I recently got a new (for me) Craftsman table saw #113298762
Before I bought it two months ago, the saw sat unused -- like new -- in a clean, dry garage for more than 15 years.
I did set it up and adjust it so that the blade is parallel to the miter slot and fence. The fence -- though original -- does appear to consistently lock straight and parallel to the blade.
On startup, there is a very slight "shimmy" as the blade spins up. I'm not sure, but it appears to me that it's due to the shape of the belt. The belt sat unused on the saw for many years, and it developed some shape "memory" (i.e. an oval rather than a circle). Other than that, the saw runs very smoothly when up to speed.
The problem I am having is what appears to be a slight "wag", flutter or harmonic only noticeable at the back of the blade as the wood exits. It is most pronounced with the blade fully raised and cutting through relatively thin stock (3/4 to 1 inch). In that case, the flutter is as much as 0.01 (ten thousandths), measured as the depth of an overcut kerf on the workpiece.
When I lower the blade and cut the same piece of wood with the blade gullet valleys right above the surface of the wood, the overcut depth is much shallower at .002 (two thousandths).
I have seen this same behavior with two brand new 50 tooth combo blades (Dewalt and Oshlun; normal kerf) as well as an old HF POS thin kerf blade that came off my old saw (the "wag" is a bit less with the thin blade). I have not yet been able to test runout directly at the arbor, but runout on the blade at 1.5 inches below the gullet valleys measures .0035
Has anyone experienced this kind of thing before? What tests could you suggest I perform to further diagnose the problem?
Any help or comments would be much appreciated.