Table Saw Blade Alignment Conundrum

[Yonak Hawkins]

Recently, while ripping some boards on my left-tilt Jet cabinet saw, I had one of the (obviously unstable) boards bend and bind the blade to the point that the blade was misshapen. After extracting the wood and putting the blade back in shape, I found the blade had somehow jumped about 5/32" to the left, causing some of my inserts, which now do not line up, to be unusable.

The alignment of the blade with the mitre slots and the fence is still good. The bearings and the arbor seem firm and there are no unusual noises or vibration. Cuts are clean.

I don't know if it's associated or not but, I did recently put on a new arbor and new bearings which involved removing the top (which is how I know the blade was aligned with the slots to start with), so I thought that, maybe, the top moved but top is held by eight bolts to the cabinet, and the extension, which would also have had to move, is held by six more.

Has anyone ever had this happen and, what could be the cause and how do I fix it ?

[Mel Fulks]

Have you checked to see if the saw (blade) has warped from that mis hap? It's pretty common, a friend who was a sharpener used to check every blade on a surface plate and with a few taps flatten them out. Many times owner had not even noticed the warp before it was fixed. He used a 3 minute egg timer on each attempt .If he fixed it in that time he made no extra charge . More than 3 and he had a standard charge....so that tells me he was able to fix some that were pretty bad.

[Yonak Hawkins]

Thanks, Mel. The blade's in good shape. It doesn't wobble. It snapped straight after the mishap.

[Lee Schierer]

It's possible that your bearings were not fully seated during your rebuild. The force of the binding pushed them into place. This would keep the alignment perfect while creating the offset.

[Yonak Hawkins]

Thanks, Lee. That seems like the most probable theory so far, barring any other logical explanation.

After thinking it over, however, it seems it must have been seated properly at the start as the blade lined up with my inserts.

[Lee Schierer]

I did recently put on a new arbor and new bearings which involved removing the top (which is how I know the blade was aligned with the slots to start with), so I thought that, maybe, the top moved but top is held by eight bolts to the cabinet, and the extension, which would also have had to move, is held by six more.

After thinking it over, however, it seems it must have been seated properly at the start as the blade lined up with my inserts.

When you put the top back on the saw, how id you align the inserts to the blade? If you aligned the top to the blade using the inserts, then the new arbor bearing setup could have been off and you made it fit the table. When the pressure was put on the arbor, the arbor moved and the table stayed where you put it when you reassembled the saw.

[Yonak Hawkins]

Very good point.

[Bob Wingard]

Some arbors have a machined inner washer ... some are pressed on. If yours is pressed, it might have shifted.

[Yonak Hawkins]

If you guys are correct, and I think so (either the arbor moved in the bearings or the bearings moved in the housing), my choices are : 1. re-do the arbor mounting, 2. Take the table off and re-align it, or 3. Buy new inserts .. hmmm . . .

[Lee Schierer]

If you guys are correct, and I think so (either the arbor moved in the bearings or the bearings moved in the housing), my choices are : 1. re-do the arbor mounting, 2. Take the table off and re-align it, or 3. Buy new inserts .. hmmm . . .

If you compared the new parts with the old parts you replaced and they were dimensionally the same and you had no left over parts when you completed the job, then I would say just realign the table and go cut some wood.