Thread: Adjusting blade alignment on contractor saw

Being 2nd hand and not knowing how it has been used/abused, I would start with a total strip down, check bearings and trunion for wear, also condition of adjusting threads etc. There is a good chance that a thorugh clean up and lube of moving parts may well solve your problem.

This is the same as my saw and I agree they can be a complete PITA to adjust. I did all that rwbuild has suggested and still had problems. The first big problem is the lack of accessibility of the front RHS trunnion mounting bolt. Once you've managed to get the front trunnion where you need it, to allow the necessary adjustment in the rear trunnion, it's still a trial and error effort to get the alignment right.

One thing that I found helpful was to place a mark across the rear trunnion and table mount casting after an initial adjustment. Once you've checked the alignment and determined which way the trunnion needs to move in relation to the table loosen the bolts by a minimum amount and use a clamp to pull the trunnion in the desired direction. Using the clamp allows much finer and more precise adjustment and you have the marks to see how much the movement is. My rear trunnion needed to move about 1mm to the left to get good blade alignment.

If you've done all this and there's still not enough movement available in the rear trunnion it's probably because the front trunnion is too far towards the direction you need to go so you'll need to adjust it.

Hope this all makes sense.

Would the trunnion bars being out of parallel be the problem?



Regards

Dane

So it was the bars out of alignment.

I centered and tightened up the front trunnion bracket before reinstalling the arbor assembly. I then reinstalled the rear trunnion bracket with some assistance of some clamps to force the bracket back into alignment with the bolt holes. I then stuck a bar between the two bars on the rear trunnion and twisted (towards the gap) the assembly back into alignment, using zero clearance insert to gauge movement. This released the tension off the rear bracket and bolts now line up mounting holes without any effort.

The blade has moved just under a millimetre across, but shows square to mitre slot using combination square. Also managed blade aligned to the fence, a couple of rip cuts show consistent thickness. I will pick up a a dial indicator next week to double check.

So what caused all this? Operator error. I believe I twisted the bars when I tipped the blade to 45 degrees. The motor hit the sliding table and me being a silly bugger was concentrating on my Wixey and not looking at the rest of the saw.