Set up my new Milwaukee SCMS today.

[keith micinski]

So this is the first tool I have ever bought that was set right at the factory which I was pretty happy about. I do have one issue though. When my blade is at 90 it is square with the table. If I rotate it to the left according to my Wixey box it is at 90.2 or 90.3. If I rotate it to the left it is at 89.8 or 89.7. This tells me the whole table is out of axis and there is nothing I can change about that. This would irritate me more if I paid 700 for this saw as opposed to 299. Is this an acceptable flaw or should I take it back? The Dewalt this is replacing is perfect when rotated to the 45's. As long as I cut the 45's on both sides then the .2 or .3 offset themselves. Plus I found if I put a little bit of pressure on the handle I can take the error out. Obviously I don't want to do that so I was wondering what you guys were thinking.

[Chuck Wintle]

So this is the first tool I have ever bought that was set right at the factory which I was pretty happy about. I do have one issue though. When my blade is at 90 it is square with the table. If I rotate it to the left according to my Wixey box it is at 90.2 or 90.3. If I rotate it to the left it is at 89.8 or 89.7. This tells me the whole table is out of axis and there is nothing I can change about that. This would irritate me more if I paid 700 for this saw as opposed to 299. Is this an acceptable flaw or should I take it back? The Dewalt this is replacing is perfect when rotated to the 45's. As long as I cut the 45's on both sides then the .2 or .3 offset themselves. Plus I found if I put a little bit of pressure on the handle I can take the error out. Obviously I don't want to do that so I was wondering what you guys were thinking.

That sounds like a reasonable margin of error of error.

[Frank Martin]

I have not opened mine yet, but my general feeling is it is probably better for carpentry due to large capacity. When it comes to cabinetry, likely a 10" version, perhaps the new Makita may be a bit more appropriate, due to less flex/better precision. I may go ahead and unload mine to get the new Makita instead. Compactness and better dust hookup for Makita are appealing to me.

[Allan Froehlich]

You should be able to adjust it to near perfect.

[Barry Wixey]

Keith. Are re-zeroing the angle gauge on the table after you rotate it? You would need to zero the angle gauge sitting on the table perpendicular to your blade before checking the angle. You may be picking up a few tenths of a degree that your saws surface is out of being level.

Man, I am not sure what I just said but I know what I mean. You have to re-zero the the gauge for every miter angle or the saw has to be sitting perfectly level. Maybe this is obvious and you are already doing that but I though I would throw in my 2 cents.

[keith micinski]

I am zeroing the gauge on the end of the table that doesn't actually turn with the blade it remains stationary. At 90 degrees the blade is perfectly square to the table. I then take the blade and rotate it to the left 45 degree stop. The blade now reads 90.2 or 90.3. If I then take the blade and rotate it over to the right 45 degree stop it reads 89.8 or 89.7. This tells me that the table is rotating off of its axis slightly and there is no adjustment for that other then turning the blade and re-squaring it every time I make a cut. I won't be doing that anytime soon.

[Chuck Wintle]

So this is the first tool I have ever bought that was set right at the factory which I was pretty happy about. I do have one issue though. When my blade is at 90 it is square with the table. If I rotate it to the left according to my Wixey box it is at 90.2 or 90.3. If I rotate it to the left it is at 89.8 or 89.7. This tells me the whole table is out of axis and there is nothing I can change about that. This would irritate me more if I paid 700 for this saw as opposed to 299. Is this an acceptable flaw or should I take it back? The Dewalt this is replacing is perfect when rotated to the 45's. As long as I cut the 45's on both sides then the .2 or .3 offset themselves. Plus I found if I put a little bit of pressure on the handle I can take the error out. Obviously I don't want to do that so I was wondering what you guys were thinking.

I'm confused. If the blade is rotated to the left would it not read 45 degrees ratherr than the 90 you state. or have I missed something?

[Jay Jeffery]

Are measuring this on cut pieces? How are you measuring the angles?

[keith micinski]

I must have not explained it clearly. I was checking the Blade's squareness in relation to the table at the 90 degree position and the 45 degree position. This has nothing to do with the angles the saw was cutting. I am using my Wixey angle box to determine the angle of the blade to the table. Or I guess I should have said the bevel of the blade if that helps.

[Alan Schwabacher]

What Barry was saying is that if you did not re-zero the Wixey between measurements, your deviation could be simply because your saw table is not perfectly level. The Wixey is simply a high-tech plumb line with a protractor to measure the angle in a particular direction. You need to make sure it's the right direction.

Zero it on the table, and then turn it while it remains flat on the table. It will probably change because the table is not perfectly level. All you need to do is to re-zero the Wixey, while on the table, set to measure the angle perpendicular to the blade.

[Van Huskey]

If you are going to keep it, try some error doubling dynamic testing and see what you end up with.

[keith micinski]

I understand what you are saying but I am never removing the Wixey from the blade. I am simply rotating the blade in relation to the table. The box should be able to be spun around in a 360 degree circle just like a plumb bob and alway remain level unless the circle is spinning off axis. This is what is happening I believe because the left side is off 180 degrees from the right side. I will go out and remove it and rezero it each time and see what I come up with though. I wish I could get my framing square in there better to check it with it also.

[Nick Laeder]

I understand what you are saying but I am never removing the Wixey from the blade. I am simply rotating the blade in relation to the table. The box should be able to be spun around in a 360 degree circle just like a plumb bob and alway remain level unless the circle is spinning off axis. This is what is happening I believe because the left side is off 180 degrees from the right side. I will go out and remove it and rezero it each time and see what I come up with though. I wish I could get my framing square in there better to check it with it also.

Let's say you shimmed up the right side of the saw 1/2" and then adjusted the bevel so that the gauge reads 90* at 90*. Then as you rotated the miter, the blade would not stay at 90*, right?

The only way the test you're trying would show the reality is if the saw is perfectly level. Since it's off a similar amount in different directions, I'd bet that the whole shooting match is just out of level.

[keith micinski]

Here are some pictures of what I am saying. The first one is the level box sitting on the stationary table edge at exactly 90 degrees.
The second picture is of the box on the saw blade withe saw at 90 degrees to the fence and the box is reading a perfect 90 degrees.
In the third picture without removing the box from the blade I have swung the saw over to the left 45 degree detent and the box is now reading 90. 3 or 90.4 it bounces in between the two.
In the fourth picture I then swing the box over to the right 45 degree and it is reading 89.7. There is no doubt that the rotating part of the table is off axis to the fixed part of the table with these results. By the way I took the box off of the blade and re-zeroed it every time and got the same results.
I guess my question is that is 3 tenths of a degree really something to be worried about or should it be absolutely perfect. I know I get a little anal about my tolerances sometimes but I know that every bit the tool is out is the more perfect I have to be to make up for it. And if there is one ting I have learned it is that I need all the help I can get. Plus like I said earlier as long as I cut the 45 using each side and keep the same face up the slight bevel will actually match. I don't usually do this though when I am working with square pieces I just flip the one over and keep the saw turned the same way so that there is less room for error in keeping everything the same plus it is easier for me to cut on the left side of the blade.

[keith micinski]

Nick what you are saying is right except for one thing. When I zero the box out on the table to start with, that is assumed to be level whether it is or not and the .3 or .4 degree readings I am getting are actually using the level that the box set as zero even though it may not actually be level in the real world.that is the beauty of that box you just stick on one face press Zero, then you stick it on the other face and what ever it reads,that is how many degrees you are from the first face. I have always used it to set my table saw and every other saw because it is so quick and easy. I don't even use positive stops on the table saw anymore because it is so quick just to grab this and set the blade that way I don't have to worry about saw dust or something keeping the blade from actually making it all the way to the stop.