spring tune-up (1 Viewer)

[Jeff Rosz]

spring is here. lots of building is going on. so go out and tune-up those tools. i found the anti-kickback device on my table saw wasnt in alignment with the blade. my chop saw wasnt aligned at the 45 deg presets. dust cakes were found clogging air vents on motors.

go buy some new dust masks. for the new DIY'ers DO wear those masks, dont worry about looking silly, use a magic marker and draw some mean teeth on them, they are good, mdf dust is bad.

anyone have any other tune-up tips?

 

[Hank Frankenberg]

Jeff, good thread. For those table saws, people should check their blade to miter slot to fence parallelism. There are various guages on the market for that. An aftermarket, heavy fence is absolutely the best investment you can make for your table saw. If your blade and fence are parallel, you'll get accurate cuts. Also, get your blade sharpened if it's worth it. If not, invest in a high-end blade - you'll be glad you did.

Routers: clean the collet and threads, and check your bits for sharpness. You can buy diamond hones to sharpen your own bits.

Also, is it time to invest in a good dust collector/system?

 

[Jeff Rosz]

heya hank,

good tips. i have everything you mentioned but the "heavy after-market fence". any suggestions/links? i have a craftsman saw with the el-cheapo cam-lock fence. this fence is just bad. i cuss more than cut, lol.

for dust collection i use shopvac/add-on. its quickly making its way to the the #2 spot on the upgrade list though, after a new fence.

 

[Michael Do]

I also have a Craftsman with the Align-A-Rip fence eventhough it's a pretty decent fence I've decided to upgrade to the to the Accusquare fence from Mulecab.com. I was doing alot of research and decided to get this fence base on opinions and price. And last thing I would never use an expensive blade to cut MDF though.