Hi all,
I had a question for other fellow SawStop Job Site Pro owners. I fully understand this is not a high-end cabinet saw but was wondering about other’s experience with fence accuracy and manufacturing tolerances.
The white side plates on both sides of my fence are cupped with a dip in the middle that is 0.007″, Enough you can see light through it. I spoke to Sawstop and they said the tolerance of the side plates is 0.010″. Also, my fence is not square to the table surface and unlike the high-end SawStop fences does not have a squareness adjustment. I’ve measured the flatness of the tabletop extended and retracted and it’s well within tolerance. I’ve measured no more than 0.009-0.010″ (their tolerance is 0.035″). However, the fence is out of square by 0.021″ to the table but is also being exaggerated by the cup. When I am ripping 3/4″ material against the fence there is a very visible gap at the top of the wood where it should meet the fence.
Does this sound similar to everyone else or is mine just at the very edge of manufacturing tolerances? Would love to get a much bigger saw, sadly I don’t have the space.
Replies
I have a SawStop CNS that is wonky in places, even outside of their tolerance but I got a great deal on it used. I haven't noticed any impact on my work since a handplane touches almost every surface of my fine work, and everything else gets screws.
As for your saw, since it's within their manufacturing tolerances, I'm not sure if there's anything you can do other than modify it yourself or return. As for modifications, you could possibly bolt/clamp a good piece of HDPE (or even quartersawn oak) to the fence to get that surface you're looking for.
Thanks @DustinDawind. I was considering clamping on something to the fence as you suggested, but SS got back to me today and is going to send a replacement.
SawStop replaced my fence because the white plastic you refer to was not properly glued to the fence at both ends and no pressure could have it stick properly. They were swift in replacing it, matter of a few days. Other than that I am perfectly happy with the precision of the saw. I build mostly music boxes.
Not an owner, but that is probably not enough to cause significant error.
7 thou is less than 1/5 mm - effectively invisible on finished work.
I suspect that the issue is the plastic - it's a fairly mobile substance and has a significant thermal expansion problem.
You are, like me, clearly obsessed with precision though and you will never be happy with the bespoke fence so I suggest one of two sensible options:
1. Drill through it and bolt on a piece of 18MM MDF. You can ensure this is shimmed to perfection.
2. Get a local engineering shop to machine you a nice aluminium fence with adjustments. It will not take them very long so should be fairly inexpensive. I have twice recently thought to DIY a solution to an engineering issue and found it so cheap to get an expert to do it really well that it was not worth the effort to have a job half as well done by me.
I’m a novice and bought the SS JS Pro to improve safety and reduce footprint for my single garage workspace. I’m finishing up a crosscut sled but it seems hard to slide. Waxing (BB plywood) does not help much. My question is waxing the “plastic” table top on the Jobsite Pro. No one ever talks about that surface. Thx!
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