SIP cast iron table saw question

[Anonymous]

howdy folks

are there any owners of the above saw that has experienced that the blade shifts slightly to the left when it is lowered. see photos of top position and blade lowered a few milimeters - - or maybe tablesaws just do that ?
top position:
http://www.holger.co.uk/wwing/dscn4593.jpg
lowered:http://www.holger.co.uk/wwing/dscn4594.jpg


cheers
lars

 

[Noel]

Lars,

To answer your last question first - no, this should not happen.
Assuming your square is square (a decent engineers square would be better) the problem could be caused by sawdust or resin buildup on the 90 degree stops. Give the internals a good gunging out and reset the stops. Rotate the blade and check square at each 90 degree point on the blade and try and see if blade is true. Hard to know what else to try not being familiar with this saw. Is it direct or belt driven? Are the trunions mounted to the table or the cabinet?
If possible buy or borrow a newish blade (Freud / Trend) and with a decent square perform your checks again.

Rgds

Noel

 

[llangatwgnedd]

lars is the square up against a tooth?

 

[ProShop]

I

 

[Anonymous]

thanks for the quick answers. I think I have to try to explain it better.

Everything squares up allright. There is no play in the arbor , but what happens is this:

Start with the blade in top position.

Lower the blade just a little bit, and the blade and splitter "slides" to the left as you can see from the 2'nd photograph and then go lower. The blade is still square to the tabletop.

Now raise the blade just a little bit and it moves/slides/shifts back to the right again and then moves up.

Is it perhaps play in the "worm gear" ? , I assume most table saws follow the same generic construction.

The trunions are mounted to the table not the cabinet

cheers
lars

 

[Noel]

Lars,

Think things are a little clearer from your 2nd post. Assuming that the saw is belt driven(?) check the arbour mounting assembly. This is the cradle that holds the arbour, bearings and pulley drive along with the gear racks for height and bevel adjustment. Normally the cradle is attached to the front and rear trunions. I can only assume that the movement you describe can be attributed to a loose trunion bolt, arbour cradle mounting bolt or something similar. There's backlash in the gearing of most saws but this shouldn't cause the shift in plane that you've got. As mentioned before a good blow out with an airline and scrubbing with a toothbrush and a good lube with a dry spray/grease on all the under table assemblys will do no harm as well.
Also, if possible, have a look under the table whilst adjusting the blade to see if any unwanted movement is visable.

Rgds

Noel