Axminster TS-200 Setup

[j]

Hi,
I've finally managed to find a bit of time to go and have a look at the TS-200 I bought last week

After attaching the fence rail, the first thing that I found was that the fence was not running square to the mitre slot.
It runs away from the blade by almost 3mm at the leading edge of the blade.
This means that ripping some thin strips (like for the mitre slots) I end up with some interestingly tapered pieces of wood.
I know the fence is generally considered worthy of an upgrade, but I'd hoped to be able to get by without spending the extra for now. I can't see any way to adjust this though, what am I missing?

Given this issue, I ended up planing down a short strip to fit in the mitre slot so that I could use my dial indicator to see if the blade ran parallel to the slot.

The indicator showed that the blade was out by about 0.2mm relative to the slot.
I also found that it had about the same 0.2mm runout turning the blade and keeping the indicator in one place.

I'm assuming these figures are acceptable, but the fence isn't.

When making the runners for the slots, I've measured them to be 15.2mm at the top, and about 6.9mm deep. My plan was to just use 15.2mm strips of wood, and not try to produce T-slot shaped runners. Would this work?

Thanks
J

 

[Rhossydd]

If you search back through the forum there are several good threads on setting up the TS200.
dressing-up-my-ts-200-zero-clearance-insert-t58023.html?hilit=kity%20zero%20insert
fettling-an-axminster-ts-200-tablesaw-t38719.html
post385418.html?highlight=#385418
axminster-ts200-table-saw-a-cautionary-tale-t32030.html

I found was that the fence was not running square to the mitre slot.
.... I can't see any way to adjust this though, what am I missing?

This is poorly covered on page 19 of the manual. Simply put; tighten the fence, then loosen the bolts securing the support arm and there should be enough play in the mounting holes to get the fence square, then re-tighten when correct.

My plan was to just use 15.2mm strips of wood, and not try to produce T-slot shaped runners. Would this work?

That seems to be the accepted way to make runners for axillary jigs. But I've never needed to do that myself yet. It's probably not worth being influenced by the 'you need a table sled' American videos.

 

[Bodgers]

Hi,
I've finally managed to find a bit of time to go and have a look at the TS-200 I bought last week

After attaching the fence rail, the first thing that I found was that the fence was not running square to the mitre slot.
It runs away from the blade by almost 3mm at the leading edge of the blade.
This means that ripping some thin strips (like for the mitre slots) I end up with some interestingly tapered pieces of wood.
I know the fence is generally considered worthy of an upgrade, but I'd hoped to be able to get by without spending the extra for now. I can't see any way to adjust this though, what am I missing?

Given this issue, I ended up planing down a short strip to fit in the mitre slot so that I could use my dial indicator to see if the blade ran parallel to the slot.

The indicator showed that the blade was out by about 0.2mm relative to the slot.
I also found that it had about the same 0.2mm runout turning the blade and keeping the indicator in one place.

I'm assuming these figures are acceptable, but the fence isn't.

When making the runners for the slots, I've measured them to be 15.2mm at the top, and about 6.9mm deep. My plan was to just use 15.2mm strips of wood, and not try to produce T-slot shaped runners. Would this work?

Thanks
J

Just out of interest, are you using the table extension and the longer fence?

 

[j]

Thanks for the info regarding sorting out the fence, obvious now that you explain it. Why the manual couldn't just say that is a mystery.
Actually, looking at the instructions, I'm still not convinced that's what it's trying to tell me, but I'll give your suggestion a go anyway.
My fence assembly might be slightly different to the one pictured. The handle definately is as it's not a cylindrical knob to tighten it, but more like a door handle that you turn to lock the fence down. I've already found that if you tighten it right round, the handle is actually sticking up infront of the fence exactly where you want to pass the wood through.

I've already seen a couple of those TS-200 threads, but there were some I hadn't seen already, plenty of info on here

I'm not currently using the extension or long fence.
From what I've understood by reading on here, The long fence shouldn't be used for ripping, so i've stuck with the short one for now.
I have the long rails that came with the extension, but I'm currently deliberating exactly where to set it up properly. Currently I'm thinking to modify my router table to have the saw on the side. If I do this, i'll make use of the longer rails, which will make the fence shared between the two as i've seen on several threads here. But then it'll be a beast of a unit to move unless I get some castors on it. Which then means the height won't match the work surfaces I have around the garage. Unless I just chip a bit off. Hmmm....

So anyway, currently it is just sitting on my workbench with no extension table and the short rails and fence.

Also I need to add a zero clearance insert to the list. as I had some fun when cutting a sliver off one of my mitre slot rails.

 

[MickCheese]

One of Steve Maskery's Workshop essentials DVD deals with the set-up of this saw in its Kity form.

http://www.workshopessentials.com/shop/

Really is worth getting.

Mick

 

[MikeH]

Hi J,
Re the lock handle, I have just setup my new 250m and it has the same handle if I am understanding you correctly. It is a bristol style handle so once tightened can be pulled out and re positioned,.

 

[j]

Ah yes, I'll take a look at getting one of the DVDs.

Yes, that handle can be repositionnned. Had to fiddle a bit to get it to be loose enough when it's right round under the fence to get the fence off, and tight enough just before it gets in the way to stop the fence moving.
I don't think it really needs to be very tight to do this luckily.

 

[j]

After reading many of the threads on the TS-200, I decided to actually go and have another tinker.
The fence has now been adjusted by actually adjusting the rail, seems fine now - Thanks

I'll continue adding my progress with this saw here, feel free to comment or ignore me.

I decided that next on the list was a Zero Clearance Insert as I didn't like dropping bits down into the chasm with the spinning blade in

Firstly I rough cut some pieces of laminate flooring to the square size of the opening then rounded the corners. I may end up replacing this with Aluminium like others have done, but this'll do for now.
Then to thest the fit in the hole I needed to remove the Riving Knife.
Easily done with a 14mm spanner, the supplied 15mm one also worked

As you can see there were a few shims in there to line it up with the blade. (I actually found two more black washer plates after taking this photo. The little half a shim slid down into the below table blade guard. Easy enough to fish out via the dust port.

Rounded corners - don't sue me Apple

Next up I wanted to set the blade to 90­°, but my wixey guage said that it only got to 88°
So, whip the side off, and take a look. After puzzling over this mechanism for a bit which looked like it was hitting the limit, my Brother came round and pointed out the big bolt that hits the cast iron top to stop it going too far

Nudge the bolt with a 10mm spanner and lock it in position so I can now go to 90.2 and we're getting there.

Next up - rebate the plate to fit on the ledge in the slot.

I marked this by reaching in the back of the saw and tracing with a pencil. Obviously with the saw unplugged, and keeping the plug in my other hand just to be sure :shock:
I routed this on the router table, carefully nudging the bit up to leave the desired 3.1mm thickness

As I had the router set up, and a second piece already cut to size, I made another.

I marked the holes for the first one from below rather than use the supplied plate, not sure why really, but it worked out fine.
Drilled countersunk and installed.
I've seen a couple of methods for supporting the edge of the insert where there is no ledge. I'm not keen on drilling the table as that would not go down well with Axminster in the event of me having to return it for any reason.
I've seen one thread where the owner has used araldite to afix some washers to the underside of the cast iron table to rest the ledge on. I may do this as my laminate flooring is the same thickness as the table top so it'd be perfect, and unobtrusive. Also maybe adding a couple more mounting holes to the ledge nearer the blade would be do-able and be hidden by the original insert. But for now I've left it without support as the insert is a tight fit, and needs to be knocked out from below to remove it.

Ready for the scary bit.

With the long fence over the insert, but not the cut line, I slowly raised the blade through the insert, while standing clear of the firing line.

Full height

And relax

Here's the ZCI slot. It looks to me that it isn't square to the table, maybe a trick of the eye due to the wood grain pattern. I'm sure I checked the blade alignment before, maybe something has moved since then though.
I'll have to check this when I next get time to go into the garage. Luckily I have a spare insert.

Next job - make a proper base for the dial indicator to ride in the mitre slot and get the blade square.

 

[sploo]

Nice work. You're a bit ahead of me.

I'm in two minds whether to remove the knife to cut the slot in an insert (then extend with a jigsaw) or to just measure where it should be, and plunge through it using a handheld circular saw.

I've bought a set of spare riving knives, with the intention of grinding one down to be just under the height of the blade - thus I could use it for cuts that go over the top of the blade. It looks as though it may be possible to still have a hole for the blade guard in it (just a little lower); such that I could leave that knife in, do most of my cuts with the reduced knife and guard, and then only take the guard off when I needed to cut something pretty thick or cut over the top of the blade.

 

[JakeS]

I've seen one thread where the owner has used araldite to afix some washers to the underside of the cast iron table to rest the ledge on. I may do this as my laminate flooring is the same thickness as the table top so it'd be perfect, and unobtrusive.

For what it's worth: I seem to recall some people were sceptical at the time that the Araldite would survive the cold, but two (IIRC) winters later and it's holding up absolutely fine.

 

[j]

Nice work. You're a bit ahead of me.

I'm in two minds whether to remove the knife to cut the slot in an insert (then extend with a jigsaw) or to just measure where it should be, and plunge through it using a handheld circular saw.

I've bought a set of spare riving knives, with the intention of grinding one down to be just under the height of the blade - thus I could use it for cuts that go over the top of the blade. It looks as though it may be possible to still have a hole for the blade guard in it (just a little lower); such that I could leave that knife in, do most of my cuts with the reduced knife and guard, and then only take the guard off when I needed to cut something pretty thick or cut over the top of the blade.

I don't see a problem with removing the knife, just take note of any slivers of shims that come out when you take it apart, and put things back where you found them. Plunging through was noisy, but no problem really. Using the fence to hold it down (as well as the screws) worked well. I think measuring would be harder and if you're slightly off your blade may be tempted to deflect through your slot rather than it's true line.

I had exactly the same thought about adjusting the riving knife to match the blade height. Did you get your spare from Axminster? how much did they charge? I looked at buying a sheet of 2mm steel, but modifying one would be easier. I'd also make the guard hole into a slot so the guard can be easily replaced - no excuses then.

Jake - Good to hear it's a long term solution. I'll find some nice sturdy washers and do that too. Once I sort out my blade alignment.

Thanks
J

 

[sploo]

I don't see a problem with removing the knife, just take note of any slivers of shims that come out when you take it apart, and put things back where you found them. Plunging through was noisy, but no problem really. Using the fence to hold it down (as well as the screws) worked well. I think measuring would be harder and if you're slightly off your blade may be tempted to deflect through your slot rather than it's true line.

I had exactly the same thought about adjusting the riving knife to match the blade height. Did you get your spare from Axminster? how much did they charge? I looked at buying a sheet of 2mm steel, but modifying one would be easier. I'd also make the guard hole into a slot so the guard can be easily replaced - no excuses then.

Yep, already had to remove/fettle the knife and found the shim on mine (just one "half" shim).

The knives are £4.20, part number 700081 ("Part 30, Riving knife for 600822, TS200 Table Saw"). Strangely they're bare metal, rather than black like the one that was delivered with mine. Not had chance to do anything with them yet but they look the same.

I take it you then extended the slot in the new insert (to give space for the knife)? I'm assuming the cut with the blade wouldn't be sufficient for the knife too.

 

[j]

Thanks for the details.
I haven't extended the slot yet, but that's the plan.
I just ran out of time on the weekend.
Also I need to verify the blade alignment before I go any further, this insert may be scrap anyway if the blade is misaligned.

 

[sploo]

Thanks for the details.
I haven't extended the slot yet, but that's the plan.
I just ran out of time on the weekend.
Also I need to verify the blade alignment before I go any further, this insert may be scrap anyway if the blade is misaligned.

It's probably worth the time to remove the knife and create a set of inserts by raising the blade I guess. More accurate, as you say.

I'm hoping I'm lucky with mine. I've got a dial gauge on the way to properly test the run-out, but as far as I could work out with vernier callipers, the blade is parallel to the mitre slots, and I've been able to get the fence acceptably parallel to the blade.

 

[j]

I rang Axminster today, the knife is as you say £4.20, but they wanted £5 postage.

I'll probably just modify the knife I have and order a new one if/when I next order from them.
Or find some random piece of sheet steel of the correct thickness and make one.

J

 

[sploo]

I rang Axminster today, the knife is as you say £4.20, but they wanted £5 postage.

I'll probably just modify the knife I have and order a new one if/when I next order from them.
Or find some random piece of sheet steel of the correct thickness and make one.

J

Ah. You need to find something missing/broken on your machine, and ask them to send a new part whilst buying the knives. They sent them to me together without postage :wink:

 

[j]

Yesterday I decided to try and sort out the blade alignment.
I made a holder for my dial indicator out of a scrap of laminate flooring. I first tried cutting a hole using a hole saw, but my hole saws are cheap and nasty, and they just produced lots of smoke.
So, I ended up using my band saw (a tiny Draper one that I acquired for £20 last year)
The cut wasn't very neat as the hole was a bit of a tight radius, but it did the job of alowing me to squeeze in the dial indicator and have it stay put.
I had a piece of wood for the mitre slot runner which I'd cut and planed previously.
Put the two together with a few small screws and I have a way to test how far out of alignment my blade is - Hooray.

So it looks like the blade was out by 0.6mm
Not sure if that's a lot or not, but I decided to try and do better.

I loosenned the 4 allen bolts in the top which hold the blade/motor assembly to the top and tried to persuade it to move. I discovered that the back end of the blade assembly could be moved a good 10mm easily, but unfortunately it was already at one extreme of it's adjustment and, you guessed it, that's the direction I needed another 0.6mm movement. The front didn't want to move at all. even with the bolts very loose, there was almost no sideways movement.
In the end I had to pull the front over from underneath (with the side of the saw off, and tighten it up at the same time. Repeat the same on the back, and I got it down to less than 0.1mm, that'll do me nicely.

Next job - re-cut the ZCI to accomodate the new blade position. I think i'll re-use the same insert for now.
Then shorten the riving knife and re-fit it complete with blade guard.
Then I may actually use the saw

 

[j]

Been a while since I've been out to the garage, here's today's progress.
I marked up the riving knife to be just below the teeth on the blade.
Before cutting it up, I thought I should make a template so I know what shape it needs to be if I need to make a new one.

This is the height I decided to cut, right through the middle of the guard mount hole.

I cut it with the angle grinder, probably could have done it with the jigsaw, or even hacksaw, but fancied trying the grinder.
It worked out nicely, just a little cleanup with a file, I made sure the leading edge was beveled as before.
Here's the knife re-fitted in the saw. It may be a little low, but it is at the bottom of it's adjustment, so can be raised slightly if needed.

After that, my hands were going numb as it's bloody cold, so that'll do for now.

 

[sploo]

Nice work. I haven't had any time for garage tinkering in ages - but it's my plan to do the same.

 

[Graham Warren]

Hi, Just had a read of your thread and wanted to add something regards aligning the blade.
I've been fettling my ts200 today. I've had it for about 3 years and had been putting up with things like fence and blade alignment being off because I mostly use a big old Wadkin ripsaw with various sled jigs, but a fiddly little job I'm on at the mo means the tilt arbour and mitre guide would be useful.

Like you I couldn't for the life of me get the front rod to budge. After a lot of head scratching, swearing, wiggling and clouting I realised it's being stopped by the tilt bracket underneath. I loosed the nut and tilted the blade a bit and the rod came free. It could then be slid across and tightened up before returning the blade to vertical. Then it was a simple-ish job of wiggling from the back to find the alignment.
I also had the same alignment problem as you with the fence (older version) and used the same shim approach to off-set it. Only thought today to loosen the support bar!
Tensioning the belt was a carry-on too. But now it's all done I feel like I have a saw that's well worth keeping. I've ground the riving knife too - first job when it arrived - after removing the blade guard to the bin that is! (Just a personal preference).
I did have the sliding table on but found it overcomplicated and it kept coming loose.
It makes a neat little crosscut saw stripped down to the basics and for the first time since I got it I'm actually looking forward to using it at work tomorrow!
Thanks for putting up such a detailed thread it's been an interesting read!