Nick's New Table Saw Alignment Video

[algale]

Terrific new video by Nick on his YouTube channel discussing table saw alignment. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtMoiXS2hWA

If you've ever wondered how critical fence/blade alignment is, Nick does the math. Take your tooth thickness, subtract the thickness of the blade (plate) and divide by 2. If you are out of alignment by more than that, duck.

[chapmanruss]

Thank you for providing the link. It is a very useful and insightful explanation of table alignment. I also like the history provided in it.

[rlkeeney]

The best I have ever seen.

[edflorence]

Wow! The information density of Nick's video is off the charts! He has managed to say so much in such a short video...very impressive.

[JPG]

No BS and to the point!!!

As is usual for Nick!!!

[BuckeyeDennis]

When interviewed by Scott Markwood, I recall Nick saying that he fully scripts all his videos before shooting them. This is exactly how all that hard prep work pays off.

[bainin]

Doing that alignment is tricky on the SS. For me, I'll get to 2 to 4 thousandths but it usually doesn't survive the final
tightening for me and I have to redo it .

I think the best I've managed front to back is a 5 thousandths completed.

b

[DLB]

Doing that alignment is tricky on the SS. For me, I'll get to 2 to 4 thousandths but it usually doesn't survive the final
tightening for me and I have to redo it .

I think the best I've managed front to back is a 5 thousandths completed.

b

I agree it is tricky, especially because of the movement while tightening. But partially because of shooting for closer tolerance. If you use his method for calculating tolerance 5 thou is probably fine. I have a box for a 555960, current version SS Crosscut, it shows a plate of 0.071" and tooth width of 0.098". So if I'm recalling his math correctly that's a tolerance of 13.5 thou over 10". Of course if you use this method for tolerance you should use your worst-case blade, not a random sample that happened to be on my desk.

One thing I'd like to highlight from his video is Nick aligned the miter gauge to the bar. That's also how a miter set does it. Every version of written SS alignment I've seen aligns the miter gauge face to the blade (old ones used a sanding disc). I've wondered from time to time which is most correct, I think it is the version Nick shows.

- David

[JPG]

Setting miter gauge to the bar eliminates any other variable.

Setting it to the blade assumes slot to blade alignment will not affect it.

Realize these two conditions(miter gauge angle and slot to blade) are separate adjustments with different effects of misalignment.

One COULD set the miter gauge at 90° to a disc(sanding or saw blade) on a misaligned table slot and the result will not be a square cut. The drift on the work piece passing the blade will create an off 90° cutoff.(as well as causing binding)