Table Saw Alignment gone awry

[Jake Grover]

This is my first post here. I created an account a while ago to see some pictures. It's a great forum and I appreciate all the stuff I've read on here.

I just picked up a Delta 34-410.
Anyway, I noticed while trying to get the fence square to my blade, that something wasn't right. So I checked the blade alignment and it was off by a decent amount. I think it was about 23/1000. Probably shifted during the move .


I ordered my PALS and waited patiently, vacuuming and scrubbing the saw table and undercarriage.


When it finally arrived, I anxiously installed the PALS according to the instruction manual (or I tried to anyway).


At some point during the install, one of my "finger tight" bolts must not have been as tight as they are supposed to be, because the rear trunnion was hanging below the table with visible space in between.


Oops, says I. Oh well, and I proceeded with adjusting the trunnions using the PALS. It took me a while (I think because I only loosened three bolts. Next time I will Loosen 3 and crack the forth just a little).


Anyway, when I got it so that the blade was 0.000 front and 0.000 back I went to put on the blade insert and it was catching the rear of the blade... So I checked with a rule... Oh shit. It's off. Like way off... In fact it is exactly 0.010" off... Oh no. I went and checked with the dial indicator, and sure enough the tiny little dial said 0 at the front and 1 at the back.


Well I pannicked and loosened and tightened the two rear bolts and the front bolt a few times, but now I cannot seem to get it back to even close to where I started.


I fully expect and deserve the obligatory ribbing for making such a stupid mistake. I honestly spent the past 3 days watching videos of alignments and I tried to make sure I had the best equipment for the job all ready to go. Sadly, if you don't know how to use fancy equipment, it doesn't give you better results. In this case it actually gave me worse results, because I know how to use a ruler, or calipers, or a stick with a screw in it...


Anyone have any suggestions?


I noticed that one of the trunnion tie rods is not sitting flush in the center of it's bolt at the rear of the saw. My next thought was to loosen that bolt and try to reseat the tie rod, so that it sits evenly with the other tie rod.


I am writing this at work (and realizing that I should have taken a bunch of pictures to post. I will take some tonight and post them here).


But based on what I have written so far, did I bend something? Should I try to adjust the trunnion tie rod? I've been watching videos of different adjustments and it seems like that's the next logical step.


I've honestly thought a few times about turning it upside down. But I'm kind of worried that would do harm than good.


Anyway thanks! And I appreciate all the wisdom on these forums.

[CPeter James]

Are you measuring against the same tooth by rotating the blade when you do the front and rear measurements? If not, that may be you problem. The say blade probably is not perfect.

[CPeter James]

I sent a PM.
Peter

[Jake Grover]

I am measuring using the woodpecker gauge and jig. Will also be checking with calipers to avoid any 10s digit confusion.

I'm measuring on a tooth that I marked with a sharpie on a new Diablo 40T combination blade.

Thanks, I will check my PMs!

[Bruce Wrenn]

Search for adjusting tie rods. You have to that first, or everything else is null and void. I have a Delta Contractor's saw that is so old that the tie rod assembly is one piece cast iron.

[Jake Grover]

Search for adjusting tie rods. You have to that first, or everything else is null and void. I have a Delta Contractor's saw that is so old that the tie rod assembly is one piece cast iron.

That's great info. Thank you! I Hope it's as simple as that. I must have messed them up moving it or screwing up my initial adjustment!

I will report back when I give it a go. Can't wait to cut a damn piece of wood on the thing!

[Jake Grover]

Not sure how to post pictures. Edit: figured it out. See 1. Left and 2. Rright pictures below. Picture of right tie rod is rotated 90 deg. Both of these pictures are of taken from the motor location.

I got it so that the back of the blade is about 10/1000 out, which seems like the maximum tolerance for most manufacturers. I'm almost sure that it's because of the trunnion tie rods. I adjusted them by clamping and tapping and moving the motor so they are close to parallel, but the front tie rod bolts do not want to budge. I will probably try again. The left trunion tie rod (from the front of the saw) is visibly off center from where it's supposed to be. Wondering if that bolt was bent or something.

I don't think I could remove/replace the tie rod without flipping the saw.

wondering if it's safe to operate as is.

thanks.

[Jake Grover]

After making a few test cuts and changing the blade, it's closer to 20/1000 out.

There was some burning on the cutoff when I ripped some plywood.

i guess I will take another crack at aligning those tie rods.

going to have to loosen the front tie rod bolts somehow, Liquid wrench I guess.

[Jake Grover]

I got some PB Blaster and loosened all of the tie rod lock nuts.

scraped a few knuckles in the process, and may have removed a bit of paint... it was worth it.

got it to 0/1000 front and rear.

i will see how it holds up after a few cuts.

After I tightened the tie rods up again it wasn't quite right, I got it close but it wasn't until I loosened the 4th trunion bolt that it all fell into place.

the problem I was running into is that I was trying to use the PALS to make adjustments to the rear trunion, but since the front and rear trunnions were not in alignment, I could not compensate adequately using only the PALS.

A tip for anyone trying to align trunnion tie rods. Go buy an 8x10" piece of glass and lay it on your tie rods.
Mine was like $1.25 at the borg.

it makes it much easier to adjust everything when you can see.

Just don't forget to remove the glass!