Kity 419 setup/fettling- Advice please!

[SpoonsbySven]

Hi Folks,
Recently bought a second hand Kity419 table saw, and have a few questions. I've spent a fair bit of time today Googling, and searching this forum, but haven't managed so far to find definitive answers to the following questions. Any contributions gratefully received.

1. Blade tilt adjustment.
I saw a few comments before buying warning of a slightly Mickey Mouse tilt adjustment mechanism, but they only made sense once I got the saw home and had a proper look (duh, I know, but there was a lot to look at...). Mine is mashed, and I'm reluctant to replace with another (expensive and equally rubbish) plastic one. I've seen reference to a brass replacement and also found Mr Ed's thread where 9fingers and Andy Pullen came to the conclusion that a 12 tooth, 28mm dia, 2 Module gear (like Part G2-12 from http://www.hpcgears.com/pdf_c33/23.50-23.55.pdf HPC gears) would do the trick.
a. Has anyone actually done a modification like this? If so, I would be really grateful for pictures/tips, particularly on how to join the gear to the rest of the handle!
b. There are a few mentions of a brass toothed replacement. Stuartpaul said that NMA have produced one (for roughly £65??!). Has anyone successfully obtained one? I will try contacting NMA direct by phone or pm-ing the chap on here.
c. Somewhere on this site, I found a thread by someone who had recently sold a 419 (and therefore didn't have any pictures) who had discarded the silly plastic gear and used some threaded rod and welded on brackets to make something like the Axminster TS200's tilt adjustment. I found it a bit hard to follow, and now can't find it again. Has anyone tried something similar?

2. Fence lock
The fence locking screw on mine has marked the fence rail quite badly, and I have some concerns that it might eventually affect accuracy. The central bolt has pushed through the end piece (looks a bit like the end of a G-clamp screw), and is marking the ali fence rail.

My first thought is to fix a thin strip of metal between the end of the bolt and the fence to protect the fence, or possibly just fill the middle of the hole with epoxy so that there's something between the bolt end and fence rail.
Does this sound familiar to anyone, and any thoughts as to how to deal with it?

3. Hole for zero clearance insert
I'd like to make a Zero Clearance Insert. The opening isn't exactly rectangular, and it occurs to me that it would be easier to file the Ali table rectangular than faff with making all future inserts an odd shape. The other advantage would be that this would leave more material directly in front of the blade (joining the left and right "halves" together), making it stronger.
Any tips from anyone who's made a 0CI for a 419?

Thanks to Bean, sawdust-jonny and knappers and others for excellent coverage of dust extraction!

Thanks all. Have been enjoying the informative banter on the site immensely, and hope to be able to contribute something useful myself at some point!
Sven

 

[clueless]

for the zero clearance insert I would do the following

Make a router jig

start by laying paper over the insert and with a protractor trace around your insert with the bushing size copied on the protractor.

so now you have your template in paper or lay the insert upside down so it's flat on some MDF jig material and draw around it with the protractor job done.

 

[SpoonsbySven]

Thanks Clueless.

I should have been clearer in my first post. I'm Ok (in theory at the moment anyway :? ) with the process of making a 0CI, but was wondering what other Kity 419 owners thought of the non-rectangular hole issue. A picture probably would have helped:

The funny "extra bits" in the two corners of the rectangular hole mean that there's hardly any material holding one side of the 0CI to the other, and on the thin side, it's not supported. JakeS and Ateallthepies discussed this issue (which the 419 shares with the Axmister TS200 in detail in this excellent post: dressing-up-my-ts-200-zero-clearance-insert-t58023.html.

It looks to me like the underside of the 419 is a bit different from the TS200, and it looks like supporting the insert on the 419 a la Jake S or Allthepies is will cause problems with fouling on the blade guard.

Anyway, if I understood Steve Maskery correctly in the above post, he reckoned an aluminium insert should be OK without support, provided it was screwed down.

I thought I'd ask about the rectangular bits in the corners in case an experienced owner reacted with horror to my suggestion of filing away some crucial bits... After some more thought and lots of looking, I don't think they are essential, so I've ordered some 4mm ali plate, and when it arrives will file them away, and make a new "properly rectangular" insert.

Cheers again for the response.
S

PS I'm not sure whether "Buying advice and tool reviews" was the best place to post this originally. Maybe just "General Woodworking" would have been better. If anyone thinks I should move it there, let me know and I'll try and work out how to do that!

 

[MickCheese]

I have the same saw. I found the 0CI is a little thin at one end where the blade almost cuts it fully in half. But other than that I just use thinish ply and once it gets a bit tatty I just make another.

Steve Maskery has a good video for setting up the Kity.

Mick

 

[SpoonsbySven]

Thanks Mick.
Good to know that ali isn't the only feasible option. Does your saw have the wee "extra bits" in the two corners?

Steve's DVD ordered today!

Off to the workshop for some more head scratching!
S

PS just discovered how the "thanks" button works. Apologies to Marcros and Clueless for not thanking them for useful responses to my previous posts, I was ignorant, not ungrateful!

 

[MickCheese]

Sven

It's a good saw. Mine does have the extra bits so I just cut small reliefs so I don't have to use really thin material.

I try to wait as long as possible before raising the blade to its full height so it doesn't cut the full length slot but sooner or later you need that full depth of cut.

The rise and fall is a real pain as is the tilt (the blade mechanism just falls away under its own weight), a bit of a shock first time.

But once set up the sliding carriage is very accurate, although I do have to check it if I move the aluminium rail that the carriage slids on.

On my todo list is a new blade guard, the yellow plastic one is a pain, I have to lift it up as to wood approaches otherwise the leading edge just bumps into it and won't move it up out of the way. And, a reduced height riving knife so I don't have to remove it to do dado cuts.

Overall, for a small shop and a small saw I'm very pleased. Accurate and reasonably quiet.

Mick