I have noticed that my Jet cabinet saw is not giving me a smooth cut as before. Now, whether I am ripping or cross-cutting, I can see saw marks all the way along the cut (the saw marks look like they are circular, probably same radius as the blade).
I have checked that the fence is parallel to the blade with a dial indicator. The blade is a Forrest WWII and is sharp and recently cleaned. The only thing that might be an issue is if I turned on the saw momentarily and (very carefully) place the dial indicator on the body of the blade away from the teeth, I can see that there is quite a bit of play as the needle jumps around quite a bit.
Any idea what the problem is? Old belt? Bent Arbor? Thanks for your input in advance.
Replies
The proper sequence to align your saw is to first align the blade parallel to the miter slot and then adjust the fence parallel to the miter slot. You don't align your fence to the blade.
Try that sequence and see if the marks are minimized.
Howie,
That's actually what I have done. Any other ideas?
Planesmooth
Check belt tension and for shmutz between the blade and the arbor washers
"...and for shmutz between the blade and the arbor washers." Or any roughness on the arbor washer that keeps it from being flat.
If nothing pans out, try a different blade. I'm not sure a momentary powering up of the saw is a very useful test -- many saws will vibrate some at start-up and wind-down, and run smooth inbetween.
forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
If you haven't done so before put the dial indicator on side of the blade and check to see how much run-out you have. Rotate it by hand 360 degrees. It may be a bent blade or it's not seated correctly. If your WWII is the thin kerf design it may need one of their stabilizing/vibration dampener disc's. I'ed also throw a wrench on everything to made sure all is tight.
RGJ
Edited 3/11/2007 3:54 am ET by RGJ
Edited 3/11/2007 3:55 am ET by RGJ
I had a similar problem and after a close inspection of the blade , I found one tooth was bent slightly due to a previous kick back while cutting a sheet of plywood. It was a good blade (Freud) and it surprised me to see it bent. The thin kerf blades have their advantages and disadvantages.
Screename56
Thanks! That's exactly the reason. 2 of the teeth are bent. I guess I will call Forrest to see if they can fix it.
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