Squaring up a Tablesaw

[Jon Wilson]

As some of you know, I bought a 113 series (Early 80's model) Craftsman Table Saw just the other day.
I'm fairly new to wood working and even newer to this type of saw.

Talk to me like I'm an idiot... No, Really, it's ok, I get my fair share of ID-10-T errors.

I ran a couple cuts tonight and it is out about 1/16th of an inch over 12 inches.
What steps do I need to take to square everything up to get a good cut on this saw?

While I'm asking questions about this saw...
Is there a fence that is compatible with this saw (that doesn't cost an arm & a leg), that will serve me better than the stock fence.

And as usual... TIA!

[Charles Wiggins]

This video covers the basics of blade alignment. This one covers a more complete tuneup and should be similar to your Craftsman is most respects.

If you don't have a manual you might find one here: http://vintagemachinery.org/mfgindex...x?id=222&tab=3

I have no recommendation about the fence, but I found another forum where a few guys recommended this one: http://www.amazon.com/Vega-PRO-40-42...dp/B000022621/

I hope this helps.

Cheers

[George Bokros]

I put a Biesemeyer home shop fence on my mid 70's Craftsman contractors table saw without any issue other than needing to cut a notch in the rear rail so the motor would tip to tilting the blade. It has been functioning fine.

George

[Steve Gojevic]

I have a 1980's Craftsman contractor TS that I bought new. I recently aligned the blade with the miter slot. I had to move both the front and rear trunion supports almost all the way to the end of their travel to get it aligned.

I also installed a Delta T2 fence on it and the difference between the Delta and the stock fence (and I had the better Craftsman fence-the one that locks down by pushing down instead of the screw handle) is huge. The Delta T2 can be had for about $180 shipped.

Steve

[Daniel Morgan]

I would wade in here with my .02 and say thank you Charles for the links. I've been in cabinet shops most of my adult life and never had to tune any saw up, I was clueless but now I am informed and my saw will run better for sure!

Dan

[Bill Whig]

As some of you know, I bought a 113 series (Early 80's model) Craftsman Table Saw just the other day.


I ran a couple cuts tonight and it is out about 1/16th of an inch over 12 inches.
What steps do I need to take to square everything up to get a good cut on this saw?

And as usual... TIA!

Did you try more than one blade? A very good blade?

Bill Whig

[glenn bradley]

I ran a 1970's Craftsman badged Emerson contractor saw for a number of years. It was a nice machine for what I paid for it. I added machined pulleys, a link belt and PALs to help with the alignment (all available from Peachtree). I took a 90lb bag of ready-crete, put it in a lawn bag, taped it up with packing tape and set it on the bottom shelf of the stand. All this got me a solid foundation so that once aligned, the saw performed well past its form-factor. Shop made ZCI's with MJ Splitters helped with safety and cut quality.

I an Align-a-Rip fence on it for about $120 (no longer made). Many aftermarket fences will fit the Emerson saws so you just have to decide if you are going for a fence thatyou will keep when you upgrade the saw or, do you just want a good fence that will do some decent work. The Delta T2 is praised by many, a used Biesemeyer Home Shop fence may be found used (seems they are no longer made?). Once you get to Grizzly's 'Aluma-classic' and Shop Fox's 'Classic' fence you are very close to a Biesemeyer in cost. You could also post in the classifieds for someone who has gone with the Incra fence system and has their old fence sitting in the way.

Fence Extn 1.jpg

I made peace with the fact that bevel cuts would always be kryptonite for a contractor saw but, going the extra mile during alignment was still worth the effort to me. Info and links here pretty much cover the procedure. The challenge is to set aside a Saturday and commit to the fact that the alignments could take 4 hours or it could take 20 minutes. Just commit the time and effort and it will pay you back every time you use the saw.

[Mike Weaver]

I have no recommendation about the fence, but I found another forum where a few guys recommended this one: http://www.amazon.com/Vega-PRO-40-42...dp/B000022621/

I have a Craftsman saw and put a Vega fence on it without any issues and highly recommend it. The install was easy and it works really well.

As others have noted, a good blade helps too, though a cut being off a lot is likely not ALL be due to a bad blade. The saw may be off or technique may need to be improved a bit too.

Freud, CMT, Forrest are but a few of the many good blade manufacturers.

Hope this helps a bit.
-Mike

[Lee Schierer]

Jon, I also have a series 113 Craftsman table saw. In fact it is a 113.298720. I installed a Beismeyer fence on it over 15 years ago and still wonder why I didn't do it sooner. The original lock down fence rarely if ever locked down parallel to the blade. The Beismeyer fence locks down perfectly aligned every time. I have the open grate style wings on the left and right. I installed only the front rail for the Beismeyer and relocated one slide pad on the back bottom of the fence so it would ride on the back rib of the extension wings. I was able to use all the existing holes in the saw table and wings and added one hole to the Beismeyer fence rail. I also quit using the stock miter gauge and replaced it with a Kreg Miter Gauge. It is extremely accurate and can be switched to either side of the blade easily. I replaced the stock die cast pulleys with machined steel ones and added a link belt at the same time.

Aligning the saw was pretty easy. There are four bolts holding the trunnions to the bottom of the table. Mine has star type lock washers under the bolt heads which needed to be rotated slightly so they don't pull the trunnions back into the position they started in. Once aligned, it has maintained that alignment for more than 15 years.

Take a close look at your motor and you may find small yellow caps at each end of the motor right over the bearings. These yellow plugs cover the oil holes for the bearings. You need to put a couple of drops of machine oil down those holes once or twice a year.

The only other change I made was to design an aluminum throat plate with a replaceable wood insert to make all my blades including the dado blades zero clearance. A friend machined it for me out of aluminum jig plate.

[Dave Cullen]

Aligning the saw was pretty easy. There are four bolts holding the trunnions to the bottom of the table. Mine has star type lock washers under the bolt heads which needed to be rotated slightly so they don't pull the trunnions back into the position they started in. Once aligned, it has maintained that alignment for more than 15 years.

I just checked mine and it's still dead on after 30 years. I do remember cursing the external tooth lock washers for digging into the aluminum casting and moving it when the bolts were tightened. But this is one adjustment where "close enough" just isn't.

[Troy Turner]

Jon - You've got a good saw there. I've got one myself. Upgraded the pulleys, link belt, and PALS as others have suggested. You can beat it into alignment as the manual suggests, or you can get the PALS and turn it into alignment. Put some loc tite on the PALS bolt and you don't have to worry about it again. As for the fence, I found a good deal on a Vega on CL. Bolted right up, had it squared in about 30 mins, and been making accurate cuts since. Good luck!

[Jon Wilson]

Goodness! the amount of info one little question can receive on this forum is mind boggling.
And I thank each of you!

Got it squared up, turns out it was the blade, put 2 different new blades on and it is damn near perfect.

I did have to buy a new motor pulley, the one on the saw is bent.

I'm also going to get a Power Twist belt and a PALS system. I'm going to hold off on a nice fence for the time being. Need to save up a bit, they are a bit salty.

Next up... A decent cross cut sled and a router table extension.

So far, even with the squaring issue and the bent pulley I'm pretty happy with the purchase.

For those that are familiar with this saw... the original manual states the belt size at 1/2" x 41"
When I order the power twist do I order that exact length or something different.
Not sure if there's any allowances I need to adjust for.

[Lee Schierer]

For those that are familiar with this saw... the original manual states the belt size at 1/2" x 41"
When I order the power twist do I order that exact length or something different.
Not sure if there's any allowances I need to adjust for.

When I did mine the kit provided about 4" too much. It is an easy thing to take out or add a few links. What I did was measure where the motor was with the "factory belt" and then adjusted the link belt to get the motor in the same place. Several months later I noticed the motor slipping on tough cuts and found the link belt had lengthened slightly and the motor wasn't providing the needed weight to tension the belt. Removing 2 links solved the problem.

[glenn bradley]

It is normally sold by the foot and this is one of Harbor Freight's diamonds in the rough. They sell green 1/2" Powertwist, 5 feet for $25. This only really makes sense if there is a HF in town, otherwise Rockler has 4 feet on sale frequently and you could watch for free shipping. I have intermixed sections of HF and Powertwist, run them for years without issue.

[Robert Delhommer Sr]

I'll bite, what is "PALS System"?