Thread: Tablesaw blade alignment on MJ-2325

Hmm. this is a real dynamic thread!

If anyone's interested: by removing the drivebelt cover and the drive belt, and by tilting the saw to 45 degrees you can just reach the front R hand bolt (as seen from the rear) from the rear opening. The other two front bolts are accessible from the left hand side of the rear opening. Once all the bolts are loose, you can jiggle the alignment, though there's not much to play with. You have to be really careful tightening them up again, because it tends to shift the alignment slightly. Trick is to tighten a bit, check, tighten a bit more, recheck, etc. Hope I don't have to do this too often. Hopefully the better alignment will mean that there's less squeezing of the workpiece between the riving knife and the fence.

I found a piece of paper butted against the blade with short cuts aligned with each side of the mitre fence was a good way of checking the distance between the front and rear of the blade and the mitre slot.

I suppose you haven't had any replies because, like me, most people knew what you were trying to achieve but without that exact saw it's not much good proposing an answer. They are all different.

For instance, my Leda TS has 4 easy to get at bolts just under eack cornr of the table. I had the same issue that you faced when needing nto bolt the table top back on after some internal work. The table has to be exact because the saw blade is fixed in one plane. The fence is fixed to the table so the only adjustment to get everything square is the table top itself.

I haven't got a lot of adjustment either but the slightest amount of movement and the cuts are out of square. It's a matter of trial and error and the way you tightened each bolt in turn is the way I did it. The riving knife on mine is multi adjustable so that can be taken care of once the top is in place. It shouldn't bind there at all.

It sounds like you're all set though. Happy cutting (wood , not fingers)

Originally Posted by Gumby

... It sounds like you're all set though. Happy cutting (wood , not fingers)

Cheers gumby. I haven't tested it yet, cos I was waiting for some poly to dry. (Wish I had a finishing shed...)

This was all prompted by pushing way too hard when ripping the raw edges off some recycled jarrah. Causes were either (1) the stock was being pinched by the (slightly: .5 mm or less) misaligned blade, (2) pitch build-up on blade (tried to clean with (a) turps, (b) spray-on BBQ cleaner -- not a real good result with either), (3) blunt saw blade (almost exactly 1 year old in a weekend hobbyists shed---how long do saw blades last?). I'll get it sorted one of these years...

BTW: how do you align your riving knife? I've tried sandwiching it between two bits of timber clamped to the sawblade, but my springy knife-mount always seems to end up a bit out, usually on the fence side, contributing to aforementioned pinching. I've found aligning by eye the best way to go. Maybe my riving knife needs some trueing-up.

BTW: like the new hair-do

Originally Posted by zenwood

BTW: like the new hair-do

Thanks, the cap is at the dry cleaners.

I lined my knife up by eye, then did a few test cuts. If I couldn't see the knife behind the blade and I couldn't feel any resistance to the timber I figure it must be fine. I did a similar thing when I got the table top in the right position. I ran some timber through and listened for any re-sawing as the timber fed out past the back of the blade. If it's not aligned properly, you'll here it being recut by that back end of the blade.

In a DVD I have, the guy recommends setting the TS table top so that the gap between the back of the blade and the fence is a poofteenth more than at the front. That makes sure there is no binding at all. In fact it's slightly the other way. I'm not too sure about that.

I'm happy that if I set my fence now at say 600mm, I get an exact 600mm width all the way along and a nice clean cut.

Originally Posted by Gumby

If it's not aligned properly, you'll here it being recut by that back end of the blade.

good tip: I'll pay more attention to the sounds next time. Usually I wear ear-muffs though...

...the gap between the back of the blade and the fence is a poofteenth more than at the front.

Makes sense: mine was a poofteenth the other way... Just depends on whether a poofteenth is more than the set of the teeth.