Thread: Makita Tablesaws

Originally Posted by dyeman

Just got an MLT100 and trying to get it set up. The blade is not quite parallel to the mitre gauge slots. Is there a way to adjust this (manual certainly appears to be silent on the subject.. )

To answer my own question: There are 4 screws holding the rails used to guide the raising and lowering of the motor. Placing shims under the front or rear rail where these screws attach alters the angle of the saw and hence the blade relative to the slots in the top of the table. After much fiddling with the limited selection of washers floating around the garage the alignment is still not perfect but certainly much improved.

Originally Posted by dyeman

To answer my own question: There are 4 screws holding the rails used to guide the raising and lowering of the motor. Placing shims under the front or rear rail where these screws attach alters the angle of the saw and hence the blade relative to the slots in the top of the table. After much fiddling with the limited selection of washers floating around the garage the alignment is still not perfect but certainly much improved.

Hi Dyemann,

I just got my MLT100 today and I am very please with it. I have made some cuts and the only issue I have out of the box is the blade not aligned with the slot, the exact same problem as yours.

You mentioned the 4 screws. Can you post some pics showing the location of the screws. Thanks.

P.S. I also got the Makita 2012NB planer. All I can say is wow! Love these machineries. With my Makita SP6000K plunge saw, my setup is pretty much complete.

Sorry Alex - I'm working > 1000 kms away from home at the moment and won't be home again for another 3 months, so can't get any photos...

Originally Posted by Alexchong

Hi Dyemann,

I just got my MLT100 today and I am very please with it. I have made some cuts and the only issue I have out of the box is the blade not aligned with the slot, the exact same problem as yours.

You mentioned the 4 screws. Can you post some pics showing the location of the screws. Thanks.

Hello, I have the same problem with my MLT100 and I'm interesting some pictures too.

Hi to all,
I’m new in the forum (reading it for a long time though). The time has come to get a table saw for my workshop/garage. Because of the space constraints and mainly due to the fact that the garage has to be used occasionally, I can’t afford to get a stationary saw (or anything wider than ~50cm/20in when folded or disassembled). That’s why all my tools are either hand tools or halfstationary. I’m interested in the hobby furniture making and need something that can show me what I want in the future without much frustration, and keeping most of my fingers attached to my hands. After much research I narrowed it down to two models that suit my needs, available in Europe – Metabo TS250 and the Makita MLT100. The price tag is 385£ for Metabo (comes with extra 60t and 24t Ryobi blades, without a stand) and 330£ for Makita(bare, without a stand). Initially I was leaning towards Makita because of the fancy sliding miter sled, extraction tables and “modern”/safer parallel arm that protracts just after the blade. After finding this tread, I’m not so sure . To sum it all up – on Makita, the fence is not accurate and needs additional support, the miter gauge has some wobble and the overall quality sucks. On the other hand, Metabo has the full length fence that can be repositioned (something like a telescopic action) and can provide more support when feeding the stock and the short fence advantage when working with reaction wood. It doesn’t have the sliding table. Some complain that the miter gauge fits loose in the ‘T’ slot, and the saw has less ripping height (73mm to 93mm on Makita).
Is there anything I’m missing? There are a lot of people happy with both saws, but the Makita pack howl is too loud to ignore. Maybe because Metabo saw lacks some features, there is not much to go wrong. Yesterday I learned that both are made in China (if that still matters..). Is there someone with experience with both saws? Which one would you recommend to a beginner?
p.s. excuse my bad engrish ..

Originally Posted by rob.t

well finally got my makita table saw back last friday and got straight to work on it
firstly i took a piece of aluminium and made a new table insert giving the blade just enough room to swing to its full tilt travel .
Then i thought right what can i do with this fence problem . So after much study i noticed that the slide T slot is only 1 to 1 1/2 mm thick and most of the flex in the fence was coming from there as the 2 locking screw positions are close together . What i did was drilled a hole thru the top of the handle and inserted a bolt into the T slot so as to create more distance between the fixings then used a plastic Tknob from a triton to lock it up then i took a piece of 75 x 75 x 5 mm aluminium angle machined it to suit bolted it onto the fence then made a new measurement sight .well guess what unbelievable it works . my friends 12 in industrial carbatec saw has more movement in the fence than this has . so there we have it a bit of thought sweat and brain matter and i turned #### into strawberry jam

Very clever! I wonder sometimes whether solving problems like this is not what gives us pleasure from our hobby. Perhaps the things we buy should work better, but when they do not and we use our brains to find a work around, don't we feel good! In fact if it was not a table saw causing you to scratch your head or your bum, then it would be a bit of twisted timber or a knot in the wrong place, orr a difficult joint to cut. After all if making beautiful things was easy then everybody would be doing it.

Sorry, I didnt want pictures , I just clicked on the wrong bit....