Table saw adjustment question.

[Wood Hog]

Sorry, I realize this is not a Festool question, however I was wondering what others here do.
My question is when setting your fence to your blade do you set it parrel of at a very light angle out at the rear? I read several different ways of doing it. I think my manual says to set it off set to prevent kick back, but the problem is my small panel cuts are not coming out square as the fence is not parrel to the blade, but I'm afraid to make it parrel in case of kick back. Advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Bohdan]

I have always set it exactly parallel as this limits the back of the blade cutting on one side or the other. Any side that is cut by the back of the blade will result in chipping or splintering of any veneers or laminates that are cross cut.

Kickback has never been an issue as I always use a riving knife (I think you call it a splitter) which is the thickness of the saw kerf for safety reasons.

 

[blaszcsj]

I agree with [member=36526]Bohdan[/member]. Check out this setup guided for reference too. Pretty good.

http://www.woodmagazine.com/wood/pdf/delta/ds-038free.pdf

 

[chrisrosenb]

I have always run my fence parallel with the blade. I have been doing this for over 40 years.
I do not see how having the fence offset to the blade would reduce kickbacks. I would think it would make it worse.
If the rear of the fence is set closer to the blade, the material being cut would be pinched between the blade & fence.
If the rear of the fence is set farther from the blade, the material being cut would want to pull away from the fence. Both would make the chance of a kickback worse.

As Bohdan said, a splitter of some type is the best way to reduce kickback. 

 

[Df1k1]

I've never heard of a saw with a manual like that. Seems pretty dangerous. Riving knife and parralel

 

[MrGinCT]

Riving knife and pararaell

 

[jbasen]

Years ago I read the same recommendation of running the fence a few thousands out of parallel to avoid kickback.  That was long before the invention of riving knife style splitters that keep the rear of the blade from contacting the work piece.  I believe the recommendation is, at this point, simply out of date because of the added anti-kickback protection the riving knife offers.

I run a riving knife and the fence parallel to the blade.

 

[Birdhunter]

I use a table saw alignment tool sold by Woodpeckers. It has a part that nestles into the miter gauge slot. That part has an arm on which a dial caliper gauge is mounted. I think it is accurate to 0.1mm.

I first check the alignment of the saw blade to the miter slot. If the blade is perfectly aligned to the slot, I go to step 2. I make a mark on the saw blade where the dial caliper touches it. For the second measurement, I rotate the blade (power unplugged) and measure at the other side. This process eliminates the effect of any warpage in the saw blade itself.

I then check the fence alignment to the slot. I want it to be parallel within a 1 to 2 tenths of a mm its entire length. My table saw  (Sawstop Industrial) has a great fence, but it has a plastic side glued onto it. There are variations in the plastic that I don't like, but they do not affect the quality of the cut.

I then check my miter gauge to be 90 degrees to the miter slot.

With this all done. I do a test cut on a 24" square piece of plywood. If every corner comes out perfectly square and there is no binding or burning, I'm happy.

 

[sancho57]

It depends, If the fence is a euro/UK type fence where it runs up to the rear of the saw blade then yes parallel. If it is a US style runs the entire length of the table then I would toe it out about .002-.003.

Its to avoid kick back. The euro fence does it by only going to the end of the blade it the prevents the wood from getting trapped or pinching causing kick back, thats where the toe out comes in on the US fences.

When I had a US style fence on my delta stationary saw thats what I did.

 

[Wood Hog]

This is from the Grizzly Manual, I was sure I had read this,
Note: It is permissible for the back of the fence to pivot outward 1⁄64" from being paral- lel with the blade (see Figure 119 on Page 68). Many woodworkers intentionally set up their fence in this manner. This creates a slightly larger opening between the fence and the rear of the blade to reduce the risk of workpiece binding or burning as it is fed through the cut. Keep this in mind before adjusting your fence.

 

[Birdhunter]

As I am trying to visualize using a fence that angles away from the blade at the back of the table, I see the wood being fed into the blade at a skewed angle. Sounds ugly. The kerf would be wider than the blade width and the back of the blade would be kicking the wood up off the table. Am I wrong?

 

[grbmds]

With a riving knife or even a splitter, angling the fence away from the blade in back shouldn't be necessary as that is the riving knife's reason for existence; to keep the kerf open and prevent the blade from being pinched. Even a splitter should prevent the blade from being pinched. Even before I had a safe saw I always set my rip fence parallel to the blade (or as parallel as I could get it on an old saw I had). I don't remember ever having a problem and since I now have a saw with a riving knife, I can't imagine I would.

 

[sancho57]

As I am trying to visualize using a fence that angles away from the blade at the back of the table, I see the wood being fed into the blade at a skewed angle. Sounds ugly. The kerf would be wider than the blade width and the back of the blade would be kicking the wood up off the table. Am I wrong?

Not really as its the front of the blade that does the cutting. The rear doesn't really do anything. Look at the euro fences which only go to the centre or rear of the blade and not the full length of the table like we do in the states.

 

[Jesse Cloud]

If you are having trouble, its worth checking to see if your fence is actually flat.  I was shocked to see that the Biesemeyer fence on my Delta Unisaw was neither flat nor plumb.  As Delta no longer stocks that part (or most any part), I had the rebuild the fence with a lot of tedious shimming to bring things into true.

Cuts are much more reliable now, wish I had checked this out sooner. [embarassed]

 

[canadamike]

Just a humble Canuck here. The fence in a modern saw should be parallel the saw blade, that is the way newer saws are designed to work. Perhaps the older models need some toe-in or out, not sure. I have an Industrial SawStop and a couple Bosch units, all set up parallel to the blade.

Now, to my main question, is there anyway you can change your icon image? If you want to keep it, please tell us why!

 

[sancho57]

What ya got something against pig tails?

 

[Flatsawn]

It depends, If the fence is a euro/UK type fence where it runs up to the rear of the saw blade then yes parallel. If it is a US style runs the entire length of the table then I would toe it out about .002-.003.

Its to avoid kick back. The euro fence does it by only going to the end of the blade it the prevents the wood from getting trapped or pinching causing kick back, thats where the toe out comes in on the US fences.

When I had a US style fence on my delta stationary saw thats what I did.

  Kick back or not, I think everyone holds it back they just may not know it. Otherwise as you state the back of the blade will cut into the final dimension making the cut thinner.

Mark