Flattening your unisaw wings.

[tom suica]

Umm. Are all unisaw wings this bo-jangly? I work in a machine shop we have this belt head surfacer. We also have a larger water cooled one I will use for the middle top. I seriously ground the wings for 10-15 min each and still not done. 20150902_180346.jpg20150902_180826.jpg

[Allan Speers]

Maybe they're called "wings" because they're supposed to be rounded?

If you make them too flat, you won't get any lift.

[Matt Day]

Where do you live? I could use mine done too! To answer you're question, I'd say more than a small percentage for sure.

[tom suica]

Maybe they're called "wings" because they're supposed to be rounded? Good one lolololol. Yeah im sure who had this saw just got too crazy with the cheeze whiz sanding. some of the nicest tops are .025 out of flat. Shop is in duluth ga.

[Bruce Page]

I don't think they were meant to be inspection grade surface plates. My Unisaw wings have .002 - .004 mismatch depending where you're checking. That's plenty good for furniture building.

[Jeff Duncan]

I'll hazard a guess if you took a poll "I don't know" would be the most common answer. I have no idea how flat the tops on either of my saws are, but now that I see those pics…..well I still won't bother checking. Just not an issue for me, they're flat enough to do what I need and that's good enough for me

good luck,
JeffD

[tom suica]

I wish good enough was good enough for me. I am so obsessive. It has really helped out the cylinder head business because I am very sensitive to misalignment and concentric surfaces diagnosed a bunch of bad machine parts.. Also how can I expect to set the blade to 90degrees is its not perfectly flat. I come from the world of cylnder heads I know over thinking it but I don't care. I want perfection and I can achieve it/close to.

[Bruce Page]

I wish good enough was good enough for me. I am so obsessive. It has really helped out the cylinder head business because I am very sensitive to misalignment and concentric surfaces diagnosed a bunch of bad machine parts.. Also how can I expect to set the blade to 90degrees is its not perfectly flat. I come from the world of cylnder heads I know over thinking it but I don't care. I want perfection and I can achieve it/close to.

You're probably a young guy, you'll mellow out with age. I come from an R&D machinist background and stuff like that used to bother me too.

[ian maybury]

Another from an engineering background here, but after 30 years still of the view that it always pays off to get stuff set up flat and straight. There's limits to what's possible on a woodworking machine of course determined by the construction (and with time we figure out that some adjustments are more critical than others), but i put a lot of time into my current (Hammer saw, shaper and planer thicknesser) machines and TBH it's the best thing i ever did. No fooling about - within their own limits they just cut straight and square.

Even at that especially the shaper needs care in set up and use (a knowledge of what's not 100% spot on - e.g. the slider is a hair over the table) to get consistent part dimensions.

The problem with deciding that stuff that isn't accurate is OK is that it somehow is inevitably the start of a slippery slope - just how bad do you let it and the work get before setting it up? It in the meantime somehow will always conspire to properly bite you up the bum on something that truly is critical at the most inopportune time - because it likely will behave differently in different cuts. Especially if you are not too sure what the state of the machine is.

Life for my money is hard enough without leaving the more obvious hostages to fortune lurking in the long grass….

[Cary Falk]

Are you sure somebody didn't slip you a Asian wing. I was told that old American Iron is always perfect.

[Tim McCarthy]

Tom,

I had my whole top (3 PC's) ground as a unit. The shop I patronized ground the inside edges back to 90, bolted them together with grade 8 bolts and mechanical stop nuts then ground the whole thing flat as a unit on a 2 story grinder. I wish I could have watched but the result is great. I had to get my miter gage bars taken down to match the new depth of the miter groove. Cost me under $200 back in 2005 or so. One of the better investment I've made in the shop.

Regards,

Tim

[Andrew Pitonyak]

Cool.... Wish I could do that. I mean wish I had the ability, glad I don't have to do that...

Enjoyed the pictures, I have not seen anything like that before.

[Peter Aeschliman]

Are all unisaw wings this bo-jangly?

Bo-jangly! haha, great word. Knew you must've been from someplace down south. I never hear that up here in the Northwest. haha

Are you sure somebody didn't slip you a Asian wing. I was told that old American Iron is always perfect.

(that was funny)

Tom,

I had my whole top (3 PC's) ground as a unit. The shop I patronized ground the inside edges back to 90, bolted them together with grade 8 bolts and mechanical stop nuts then ground the whole thing flat as a unit on a 2 story grinder. I wish I could have watched but the result is great. I had to get my miter gage bars taken down to match the new depth of the miter groove. Cost me under $200 back in 2005 or so. One of the better investment I've made in the shop.

Regards,

Tim

Was it a Blanchard grinder? Those machines are fascinating to me:

[Bruce Page]

Was it a Blanchard grinder? Those machines are fascinating to me:

I ran a Mattison grinder that same size as an apprentice (note the name on the guys shirt.) It had something like 16 kidney shaped stones mounted on the head. They are interesting machines and much more accurate than a head sander.

PS, note the noise level in the video. That's why most older machinist wear hearing aids..

[Chris Padilla]

Is that just good old water for a lubricant? At least I get why blanchard ground has the circular grind in it now. My Minimax J/P top is blanchard ground but it is no where as smooth as that top.