So, my fence is totally square to the table,
but the blade itself, on my homemade table saw, is
not entirely parallel to the fence so I still need to do
some alignment there.
So, if you want to build your own table saw,
you'll probably be checking it with a square a lot.
Hmm, hope maybe this hinge could move a bit.
Hmm, I just expanded the counter-sync so on those
holes on one side a bit, and I added another screw to
pull this hinge over a bit, so it should be all aligned now.
Checking the blade alignment now,
it looks like my blade is still a little bit this way,
instead of parallel, and the problem
with the homemade table saw is, there's just so many more
things that can be out of alignment.
It could be that this shaft is not quite lined up,
or it could be that this shaft is not entirely parallel
to this shaft, and so there's a lot of checking with the square
and a lot that I have to do.
I built this crooked blade mount and depth adjustment mechanism
to show how internal alignment is really critical.
So, imagine the blade on here is mounted crooked,
like so, so we can just change the way the
whole assembly is mounted and now it will cut straight.
But, now as soon as I change the depth of cut settings,
so I just tilt this up. And, now the blade
actually has rotated a little bit this way,
and it's also rotated this way. So, just changing
the depth of cut setting, will completely change
the run-out and the bevel, the angle setting.
So, if this axis here,
is not parallel to this axis here,
it just messes everything up, all the time.
Hmm.
There's so many things on this saw that
could be crooked.
I'm just using these squares to try to
eyeball it.
This tilting axis here is really critical
for alignment and depth of cut adjustment.
For tilting along here and the problem is
this isn't stiff enough, I should have made this
bracket much wider to get more stiffness on this tilt,
but I've had the idea of just adding a bracket that
pushes against here a little bit,
and that will help this part stay aligned
and to tilt up and down.
So, here's a word of caution about building your own
table saw out of a circular saw, like this,
on any table saw of any decent quality,
there's a relatively large arbor flange that is
press-fit onto the shaft, so this forms a really
rigid connection with the arbor, and it won't wobble,
and that gives a lot of support for the blade.
On most hand-held circular saws,
and on really cheap table saws,
the arbor flange is just this piece that
loosely fits onto the shaft.
So, with this tiny arbor flange
being on there just pushed against the shoulder,
that doesn't provide a very stable support
for the blade on here. So, no matter how precisely
you make the mechanism, it will never be as good
as even a moderate quality table saw.
So, this 3/4 inch slot I just routed,
is a little too tight for this 3/4 inch bar
to slide in, so I'm gonna widen that slot
by putting a few pieces of five thous shim
behind the fence in the rail
and routing it again.
So, now with the miter slots cut in,
it does unfortunately cut away half the thickness
of the plywood, where they are.
So, I'm gonna reinforce this plywood on the bottom.
There's room for a piece in here
right underneath this here.
And, I'm also gonna put
a long rail against here,
and another rail is gonna go against here.
Unfortunately I can't make it go all the way through
cause this is in the way. If I had planned this out
I would have made sure this rail had enough room
to go all the way across here. I need a bit of room
in here for the fence clamp.