Byrnes saw fence advice sought

[geneinmurphy]

Need some advice regarding the Byrnes table saw fence, please. When cutting a thin piece of cypress wood apx 12” long, the front end of the cut piece was about .05” wider than the back end. By eyesight, the fence appeared parallel to the miter slot but actually is off some. As advised, I tighted the front fence screw before the back. How can I get a more parallel cut on my wood? Tighten one fence screw first, then manually adjust the fence before tightening the other screw?? I am trying to get a parallel width of .735” on wood that is .20” thick. Thanks for any tips!

[bruce d]

Others may have something concrete to offer but I would suggest a thorough cleanout of the mating surfaces where the fence grips the table.  Unless it has been damaged the fence should (as you know) automatically align at 90 degrees so if it isn't then something is in the way, possibly just a bit of crud stuck in a bad spot on the fence gripping surface.

 

HTH

Bruce

 

[geneinmurphy]

Thanks….will check it out….

[allanyed]

You may get more responses if you label your topic with the subject you would like to discuss, not your screen name.  Just sayin'

Allan

[Roger Pellett]

The best way to diagnose the saw is with a dial indicator.  These cost anywhere from around $20 to a Sterrett for about $175.  Like most tools, you get what you pay for, but an inexpensive one will probably be good enough for the purpose; just don’t expect long life.

 

You can use one of the miter gage slots as a datum.  I made an aluminum bracket that fastens to my miter gage to hold the dial indicator.   Sliding the indicator attached to the miter gage along the slot allows you to check alignment of the rip fence and the blade.

 

Elsewhere in this forum category Jim Byrnes provides an alignment procedure for the fence.  In the case of my saw it was necessary to align the rear fence hold down as well as the one at the front of the saw as tightening the rear one was pulling the fence out of alignment. 

 

Ripping with the wood trapped between the fence and blade is especially difficult with blades without “set” used in the Byrnes Saw.  The current best tool deal is the NRG’s thin rip guide that allows the piece being ripped to be “outside” of the blade.

 

Roger

[geneinmurphy]

Good idea…..thanks!

[geneinmurphy]

Roger….do you have a link to the fence alignment article by Jim? Thanks!

[Roger Pellett]

Go to the Byrnes Saw Reference thread.  It is “pinned” and is right above your post.  It is on page 2 of the thread.

 

Roger

 

 

[Jaager]

As you do this, think about the physics of the operation.

 

The plane of the cutting teeth and the plane of the fence must be parallel up thru the zone of active cutting.

The part of the blade behind that is an encumbrance.  It is a source of friction,  A blade that is hollow ground or whose teeth have set can greatly reduce the friction.

Hollow ground is more expensive, There is an outer ring in the zone with the teeth that is not ground. We are usually cutting stock that is so thin that some or all of it is still at the flat part.  We loose the advantage that the hollow provides.

Blades with significant set also have significant lose to kerf.

If the fence has off set THAT IS LIMITED to the part that is behind the crown of the blade will reduce the friction.  But, to do this, the fence must have two planes and must have special engineering. 

 

If the product being cut comes out between the fence and the blade, once the settings are precise and accurate,  you can rock and roll forever.  There is just kick back and pushing it all behind the blade to worry about.

If the thin rip guide is used, there is no kick back and the push is easy.  The fence must be moved after every cut, so no rock and roll. But a micrometer is not needed to reposition the fence. The surface of the stock that rides against the fence does not change with every cut.

 

 

Another factor but not a part of this problem is that the ideal is that the blade be one with three teeth in the thickness of the stock being cut.

Edited July 1, 2022 by Jaager