moving the fence
: in relationship to the locking "T" portion. If not, then like I
: have to do on my saw, I have to measure the front and back of the blade to
: fence distance each time, or, when you get it set where you want the cut,
: push in on the "T" portion of the fence and see if it will
: square up. You will have to remeasure the distance each time, but, it will
: work.

: If your arbor ( blade to miter slot ) distance is off, that means your arbor
: is out of adjustment. Don't be surprised as they are often not even square
: when you buy them. The saws come in a kit form to the dealer and some guy
: they just hired and working his way into management is doing the setup on
: your saw. Almost an engineer by the time he gets his 3rd or 4th one put
: together. But, uh-oh, the new redhead with the dynooomite bod goes by on
: her break and he slams a couple of pieces together to get his break
: started at the same time. Heck, that's good enough. Hey Ron, that's YOUR
: saw. Anyway, stuff happens. So, you need to find the owners manual and see
: if and what you can do to adjust your particular saw. Most are about the
: same, and there are 3 or 4 bolts underneath, inside the contraption.
: Remember, it only takes a couple of thousandths to correct or uncorrect
: these things. Lots of up and down work. Tiny adjustment, then get out and
: measure again. Have fun, and I hope this has helped. :^P

: Rehd