Sawstop Table alignment

[David Haywood]

I have an Industrial Sawstop. I noticed that a broad I cut to a specific square size did not measure square cover to corner. I checked the saw for blade alignment and found it to be out .009. I went through the alignment process outlined in the manual and for some reason the best I can adjust it to is .004. Any ideas and what I can look for? I have tested with 5 different blades and all showed about the same.

[jack duren]

Did you contact SawStop? What is acceptable?

[David Haywood]

Did you contact SawStop? What is acceptable?

Owners manual says .002. I have not talked to sawstop yet. Called and left a message but have not heard back.

[jack duren]

I would talk to them or someone with actual experience here...

Too much guessing....

[glenn bradley]

I don't know if the ICS is adjusted the same as the PCS but, the table adjustment should be able to take you from positive to negative and back. In other words, past zero. This means that zero (within the tolerance of your measurement tools) is theoretically achievable. It is common in my experience (meaning the machines I have aligned) to shift a thou during the final tightening of things. I take a systematic approach to what I tighten and in what order and can generally get things to within .001". This may mean that I have to be systematic a few times in a row and will notice the setting slip from my target by a negative .003" each time I tighten down. I just set my starting point to a positive .003" and I end up close enough to satisfy myself . . . and I am a .001" kinda guy .

[Mike Heidrick]

Cutting wood right? How are you measuring .004?

[David Haywood]

Measuring runout on the blade not wood.

[Ben Zara]

Most saw plates are not flat. Be careful where you measure.

[Hoang N Nguyen]

I don't know if the ICS is adjusted the same as the PCS but, the table adjustment should be able to take you from positive to negative and back. In other words, past zero. This means that zero (within the tolerance of your measurement tools) is theoretically achievable. It is common in my experience (meaning the machines I have aligned) to shift a thou during the final tightening of things. I take a systematic approach to what I tighten and in what order and can generally get things to within .001". This may mean that I have to be systematic a few times in a row and will notice the setting slip from my target by a negative .003" each time I tighten down. I just set my starting point to a positive .003" and I end up close enough to satisfy myself . . . and I am a .001" kinda guy .

I experienced the same thing when aligning my blade to miter slot and did the exact same as Glenn. Adjust to negative and the movement during tightening will bring it to within .001" Took me a few tries to figure it out but once I did, it was a breeze to align.

[David Haywood]

Thanks Glenn, I followed your advice about tightening the table bolts. I watched the dial indicator and saw no movement. I tried the same procedure with several saw blades, one new one just out of the package, and got the same result. I even tried a different dial indicator just to be on the safe side. After all that still .004 is the best I can get.
I just got off the phone with Sawstop service department and Chris explained that I was really misreading the manual. Their runout tolerance is .010 or 10 thousandths and I'm getting mine to .004 which he says is great. Also, he said they (Sawstop service) has only been able to get one (1) of their saws in the shop to zero (0) and he contributed that to luck.
Thanks everybody for the help now back to cutting wood.

[David Haywood]

FYI, update for anyone reading this, after having so much difficulty trying to get my blade runout set properly using the miter slot to the left I checked the miter slot to right of the blade. The dial indicator reads dead zero (0) all the way across the blade. Apparently my miter slot on the left has some issues. Now that I know this I can deal with that.
Thanks again for the responses and those who were trying to help and not make snide comments.

[Keith Hankins]

Ok, first, I have an ICS, and If I understood properly you checked the blade and its out to the slot or fence?

If out to fence totally adjustable. Did you check at the flange? That is where you determine if your arbor is out. First thought is blade.

If the fence is out check your manual outlines adjustment, you can adjust top but it will be a different beast. Talk to support they great and will walk you through it. If you need.

Might I also ask the brand of your dial indicator? I was checking my spindle in my cnc for out of round was getting pretty weird results, with a no name (was easy to reach), and then tried with my Starrett, and got a completely different and more reliable reading.

Just some thoughts.