Square those saws!

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telecast · #1 Post by **telecast** » Thu Dec 28, 2006 7:31 pm

A piece of advice I should pay heed to more often.

Whether a circular saw, jigsaw, bandsaw, miter saw, or whatever. Drill presses and router tables need love too!

With no projects currently underway, I took the time to sort out the shop and check all my equipment. None were off a great deal, but some were off far enough to make things difficult. The most noteworthy was the knuckle on my miter saw. It had worn enough to allow the saw to move side to side very slightly when doing a cut. A quick turn of a nut and it's all set.

Always worth a check guys. Get those stops and angle gauges zeroed. It'll make your life much easier!

CBIERN · #2 Post by **CBIERN** » Fri Dec 29, 2006 9:52 pm

Check your plywood for squareness too! I was cutting the sides of a pair of Wedgehorns today from the 15" x 60" rips of Baltic birch and was surprised to find the edges not exactly matching as I stacked them. A framing square confirmed that I had parrallelograms insted of rectangles. Had to trim off about 1/16th" + from the original outside edge to set things right.

Fri Dec 29, 2006 10:29 pm

CBIERN wrote:A framing square confirmed that I had parrallelograms insted of rectangles. Had to trim off about 1/16th" + from the original outside edge to set things right.

That seems to be a common ailment with Baltic, especially Russian. They make good plywood but methinks the cutters haven't been re-aligned since before the fall of the USSR.

Harley · #4 Post by **Harley** » Sat Dec 30, 2006 12:45 am

Bill Fitzmaurice wrote:
CBIERN wrote: methinks the cutters haven't been re-aligned since before the fall of the USSR.

Hahahaa - an engineering co here in NZ STILL uses a lathe that this country got as War Reparation from Germany from World War ONE! Still works great apparently.

A mate of mine has an engineering shop with a Russian lathe of the 60's era - needs regular checkups, shim adjustments and calibration!

Harley

#5 Post by **Bill Fitzmaurice** » Sat Dec 30, 2006 9:48 am

Harley wrote:Hahahaa - an engineering co here in NZ STILL uses a lathe that this country got as War Reparation from Germany from World War ONE! Still works great apparently.
Harley

I had my local lumberyard cut a piece of maple for me, the saw was belt driven. I'm talking a four inch wide by ten foot long leather belt. The power was an electic motor. Originally it was powered by water, when it was made some 140 years ago.