Two questions, tables saws and adhesives
I just got a used Craftsman table saw and although I’ll eventually upgrade I’ve got to deal with using this one for now. You don’t find too many cheap used saws that work well and have a riving knife built in. This one doesn’t have a specific riving knife, but it has a blade guard that’s supported by what effectively serves as a riving knife. Problem is the blade isn’t lining up with the ‘knife’ even though all parts seem to fit together as they should. Are there spacers out there that are designed to adjust a blade left and right on the arbor? Also, my new blade, a 7″ Diablo combo is .04 thick while the saw’s knife is .08. So in addition to adding a spacer on the arbor it looks like I need to get a thicker blade. Any suggestion there?
Question (subject) number two…caulk adhesives that will stick to plastic. I use liquid nails heavy duty for a lot of my slap together projects but it doesn’t seem to stick to regular 4 mil sheet plastic that well. Can anyone suggest a caulk tube adhesive that sticks to both sheet plastic and wood well?
Replies
Add the model number of the saw to your post. Our answers will more accurate.
I am betting that the guard / splitter assembly is either installed wrong or missing something. You can look for "blade stabilizers",
designed to sandwich a sawblade to reduce vibration but would serve as your spacers.
For the caulk tube glue I'd look into the Locktite PL line. They make a glue for installing tubs and shower panels.
Blade stabilizers are way too thick to serve that purpose and generally only are meant to go on the outside.
Is it a 10" saw? 7" blades are much thinner than even a thin kerf 10"
Exactly. Check the blade thickness compared to splitter/blade. Should be a no brainer but it took much longer than it should’ve for me to realize this.
We definitely need more info on the saw. Are you sure it is a 7" tablesaw? That is very unusual, a 10" thin kerf blade has a. 091 kerf which is about the size you need if your blade guards splitter is. 08.
If you put the proper blade on you may find the blade lines up just fine with the splitter attached to your blade guard. A blade has two thicknesses that are in play here, the plate thickness which is what abutts to the arbor and the kerf thickness which is determined by the carbide teeth. Carbide teeth are wider than the plate. Your 7" blade is made for a portable circular saw and has a very thin blade plate causing it to misalign when placed against the arbor. I suspect you have a 10" saw but if it truly is a 7" tablesaw then you should find a blade with a thicker plate. I'm not a fan of diablo blades, I know others are, but my experience has been that they use thin and weaker steel in their plates that allows way too much flexing for my tastes which affects not only accuracy but safety as well. In the event that you can't find a thicker plate 7" blade get a set of dado shims to align the blade. But keep in mind the blade needs to be centered on the splitter otherwise a board will catch on the splitter as you try to rip it stopping the cut and possibly causing a kickback.
I'm going to take a guess here and say you have limited experience with a tablesaw so I would recommend you peruse the archives here regarding tablesaw setup and operation safety. A tablesaw is a mainstay in most shops but also is one of the more dangerous tools in the hands of an inexperienced or careless user. So please heed my 40 years of professional experience and learn how to use it safely. If you live near a Woodcraft store they have classes designed to introduce you to woodworking in a safe manner that may be worth investing in.
OP, just to reinforce previous comments, a terminology correction that may help in discussion: a riving knife moves up and down and stays close to the blade. They were pretty rare on US-market saws until recently. A splitter stays in place while blade goes up or down. The terms are often getting used interchangeably, but usually riving knives have more adjustment, pertinent to your question. Someone correct me if I am misstating this.
Dado shims might not be so good here, they are often plastic and meant to be used between solid blade plates. Having an arbor washer tightened against a shim that could distort may be a bad idea.
I believe the problem lies in the blade, but you are correct regarding plastic dado shims, but there are many metal ones available, mine are are brass and stainless steel that would work fine.
Lots of good answers thanks! This is a 10" table saw Craftsman number 137.218250. I read the idea of using a smaller blade on your saw and it'll improve cutting performance...less wobble and more power for underpowered saws.
Thanks for the PL adhesive advice. I've had liquid nails fuze it suggested but the PL line seems to be less expensive. I'll keep those in mind.
Thinner blades take less power than thicker -- they are removing less wood. But I'd just stick with a 10 inch thin kerf blade. It might be that it fixes your splitter issue too.
That was probably referring to what is known as thin kerf blades not necessarily smaller diameter blades. While you certainly can put a smaller diameter blade on you do need to take several things into account, plate thickness being one of them, saw kerf width being another and possibly even maximum rpms. Since your splitter seems to be sized for thin kerf blades your saw seems to have been designed with them in mind. You can use full kerf blades(⅛") but your splitter would not be as effective at keeping wood from pinching the blade increasing the likelihood of burning and kickback. My suggestion is to stick with thin kerf blades. Modern saws with riving knives offer them in multiple interchangeable thicknesses to allow for use of various kerf blades but older designs like yours with splitters don't have that option.
I will once again refer you to the archives here for many KNOWLEDGEABLE (beware the internet) on how to set up and use a tablesaw safely.
Esch5995, I believe you have the relationship between speed and the center axis backwards. RPMs stay the same regardless of where you measure it, one revolution of the blade is always one revolution of the blade. However the tooth speed increases as it gets farther away from the center axis because it has to cover a greater distance in the same amount of time that it takes to complete one revolution. I'm sure there is a more eloquent way of explaining it. But the teeth will be moving faster on a 10" blade than a 7" blade.
Upon further reflection you are correct. My analysis was based on the fact that a smaller arbor pulley for any given drive pulley will increase the rpm of of the shaft, but that does not apply to this scenario as you said the rpm is really constant and it's really rim speed that changes and will decrease with smaller diameters.
Thanks again for your input esch5995. I have fair experience but not much formal training with table saws. I'll check out the archives like you suggested.
I had a Craftsman 10” contractor style TS for a while, but I don’t recall my model no. I’d say there’s a fair chance of finding a copy of the saw manual on the web. Your description of the guard is familiar tho. Sounds like a splitter incorporated into the guard, especially if it has kickback pawls on the splitter. If the whole guard tilts with the blade, then you’ll find it difficult today to find anything (a replacement guard or a splitter, either one) to replace it. I used my Craftsman for years and never ran into a problem with the saw being underpowered, even SLOWLY ripping shorter sticks of hard maple with a Craftsman rip blade. And, I ran a 3/4” wide dado blade on it occasionally.
As for your adhesive question, I can’t be of any help.
I too suspect you’ll find a 10” blade will solve many of your concerns. IIRC, I used a thin kerf ripping blade on that saw and the splitter was fine with it. The above comments are right on point, the splitter thickness needs to be no wider than the kerf of the blade. If yours has the pawls, they provide similar, but perhaps not as good, kickback protection you’d find with a diving knife. I doubt you’ll find a diving knife set up that’ll safely work for you, but I’ve been wrong a million times.
Best regards
Curmudgeon you're right on about the saw model. It's got kickback pawls and the guard tilts with the blade. I think it's got 2.7 horsepower and seems to be powering through the cuts I've made so far.
Thanks for the advice.
Craftsman tools were famous for their HP ratings being super high. They would use the peak HP measured when stopping a motor from spinning. A 110 saw with almost 3HP is magical.
You mean, my shop vac with 6HP is a liar?
You bought the small one?
I don't care for ostentatious displays of horsepower.
Well, I guess I shouldn't be surprised. Good to know.
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