I have an old 10" craftsman contractor saw. I've had issues getting the blade aligned to the miter slot. I posted a thread a couple days ago and got some good responses but its not letting me post a response for some reason, so I thought id start another after doing a little investigating.

Heres the old thread:

https://www.woodworkingtalk.com/f2/b...4/#post2000340

Basically, I got the blade aligned using a dial indicator within .001". Then, I tilted the blade to 45 then back to 90 and checked again, and now its off .006". It is extremely hard to crank the tilt handle when getting close to 45, and extremely loose when close to 90. So its hard to get both dialed in correctly. I was given the good advice of getting underneath (i flipped it upside down to make it easier) and disassembling the trunnions and cleaning them along with the worm gear for the tilt mechanism. I noticed that the whole side of the body where the crank for the tilt is flexes in and out pretty drastically when cranking. I added some 1/4" reinforcement on the outside on either side of where the crank is, which made it sturdier, but it still flexes. Furthermore, I noticed some wobble on a couple of parts, and I am unsure whether this is normal or not. I took a couple videos:



Is it normal to have that much play? I feel like being able to move the carriage that much by hand is an issue. Also, the nut that the threaded rod feeds into on the carriage has side to side play, but again, I don't know if thats normal. If either of these things is not normal/will cause problems, anyone have a solution?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,

Zayne