Table Saw Setup And Tweaking

[the_g_ster]

Hi all, first post of the year I think so happy new one and all.

Does anybody remember the post on here as to how to set up your fences to cut spot on for the table saw? I seem to remember something about numbering sides on a piece of ply, but can't find anywhere.

Having big problems in getting my Scheppach 2010 to saw spot on right now, so any top tips would be appreciated. Setting at 90 degrees to table surface took ages, as the surface is perfectly level sadly. Then getting repeat 90 degree cross cuts for some draw fronts and pieces is proving tricky as well (the drawers are a bit more narrow then first planned, at this rate they wont fit a DVD in them)

Thanks in advance,

G.

 

[Fecn]

I think you're after this one...

https://www.ukworkshop.co.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?t=11445&highlight=sliding+table+setup

 

[johnnyb]

the five cut square was posted by scrit and is superb for checking square(do it 2 or 3 times once right). i have just set my saw up and found a dial test indicator just the job for helping to set up. make a few carriages to screw it to and run it on the saw blade.(stopped with power off of course!!!) get your carriage to run with what scrit calls freeboard first(see post,about .15-.2 with my blade). then adjust the actual fence to 90. the rip fence should also have freeboard but will mean that the blade tends to lead the wood away from the fence a little, just go with it and dont try to correct otherwise youll have a step. ps free board is not mentioned in any book to my knowledge they say set up with the carriage running parallel.or maybe toe out on the rip fence.

 

[pidgeonpost]

I too have a few problems with my 2010, so I'll be reading that article and looking for other clues.
In my case I found that I was getting burn marks on the timber, which I suspected was due to the blade and rip fence running out of parallel. I checked this roughly by moving the fence to line up alongside one of the grooves in the table surface, and then clamping. Sure enough, as the clamp pressure comes on, the fence moves out of square. I then loosened the two Allen screws that hold the fence to the clamp body, re-aligned the fence with the groove in the table, and tightened the Allen screws again. This has helped a lot, but it certainly isn't perfect.
The other problems I have are (i) at the very start of the cut the blade will 'chatter' if the cut is started slowly, and the cut will start off wider than you want. Initially I thought I had the blade height too high, but lowering it hasn't cured it either.
Also, sometime when I have a large reserve of time and patience (have you noticed that when you get short of one of these elements you often get short of t'other too?), I must dig out the manual and try to re-align the sliding carriage. I set this up when I put the saw togethher and found it a real pain to do. When I went to use it again this week things were not as they should be - i.e. the sliding table was higher than the fixed table, so when the cut was started the timber would be pulled down onto the fixed table resulting in an out-of-square end to the timber - not by much, but enough.
Apologies for rambling - maybe I should have PM'd you....

 

[the_g_ster]

Well I am glad I am not the only one. I have had some crosscuts with burn marks too, and as you say this is I am sure because things aren't moving exactly parallel to each other. I have found that when using the sliding table this is less of an issue. I am a little concerned that the saw blade itself is out of true to the table. When you take out the top cover for blade changes you can see that the motor and raise mechanism are suspended in a cradle that pivots on two points at each end of the table. On the front of the table I notice that the welded L shape hook that slots into the front of the table looks out of alignment. You can see another little notch next to it to pass through the cable for the rise and fall. Does this look the same on your model?

The chatter that you indicate is one bugbear that I don't have. For the cut to be wider than the blade suggests either blade flex, or infact some play in the arbour. Is everything tightened up properly and can you feel any play at all on when the blade is secured?

With the sliding table set up then yes that is a pain. I am happy to scan and email you the instructions, but essentially you need to get the two locking bolts on the black mount for the sliding table to the right level to suspend the table at the right level. Again this took a while to get right and I am still finding that 50% of cuts are fine and others not. Even with it mounted spot on if you want to do a sliding cross cut then there is sufficient play in the mitre mount to give you a few degrees out. At the moment its pretty frustrating as I just need to cut and forget. I am (attempting) to make some furniture so the gaps will show, ug.

Many thanks Fecn for the link, I will have a bash tonight and hopefully can get spot on.

I am sure there may be some merit in trying to collate a section, by saw in the forum somewhere as a reference guide to issues, how to fix, accessories that will fit, etc.

 

[pidgeonpost]

Thanks for the additional checks.
I'll include a check on the cradle too when I get a spare morning to have a fiddle with the thing and let you know how things look on my saw.
I'm wondering whether the chatter may be due (to some extent) to the thin section of the blade - it's the standard multi-purpose blade supplied as standard, and does seem a bit thin compared to the Freud blade on my old saw. I'll also re-check the blade for tightness - though it's reasonably tight or I guess it would stop or slow down in use.
I'm not looking forward to setting up the sliding table - drove me NUTS when I put the saw together initially!
I have the manual, but if you have a better way of setting the sliding carriage up I'd be grateful for an email - from memory the manual isn't desperately clear on this point. I seem to remember removing and replacing the assembly dozens of times.
Do you have the folding stand for the saw? I reckon Scheppach have missed an opportunity of making this into a useful storage cabinet - seems to be crying out for it!

 

[the_g_ster]

Thanks for the great tip on table saw setup in the link.

I duly followed the process and I have now ended up .79mm out on all four sides. Sadly despite a number of attempts (and a very small square from a very large square) I can't seem to get it any better than this. I am now wishing I had the space for something more accurate and with a cast top too.

Tips For 2010 Owners

When you read the link the dust cut bit does sound a bit odd, but makes perfect sense when you do it. To get the sliding table rail and blade perfectly parallel you will need to pad the mount of the whole sliding table extension mount to the main saw case body. If you have some digi calipers its pretty easy to get some paper or some thin sheets of plastic (box cases etc) and but this under the mount with the two notches cut out for the allen bolts to go through. You can adjust the angle of the sliding table, which in turn will move it out either end, but of course then you can't line it up with the level of the table surface, so using these rather crude shims seems to be the only way.

On mine I have found no way to get the table level, which is pretty annoying as I am attempting some fine work, the best way to quickly get the sliding table at the right height is to loosen the lock nuts and then adjust the bolts by gently lifting the table a few mm and turning, takes no time at all. The only thing you need to be careful of is when locking them they may deviate a tiny bit, but you wont be far off to correct quickly.

 

[Woody Alan]

G ster

Please try this experiment and it may give you an idea how to get the best out of your saw. set your blade to the mid to three quarter height travel....lay a sheet of a4 paper one edge parallel to your blade about 1mm away from it (put a weight on the paper). Now just gently raise or lower your blade 2-3mm up and down ....do you see the blade drifting out of parallel? I think you might. If you do the answer to your dilemma is to make a habit of always raising not lowering (or vice versa)your blade to it's final position and doing all adjustments this way. Another possibility is that you are doing your adjustments at absolutely full blade height where the blade can be biased by the physical stop mechanism throwing it off line. Hope that's of some help.

Cheers Alan