aligning ts fence

[brent warner]

WOW, just needed my memory jogged yesterday, didn't mean to stir up a bees nest I used a 18 in. straight edge and a digital caliper, only had to tweak it a bit.
thanks again, brent

[Bob Wingard]

Yeppers .. I've read about how you should align to the miter slot .. and I still tend to disagree with their logic.

What role does the miter slot play when using the saw to rip ?? ?? NONE

What role does the fence play when crosscutting ?? ?? NONE

I still contend that one should align the blade to the miter slot for accurate & safe crosscuts AND that the fence should be aligned to the blade for safe rips.

In reference to an earlier post about not being able to locate their miter slot adjustment screws .. oh well .. as they say .. it's difficult to have a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent !! !! !! Since the miter slot is "fixed" .. of course you should align the blade to it first. Then, I always have, and always will align my fence to the blade, and I also always toe-out the fence slightly to avoid burning & kickbacks. I don't measure the toe-out down to the 0.001" as it doesn't matter WHAT the number is .. I just toe it out a little bit at a time until there is no evidence that the teeth rising up from under the table are dragging the back of the cut.

This all amounts, functionally to about the same thing as the method of aligning everything to the slot. I just prefer to call it aligning or intentional misaligning with respect to the blade, since the blade is the only thing both types of cut have in common.