Today, I was testing my new Osborne EB-3 which came highly recommended on this forum. I set up the miter gauge on the miter slot to the left of the blade and noticed that the cuts were far from smooth with some of my saw blades!
The cut offs to the right of the blade were glass smooth. I tested this with almost all of my blades and below a summary of the results. Is this just the way the blades are made? I was wondering if anyone could shed some light on this.
Rough cuts on the left of the blade, smooth on the right:
– Forrest WW-2 special grind
– Tenryu Gold Medal
Perfect on both sides of the blade
– Jesada General Purpose Blade (42t)
Glass smooth shiny, but not perfectly flat (if that makes sense?)
– SystiMatic 80 tooth Laminate/Veneer
Replies
It sounds as if your miter slot might be out of parallel with the blade, and the workpiece is roughed up by the teeth rising at the back of the blade. The offcut is either not reaching these teeth, or the angle of the blade keeps it from cutting there.
Alan,
Are you saying that the left slot is out and the right one isn't as he got clean cuts using the right slot? Just curious or maybe I misread what Jointerman posted.
Regards,Bob @ Kidderville Acres
A Woodworkers mind should be the sharpest tool in the shop!
Hi Alan,I checked the left slot and it appears to be WELL under 1/64 out of parallel, I'd guess 1/128 or less but I have nothing I can use to measure that. Also, in the picture that I posted a couple of posts ago, using the WW2-special grind, I stopped the cut half way, before it reached the back side of the blade. The cut is still rough. Are there some blades that are not designed for crosscuts on both sides? Maybe I'm still missing something here....
I'm not an expert like some of the people here.However, looking at your image, I'd agree that the back teeth are not causing the little kerf widening a bit behind the leading edge on the left side, as they have not yet reached this point. Perhaps one tooth extends too far on this side. That would be apparent if you put the blade on a flat surface. It just seems a bit far back from the leading edge of the cut for that to be likely, and it seems very unlikely that more than one of your blades would have this problem. Some kind of blade wobble could conceivably cause more problem on one face than the other. You could check that your bearings have no play, and that there is little runout at the arbor.
Have you tried to convert the Osborne to cut from the right side of the blade to see if the cuts are better? If they are then the slot may be the problem. If not then you have eliminated it and can trouble shoot something else.
I have NO idea.. BUT I can say I use them blades fron Italy.. RED ones..
I like them! ALOT...
AND have used more expensive blades...
None better than the other except for price... For what I do...
Hi Will,I think that the Jesada blade, which is also Italian, has different teeth profiles than the WW2-special grind, Tenryu Gold Medal, and my Laminate/Veneer blade. From the looks of it, while cutting with the NON-smooth blades, the teeth on the left of the blades seem to have a small extra cut that leaves a jagged edge for some reason. I've attached a picture of what is leaving the rough cut.Looking at blades on the interweb, I noticed that some advertise "Double Miter" does this mean it can do a left and right miter smoothly? I can't imagine it meaning a compound miter.
I think Alan's on the right track. Many lower-end table saws don't necessarily have the two miter slots machined parallel to each other, silly as it may seem. If this is the case, align the most used miter slot parallel to the blade.
Chris @ www.flairwoodwork.spaces.live.com
- Success is not the key to happines. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful. - Albert Schweitzer
Wow, I never heard of that before. Thanks Chris.
RegardsBob @ Kidderville Acres
A Woodworkers mind should be the sharpest tool in the shop!
I also agree with Alan but you might check to see if the miter slots are parallel to each other vis-a-vee the blade!
Just a thought,
Chaim
I think Alan's got it right. It sounds as though the blade isn't aligned with the left miter slot.
That doesn't necessarily mean the two slots aren't parallel to one another though. The reason the blade doesn't cut cleanly when the miter gauge is on the left is that the blade and miter slot aren't perpendicular to each other.
The reason the blade cuts cleanly when the miter gauge is in the right slot is that the blade's teeth aren't coming up through the cut on the backside. That can make the cut rough, as it does when the gauge is in the left slot.
An alignment should take care of it and cuts from both miter slots should be equally good - providing the slots are, indeed parallel to one another..
Zolton If you see a possum running around in here, kill it. It's not a pet. - Jackie Moon
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