I just got to my FWW # 165, and on p. 26 there’s a review of the Bridgewood BW-10LTS left tilt cabinet saw. One sentence of the article has me confused: “[the] miter-gauge slots were parallel to the blade but out of true by about 0.008 from the front to the back of the top, although this was easily corrected by adjusting the miter gauge”
Eh? I’m familiar with the use and tuning of table saws, but I can’t for the life of me figure out what this means. If the miter slots are parallel to the blade (and hence to each other), how can they be out of true? Out of true to what? And how can a miter slot misalignment be corrected by adjusting the miter gauge?
I missing something obvious, or is this an error in the article?
Kent
Replies
Ah, the lonely sound of replying to my own post.... Upon further reflection (and another cup of coffee), I think that author must mean that the miter slots are 0.008 out of square with the edge of the table.
Still not clear what this has to do with the miter gauge, except that some woodworkers use the edge of the table as a reference to set the gauge to 90 degrees. I suspect the article lost some context in editing that would have made everything crystal.
Kent
Sorry, I saw the post this morning, but I just got the FWW yesterday an wanted to read the article before I made a decision to post. That is done an I am not perfectly clear as to what the author was refering also.
My interpretation of the miter slot being parallel to the blade is this. Parallel is parallel, but the miter slot has two sides. The one closest to the blade could be parallel, but the far side could be angled out .008 in front or rear. This would cause slight slop in the miter-guage bar. Most miter bars have an adjustment on the end that will take out play.
This is only my guess. Perhaps you should e-mail FWW an ask them to explain or was it just a proof-read flaw? I would like to know. I have no intentions of buying the saw, but I would like to know.. ha..ha..
Have a good evening...
sarge..jt
Kent,
It baffled me too.
Actually, the review seemed to lack objectivity. The reviewer was impressed by features that I believe are standard on all decent cabinet saws.
My Grizzly 1023 has one half-dollar sized dished spot on the table where you can see light but the gap is less than .002, my smallest feeler gauge. Every thing else is dead flat and aligned. A nickle will stand on edge while it is running. Both height and tilt mechanisms work smoothly. And, the equivalent Grizzly model cost over $400 less, delivered. True, it does not come with a cheap blade.
Maybe the reviewer needed a better saw to compare the Bridgewood to than his own.
John
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