Fettling an Axminster TS-200 Tablesaw

[wizer]

I managed just a couple of hours out there today, pain got the better of me.

Not a complete success, but progress was made...

I started by turning the saw upsidedown. This was easier than it sounds as it was just a case of rolling it on it's side then again on it's back. Hardly any effort was needed.

It was still a bit messy under there, so I took some time to clean it up. I hope my daughter doesn't mind me using her tooth brush I know it's just going to get messy again, but it makes working on it more pleasant and doesn't hurt to clean up all the moving parts. Which are noticeably smoother running now.

I then spent quite a bit of time just looking around it trying to work out how it all goes together. It's a fairly complicated affair and I decided I wasn't going to disassemble the whole thing if I didn't need to. After Robs comments above, I knew I wanted to take the dust cowl off. The dust extraction isn't great at the moment, so it's no great loss having it off. Tho, once I'd started, I wish I hadn't! It was very fiddly. Idealy the whole thing needed to be taken apart to get it off. But I wasn't going to do that. I could just about get enough access to the first nut to get it off relatively quickly. But the 2nd bolt was almost impossible to access. In the end I just managed to get a spanner round it and could turn it less than a 1/4 turn. 30mins later...

With the dust cowl off you can see the belt and pulley from the motor. I don't think this will pose any problems, but I'm open to suggestions

Now it was time to set about the blade alignment. It is about 10thou out, angled away at the back. So I decided to move the back in, rather than the front out. I loosened the two screws at the back of the blade that go through the table in to what I thought held the motor assembly to it. However, after tapping it lightly, checking and then giving it a whack and checking it, I'm not entirely sure I'm doing it right. Basically nothing much was happening. This is the block that I was tapping

My understanding is that the black rod that hooks into the alu block is the motor assembly. The screw on the top of the table goes through the alu block and into the nut you can see in the above pic. One on either side of the hook. But when loosening those bolts, the alu block is free to rattle around. So that can't be what I should be tapping? Should I tap the motor housing itself? This didn't seem to do much either. It didn't seem to matter how loose the bolts where, the reading remained about the same. I'm wondering is the motor assembly will actually move at all without removing the other parts that connect it to the frame. Such as this part at the back:

Ideas?

On a lighter note, the replacement (bandsaw) fence arrived

 

[9fingers]

I don't think it is any good just loosening one block.

The other end has to move to allow the first one to move otherwise you are trying to bend the whole motor/blade mount assembly.

Slacken off the other one just a little and try again.

Maybe slip some small bore DC hose over that long screw to keep the dust off as much as possible?


Bob

 

[stoatyboy]

The alu block is the one to tap

agree that you need to slacken the other end a bit

mine didn't move either - hence the vaseline

I can only assume it's considerably cheaper to build them with the motor fixed to the top this way than fixed elsewhere enabling the top to be easily tapped to square. I assume the case would need to be well strong instead of pressed steel bits and pieces

 

[woodbloke]

Tom - I thought about that hood (from Ax) but it won't fit. I made my hopper from some oddsn'sods of mdf that were knocking around and just screwed it together and then bolted it to the underside of the saw

It's also important to try and block up as much of the holes as you can. I've used some hardboard stuck in place with blobs of hot melt glue, so it's easy to remove if required - Rob

 

[jimi43]

The alu block is the one to tap

agree that you need to slacken the other end a bit

mine didn't move either - hence the vaseline

I can only assume it's considerably cheaper to build them with the motor fixed to the top this way than fixed elsewhere enabling the top to be easily tapped to square. I assume the case would need to be well strong instead of pressed steel bits and pieces

Agreed. They are definitely the mounting blocks there Tom. They look like they are slotted so that they move laterally with the bolt loose.

Maybe they do need cleaning and lubricating.

I thought the Scheppach design was bad...I don't think that so much now!


Jim

 

[woodsworth]

I don't want to be a table saw snob but I can't see this table saw being worth the effort. Are you just doing this for the experience or do you like this table saw that much? It only has an 1100 watt motor and looks worse then some of the portable work site machines.

Even if you get it working perfect which i doubt will be possible how long do you expect this machine to last? At a retail price of £355 I doubt any of the parts in it are built to last much more then several years.

All that aside i think what you are doing is great experience getting to know your machine and getting the most out of it. It just seems to be wasted on a boat anchor.

 

[wizer]

Thanks Guys, I will try again tomorrow with both end loosened.

Bob, god idea about protecting the lateral adjusting screw. I'll have to think about that.

Rob, thanks for that pic, it helps a lot. I realised earlier that the Axi extraction hood was too big, so I'll have to do as you did.

Woodsworth, I explained why I am doing this in the first post. You are right, this is a cheap machine. But there is nothing else on the market at this physical size that is any better made. I'm not spending much money in this operation, so if it ends up being a lemon, then all I've lost is my time. I bought it second hand, so I'm not out of pocket to the full price anyway. It would be nice if we had access to a good quality compact table saw in this country, but we don't.

 

[jimi43]

Even at £355 I would expect to be able to cut wood in a straight line!

Let us know how you get on Tom...I think you are nearly there!

Cheers mate

Jim

 

[wizer]

yeh me too, but as I bought it second hand I have no way of complaining to Axminster. All I can do it make the effort to fettle it to work the best it can. If there was another saw of similar dimensions that I knew was good quality, I'd spend double that. Price is not really the issue here, space is. The fence is probably serviceable and acceptable to most, I just find it irritating. So I'm going to try the Axminster upgrade bandsaw fence. It looks like it will solve the problem. Dust extraction on most machines could be better, so it's not unusual for an owner to make some upgrades in that dept.

 

[OPJ]

I'm intrigued to hear how you get on with the new fence. I'm sure someone else bought one recently for their bandsaw?

If you don't fancy Rob's suggestion of making your own hood (and, the Axminster one is too small), you could fix a sheet of thin ply to the the underside of the saw first and then bolt the hood on to that. :wink:

Your idea looks good, though. I think it's the same as what Ben to his Record Power saw, in that article I told you about... :roll:

 

[big soft moose]

Even at £355 I would expect to be able to cut wood in a straight line!

Let us know how you get on Tom...I think you are nearly there!

Cheers mate

Jim

ours cut straight lines out of the box - well to all practical purposes anyway - when i checked alignment after seeing this thread it looked to be about 4thou out which is nutthin in real terms.

regarding dust extraction I dont have a problem with the below table extraction as is - but the above table extraction via the crown guard is pitiful - when we move 'shops i'm going to bin it and make a suva style guard as per W.E.3 and run a decent bore of dust extraction off that

 

[Digit]

above table extraction via the crown guard is pitiful

Same with the SIP unfortunately, but cleaning underneath is easy, you'd think that manufacturers would make easy sub table access a design feature.
The idea of turning my SIP over to clean the threads and motor doesn't bear thinking about.

Roy.

 

[Green]

I too have removed the cowl, blocked the holes, added a new fence and moved the extraction to the underneath. Couldnt be pineappled with finding out how to align the blade though so I will be following this thread with interest.

I'll be back on tomorrow to see if you have solved it

 

[wizer]

don't hold your breath

Did you do anything like Rob to help channel the dust into the pipe? Or just connect the pipe to the bottom panel? I'm thinking that a 'hopper' below the saw is a good idea but eats a lot of space.

 

[Green]

I used a shallow plastic hopper thing that I got with the Axi 100mm extraction kit. It isn't great and could do with being steeper as there is a bit of a build up round the edges.

 

[jimi43]

...........I'm thinking that a 'hopper' below the saw is a good idea but eats a lot of space.

Now you will have to find somewhere else to keep yer pigeons Tom!



Jim

 

[Mr Ed]

Heres the hopper I made for my kity 419. Basically nicked Robs design, but used an Axminster plastic outlet for the bottom

Ed

 

[wizer]

Thanks Ed. That looks good. I found Bean's old thread from years ago where he had something fabricated:

https://www.ukworkshop.co.uk/forums/help ... t8520.html

I can't work out whether that's a better way to do it. I'm not sure it is.

 

[Harlequin]

watching this one with interest

BTW is there a riving knife with this one and are you going to shorten it as described in a recent thread?
Any safety issues with doing this mod? can't see any negatives myself

 

[newt]

If there was another saw of similar dimensions that I knew was good quality, I'd spend double that. .

Tom Electra Beckum pk200