Thread: Can't get a clean cut

The first thing you need to do is check that your saw is aligned properly. If you search this forum on 'triton saw alignment' you'll find pages of info on this.

You may have some arbor float in your saw. Some amount of movement is almost unavoidable but some saws are worse than others. You may be able to get the bearing replaced if it is worn but then it may not be worth it on a cheaper saw.

Not all blades are suitable for cross-cutting. If you have a ripping blade in your saw, you will very likely get tear out when you cross cut. Generally, the more teeth, the finer the cut but slower it will cut when ripping. Very fine blades are available to minimise tearout but they will be unsuitable for ripping.

I read an article in AWR where they indicated that the number of teeth was relevant to the thickeness of the wood, evidently the rule of thumb is that you must always have at least one tooth cutting through the wood. therefore if you have a thin biut of wood the saw should have more teeth and vice versa. Is danstas issue relating to the kerf rather than alignment ?

speaking of AWR whens the next issue due ?

cheers

Your most likely problems are either arbor float in the saw or more likely it's not aligned correctly in the table. I initially fitted the same saw in my Triton table when I purchased it but I was never happy with the way it fitted. It was difficult at best to keep it square partly because it is a smaller saw. The problems you're experiencing will be attributed to the saw and/or it's blade and not the table.

Notwithstanding the above the biggest problem I found with the Ryobi 184mm saw was it's depth of cut. You can't even cut through a standard 4x2 with this saw in the table. I'm sure you will be a lot more happy with a larger 230mm saw. I upgraded to the Triton saw which spends almost all it's time in the table. I still have the Ryobi and use it for any small freehand jobs i need to do.

Danster

Welcome aboard!

My experience with the Ryobi 184 mm saw/Triton WC200 combination mirrors Tonz's. I could never get the Ryobi saw to cut vertically. It was permanently slightly out of square in that plane. I wound up buying a Triton saw and the improvement is quite dramatic. The Ryobi now gets used only for rough cutting of sheet material (and does a reasonable job).

Incidentally, you're probably asking a bit much of any saw if you expect to be able to butt joint boards directly after ripping them. Even with a more accurate, smoother saw cut you'll probably still need to tune up the adjacent edges. There's been a fair bit of debate on this BB about the best way to do this.

The choices are between various different power tools and handplanes. Search the different forums and you'll find plenty of good advice on the subject.

Col

Roll Up Roll Up!

Danster

Welcome to the triton merry go round. Enjoy the ride.

Now wait for your partner to go to sleep, take six panadol and grab the credit card, off to bunnings for a new saw, extension table and everything else they make cause you are gonna need em in the end. May as well get it over in one painful purchase.

Oh and dont forget a hammer to belt things that dont fit, a file to file stuff down, duct tape to seal the dust extractor ...............................................

good luck

Nice to have such prompt feedback.

I always thought I'd be up for another saw if I wanted to get really serious. I do get frustrated sometimes at the lack of depth I can cut on a little 184mm blade so I reckon I'll get a Triton saw.

cheers all.

Looks like a lot of people started out with the Ryobi saw. I did too in my Triton sawtable and could never get a straight cut. Huge amount of endfloat. I did not go the Triton saw route however but instead got the GMC platinum ~230mm saw. It appears to be a copy of the dewalt one with poorer build quality. After a strip down and careful assembly at works great, fits neatly to the sawtable - in fact it all but reccommends it on the box and cuts accurately. All for $99NZ at bunnings!
cheers

I too have been looking for a bigger saw for the table, including the GMC 230mm. What do you mean by stripping the thing down - I mean how far did you go with it? I have had a Skil 184mm in the table for years, but it does have its limits depth wise, while it delivers a reasonable cut it also leaves small saw marks which can be a hassle.

Hi Danster

I also got the GMC 235mm platinum saw. (back when they were $199 - sob!)I am generally very happy with it, I find I get very accurate cuts. It is a very close copy of the Dewalt, including it has adjustments for almost everything, none of which were correct out of the box. So you sit down with instruction book in hand and set up the saw correctly before attempting to fit it to the Triton. (the book explains it all)You don't have to dismantle the saw at all, but it has a range of adjustments including to ensure the saw blade is parallel in a horizontal plane to the base plate, and the base plate has an adjustable stop so when you return from a bevel cut to right angle, you just turn the saw back against the stop and the base is at a true right angle to the blade, so you need to set all these adjustments correctly and tight.
On mine the height adjustment (the curved bracket with a slot) was very stiff and notchy, GMC sent me out another bracket which was the same. I compared mine to the GMC on display at Bunnies and to the Dewalt. The Dewalt uses a special bolt with coarser thread, and a matching nut. The GMC uses an ordinary coach bolt. The standard bolt doesn't release enough with the half-turn or so available and can't be adjusted to do so. You can set it to tighten correctly, whereup on it won't release enough to adjust smoothly, or you can set it to release smoothly which means you can't tighten it up enough to stop it slipping, especially upside down in the Triton.
I ordered the equivalent parts from Dewalt which cost the huge sum of $8 and fitted them to the GMC. It adjusts beautifully now. I emailed GMC with the details and they sent a nice reply that they would investigate changing the bolt in production, but the new ones in the shops look the same to me. There seems to be a lot of variation between individual saws, too. Some adjust almost OK, others are terrible, none as good as mine with the Dewalt parts. (Just the bolt and "acorn nut".)
Before I bought mine I phoned GMC helpline and asked if it was OK to use it in a Triton workcentre. They said it was definitely OK, in fact they had a Triton workcentre at GMC and had set up their saw in one before releasing the saw to the public to make sure they were compatible.
I have found it to be reliable and unstoppable. Happy customer. I'd recommend it, especially at the new price of $99.
Chris.

Originally Posted by Danster

When I'm using my Triton 2000 wb, I just can't get a nice smooth cut. Let me elaborate.
If I'm ripping, the cut surface is uneven and may have saw marks about 0.5 mm deep. It means I can't butt two ripped pieces together to make a sound join because of small gaps.

Danster

If the saw is not at fault then try ripping the timber about 1mm oversize then put the timber through again at the correct dimension. This method usually gives a very clean cut.

If you do need a new saw then the Triton saw is so easy to set up in the WB.

Given the fact that I also found that none of the adjustments were right straight from the box, I took it entirely apart. Probably not necessary but I will give my assembly skills against GMC's any day. My biggest problem with the saw was play in the pivot point. Careful reassembly, a different pivot bolt and a few washers and all play gone. For the price I reccommend it! If you are not too handy at stripping things then open a few boxes and find one you like. The display bunnings one did not have the play mine did.

From the posts above, it looks like I'll pop into Bunnings and get myself a GMC Platinum 235mm. Rather spend $99 than $300 on the orange saw!
Hopefully my adjustments will be OK.
If I find play in the blade, what the heck is a pivot point and where/how would I fit a new pivot bolt as per fencepost?

cheers

Danster

Danster,
there are two pivot points on most circular saws which allow the blade to move from 90 degrees to the baseplate to 45 degrees. There is another pivot point near the front on most saws (not all, some slide straight up and down) which allow the body to pivot up or down so the blade can be retracted for very shallow cuts or extended for full depth cuts. Both of these adjustments are usually set and locked by a bolt and wingnut/knob/lever arrangement in a curved slot. If, as Fencepost found, there is not enough adjustment in the locking mechanism due to a too fine a thread in the locking bolt you can rectify this by changing the bolt and wingnut/knob/lever for one off a similar saw.

Mick

Or you can hunt through your toolbox for something similar. My advice as above is to have a look at the one you are buying, hold the base and try to rock the say motor from side to side. The play in mine was in the joint that lets you raise and lower the blade. The Triton saw is undoubtably the better saw but I can't justify spending NZ$450 odd dollars on a saw. Today I cut up some pine 20mm planks into 15mm x 2.4m strips on the saw table and routed a decorative edge onto them for use as skirting mouldings on my triton router table with a budget black and decker 1/4 inch router. I was installing some laminated fake wood floating floor and needed some extra "beading" to cover the expansion gap. Point is my first cut was 20mm x 20mm and it just looked wrong. I cut that extra 5mm off with the GMC saw in the triton sawtable and there was no perceivable error along the 2.4m length. There were some saw marks mainly due to my technique of not being able to feed smoothly. Nothing some sandpaper didn't take care of. You will find a lot of people on this forum who say that Triton gear can't cut straight and that you would be better off buying a purpose built table saw. I couldn't afford the work centre never mind the saw. Perhaps the work centre is different but the sawtable is easy to align and cuts perfectly straight using the scale on the fence. My little black and decker router may not be the easiest to change cutters in the table but at $NZ600 odd for the Triton router- no chance. You can produce good wood work with carefully chosen cheap gear. It just takes a little longer and may be a little louder- GMC saw!
My 2 cents for what they are worth to the tool snobs. In my opinion that extra money would be better spent on wood.