Thread: My first Table Saw and a few questions

Congratulations on what sounds like a great buy.

I do not have much expertise, nor experience compared to many on this Forum, but having recently set up my second hand saw will offer the following comments:

- I would try a piece of timber on the fence and give it a go. It will be cheap to do and protect the blade in case you get too close to the fence in the future. The biggest downside is that it will have much more friction than the Aluminium, so this may be an issue. Melamine or Laminex may overcome this.

- I used rulers and squares to set up and think it is good enough, given many other inaccuracies in the process. I did later purchase the Carbatec Angle Indicator when on special, more for various angle cuts rather than 90deg, and consider this a good investment.

- A good blade is important. You will get lots of good advice here on which is best. I would just suggest a good quality brand and not a cheapie that probably came with the saw. If you are not careful you can spend more on blades and accessories than the original purchase! I purchased some German made EDN blades which are probably not common, but an importer who supplies cabinet makers was having a clearout and I got an 80 tooth for Melamine for $85 and a 48 tooth for General use for $80, which I thought was OK. I also have a 24 tooth thin kerf for ripping and I have the 40 tooth cheapie that came with the saw that I use for any dodgy wood that may have nails or other hazards.

A good 60 tooth is probably a good way to go and should do what you need, and may save changing blades unnecessarily. Freud certainly have a good name, but may depend on what deals you can get. I was in Carbatec yesterday and they had some Flai Mustang out quite cheap, although I can't see them in the current catalogue so may be just old stock in Adelaide.

Good Hunting

Bauldy

A wood or melamine face on the fence will be fine. If the first guy had used one then the fence itself would be pristine.
The setup can be done with rulers and squares. Do a google search on table saw setup. There is plenty good info on how to do it with basic equipment. That carbatec article is OK but it wont hurt to read a few mote. As for blades I will leave that to the better informed to discuss brands. I get by with a 24 tooth rip and a 60 tooth general purpose blade for wood and sheet material.
Regards
John

One thing I should have added about blades. The tooth count is one factor, but the tooth type, hook angle and kerf all significantly alter performance and vary for product you are cutting.

Like orraloon just said, there is lots of info out there and while you won't necessarily get a single simple answer, you will be better informed for it.

Regards

Bauldy

The gash on the fence can be fixed with metal impregnated auto bog. If you need strength a metal filled epoxy like Devcon will do the trick.
Both will sand super smooth so friction will be low and if you take too much off you can add more later.

A good square is all you need to set the angle.
Do you know how to test a square to see if it is accurate?

If you want a really clean cut then blades with what is called a triple chip tooth setting have worked well for me.

If you have a digital calliper you can make a holder in 30 mins that will set up the blade and fence very accurately.

As I don't have a dial gauge I put together this jig which uses a digital caliper. This has probably been covered somewhere on the forum but I found it an easy way to set up the blade and the fence relative to the mitre slot.

https://www.woodworkforums.com/showth...27#post1702827

Thanks for all the info.

I need to get a decent combination square still, but you draw a line and then flip it over and draw another line next to it hey? and they should be parallel?

I never thought of Devcon for the fence, I have some here so will try that first.

Now just to read up about blades and decide what to get.

Originally Posted by alex_m_84

Thanks for all the info.

I need to get a decent combination square still, but you draw a line and then flip it over and draw another line next to it hey? and they should be parallel? .

Yep that's the method.

Holding the square accurately against a drawn line can be tricky/
The edges of a new piece of MDF should be pretty straight.
Holding the square up against the MDF edge should provide an easier reference line.

I have a 90 tooth (300mm dia) crosscut blade on my saw. It is the blade that came with it and has no brand stenciled on it so I would say not high quality. It cuts MDF like a dream.
I also have a Leuco triple chip, quality European 96 tooth blade and in MDF there is no discernible difference between the two in the cut surface they produce.
So if you mainly want it for MDF, a mid to high tooth count and reasonable quality blade should do the trick from my limited experience.

Originally Posted by BobL

Yep that's the method.

Holding the square accurately against a drawn line can be tricky/
The edges of a new piece of MDF should be pretty straight.
Holding the square up against the MDF edge should provide an easier reference line.

Cool, i am going to pickup one of these http://www.bunnings.com.au/empire-30...quare_p5667099
They seem to get a reasonable amount of good reviews that they are/stay accurate.

Cheers

Originally Posted by Treecycle

I have a 90 tooth (300mm dia) crosscut blade on my saw. It is the blade that came with it and has no brand stenciled on it so I would say not high quality. It cuts MDF like a dream.
I also have a Leuco triple chip, quality European 96 tooth blade and in MDF there is no discernible difference between the two in the cut surface they produce.
So if you mainly want it for MDF, a mid to high tooth count and reasonable quality blade should do the trick from my limited experience.

I've heard a few people say this, I suppose because MDF has no grain maybe?

I am petty much limited to bunnings so i think either irwin or Diablo will b what i end up with. Still looking at a few places online to see what is available

Most of the aluminium sides of fences i have seen are not flat. I think youre better off removing it all together and replacing with mdf/melamine unless its definitely perfectly flat.You may still need to shim it a bit with tape to get it spot on. If youre going to the trouble of doing this use a proper engineers square. I followed this sequence with my tsc 10hb and it is perfect 9 years on with no adjustments... Good luck


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Well, since i set it all up, I used my saw for the first time yesterday/today. Very nice and quiet. So far really happy with it,

Just a question on the delta sliding attachment on my Jet saw. I have the attachment like the one here http://www.atlas-machinery.com/image...34-555C_lg.jpg

There are so many adjustments on this thing it took forever to set up. Now with the fence on it, i find i have to keep sliding the fence to the side when i rip and then back when i cross-cut. It seems to lose it's accurately slightly. I have read a few people saying they do not like these due to their inaccuracy. Just wondering what i should do. Is it better to persist with the sliding attachment, or would i get more accurate 90 degree cuts with a miter gauge/fence setup or building a crosscut sled?

My miter gauge also has some play (left and right) at the handle/rear end. Is there an easy way to get rid of this or is a better miter gauge like an incra the only way to get it play free?

Got the play out of my miter gauge with the centre punch method. Really good now.

I think i will get some aluminium extrusion to put on the miter gauge and use as a fence just to see what sort of accuracy i can get compared to the sliding table.