Makita LS1013 possible problem

[M100]

I've had my LS1013 for a couple of years now but illness has prevented any serious use until recently. Maybe I've got a rogue one but it came from an established Makita dealer in a sealed Makita box with CE marking so I'm reasonably sure it's not a cheap copy.

The problem I have is the back fence is "hollow" It's square to the base and each side of the fence is straight along it's length but when I place a straight edge along both halves of the back fence I have more or less full contact at the extreme left and right sides and a gap of a few mm either side of the "gap"

Part 117 in the exploded view

Is this normal? (I would think not)

http://img223.imageshack.us/my.php?image=makitals1013explodedviepg2.gif

 

[OLD]

Its not suitable for purpose you can replace, have it machined or put a suitable wood face on it which will reduce its capacity slightly.
It may have some flexibility so can be bent/straightened slightly but 2mm is a lot .

 

[Racers]

Hi,

Have you tried slackening the mounting bolts and seeing it straightens out? you might need to leave one bolt tight and hold it straight while you tighten the rest. I have the same saw and I think there is some adjustment on the fence, I will have a look tonight.



Pete

 

[OPJ]

There's normally some kind of adjustment on these fences. What I do with my Bosch (to get it square to the blade) is to slacken off all four bolts (two either side), nip one up and swing the other around until my engineer's square tells me it's at 90º. Then, tighten all bolts carefully. You could probably try something similar.

 

[WellsWood]

Normal? - no. I've just checked mine and with a straightedge across the full length of the fence I can get a 0.05mm feeler guage in near the middle, so it's like yours but only minutely.
The fences on these are adjustable by slackening the 4 bolts which hold it down to the base. This is how you square the fence to the blade to "zero" the 90deg setting, they even provide a spanner and plastic triangle to facilitate this.It's a one piece casting however, and both faces seem to be machined simultaneously, so I seriously doubt you'd be able to successfully bend it straight. Not more than a few thou at any rate, and yours appears to be much worse than that.

I'd contact the Makita dealer you bought it off as a starting point, at the very least they should be able to tell you where you can get a replacement. If you have trouble, I got spares for mine here. You'll have to contact them though, as the item is shown as "delisted".

Worst case scenario: it's only aluminium, so a nice flat surface and some wet'n'dry should see a fix in no time.