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Emerson/Craftsman TS Help

2K views 20 replies 7 participants last post by  BassBlaster 
#1 ·
Im just about to wrap up this table saw restore and Im having an issue. First is on the elevation screw. Theres a couple O rings that I assume are to hold in lube and keep dirt and dust out. When I rebuilt this saw, I replaced every retaining ring and E clip and these O rings. The old O rings were fairly flat and I was allready in there so. Anyhow, these O-rings are squeeking like crazy when raising and lowering the blade. It works flawlessly just squeeks. I coted everything twice with dry lube before putting it together. Should I have used grease in there where the O-rings are? I know nothing can get in there and gum it up. Just wondering if I should pull that screw back out and grease it before I get any further.

Heres a couple pics I pulled from Ebay since mine is allready assembled. The first pic is the screw and the O rings, the second is how it is installed in the carriage.

Next question. I lubed every moving part on this saw twice before assembly and then again after assembly with dry lube. I picked up a can of Liquid Wrench dry lube because thats all they had at the hardware. Everything is a bit squeeky and I noticed so very fine shavings or dust in the trunnions after working the gears a couple of times. That tells me this lube isnt working. Have a brand to reccommend? Ive used ATV chain lube in the past which works really well but Ive found even after it dries, it can still be a little tacky so I want to get away from that.
 

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#4 ·
I bought it at fleet farm but most hardware stores or auto parts stores should have it. I wouldn't use grease on an elevation screw....eventually it going to dry up and get hard. I just spent a few hours scrubbing the grease out of my radial arm saw elevation screw. I used this lube with about 5 or 6 coats on the screw and reassembled. I can now elevate the whole arm with my pinky finger on the elevation crank.
 
#5 ·
K, Ill look around and see if I can find it. The stuff I used is a ceramic based dry lube. You cant see it and its not working so I dunno if I should waste any effort trying to get it back off or not. Id really hate to have to take this saw apart again. I just got the blade aligned to the slot today. Ive been fighting with it for 2 days now. I got it to where the back of the blade is .003 left of the front of the blade. Close enough! I would have stopped messing with it yesterday when I was only .005 out but this one is going to be my dedicated CC saw so I wanted it as close to perfect as I could get it.:thumbsup:
 
#10 · (Edited)
..... I just got the blade aligned to the slot today. Ive been fighting with it for 2 days now. I got it to where the back of the blade is .003 left of the front of the blade.
Why are you comparing the "front" of the blade to the "back" of the blade? All that does is measure the run off in the blade. You need to measure to the right hand miter slot, the constant on table saws for measuring blade/arbor alignment, and the rear of the blade should be as close to "0" as practical. Unless I'm missing something... I donno? :huh:

Regardless, you are very close, close enough!
BTW, the fence is not part of the trunnion alignment procedure .... just sayin'
 
#18 ·
and with a properly fitting miter gauge and a $10 dial gauge, there's really no reason the blade can't be made parallel to the miter slot, and make the fence parallel to the miter slot. here's my emerson built c-man:
 

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#6 ·
I use whatever dry lube is available from HD on my two 10" Emerson contractor TSs. You have an older saw there, judging from the solid casting of the arbor bracket, just like on my mid 70s vintage c- man.

Looking at a similar lubrication question in the past, knottscot has offered up white lithium grease as a lubricant, indicating that it works well if allowed to dry completely before being subjected to sawdust. Perhaps he'll offer up an opinion.

Have you considered waxing the parts, now that the innards are disassembled and readily accessible?
 
#7 ·
Are the shavings magnetic/steel?

My guess is not, and that's a sign the trunnions are slightly misaligned possibly shaving off a small amount of aluminum. :huh:

Steel shavings are a sign of something rubbing which may account for a squeek. When I had mine apart, no side extensions or rails, I assembled all the carriage parts I could on the bench, and checked for smoothness, then hoisted the whole shootin' match into the cabinet. I had the cabinet rear/back side face down on the bench. This allows you to check the blade alignment and make the adjustments on the trunnions at the same time working from the opening in the bottom and measuring on the top of the table. It save ton's of time and no back braking bending over or laying upside down.

Having the blade toed over to the left is not the preferred posiition. It may bind on a rip if you need to use it from that for some reason. While .007 is not much at all, you may be just fine....I donno? :huh:
 
#9 ·
Having the blade toed over to the left is not the preferred posiition. It may bind on a rip if you need to use it from that for some reason. While .007 is not much at all, you may be just fine....I donno? :huh:
Come on old timer, put your glasses on!!:laughing:

The rear of the blade is left of the front of the blade. That woud mean the blade is toed AWAY from the fence which is better than toward the fence. When I started my adjusting I was .016 toward the fence, now its adjusted the other way. I was shooting for perfect but gave up when I got that close. Im at .003 not .007. I was at .006 several times but that wasnt good enough for me but everytime i tried to get a little closer I would knock it further out. I found that I could get the thing perfect but it would move as I tightened the trunnion bolts back down. When my indicater showed it toed out at .003, I threw in the towel.

Just a side note for anyone else ordering a Delta T2 fence. Tool Barn had been showing an "out of stock, ships late Jan" message on thier website. Then it switched to "ships in 3-5 days" I called and placed an order and was told they didnt have any in stock but it would ship direct from Delta in 3-5 days. After not recieving the email that it had shipped in two weeks, I called back and got a different sales rep. He told me, they dont ship direct from Delta and they dont have any in stock. Expected delivery is sometime in mid March. I asked why didnt they change the website to say mid March like it did before instead of 3-5 days. He said, I dont know we'll have to look into that.
 
#8 ·
Those pics are from Ebay. My saw is allready put back together. I used a ceramic based dry lube made by Liquid Wrench because thats all they had on the shelf at the store and because I always here people say to use whatever dry lube you can find. Apparently what I found dosnt work as everything is still really squeeky.
 
#12 ·
Sounds like it's pretty parallel. Wood will expand and contract more than .003 anyhow. I just finished doing the same thing and after 5 cuts on my cross cut sled I am. .003 off. Best I could do on my Emerson as well. I can't physically see the problem with .003, so it doesn't bother me. :)
 
#13 ·
Thats roughly the thickness of a sheet of notebook paper so in my opinion thats just about perfect. When I finally get the fence, Ill set it to perfect with the slots if it has that kind of adjustability but it will be set to the rip saw not the CC saw. This particular saw will only see the CC sled.:thumbsup:
 
#14 · (Edited)
OK, that fine

Here's the way I would do it, after having done it more than a few times...too many saws, you know. :laughing:

Measure over from the left miter slot to a marked tooth on the blade, let's say it's 4.00" . then rotate the tooth to the rear and measure again, let's say it. 4.003 ". The difference is 0.003" in this case, further to the right. In your case it would measure 3.997" ...or toward the left miter slot.

Here's a slight issue, the teeth are only 8" or so apart horizontally using a straight edge across the plane of a 10" blade. This means the .003" difference is in 8", right? That's good enough for most folks, but there is a more accurate method. Take a known 24" long parallel edged scale, most are from the factory, a lay it against the plate of the blade between the teeth. This will effectively extend the plate of the blade to 20" usable span, a more accurate dimension. Your .003" in 8" may be .006" in 16" and .009" in 24" :huh:, so that's what I'm getting at.
Is the plane of your blade perfectly flat? Who knows? Is there run out in the arbor? Who knows? Neither of those issues are fixable by the average woodworker, so that's a dead end issue, in my opinion. We gotta work with stuff we can deal with.
I suggested working with the saw on it's back side, so the table is vertical to the bench top, so you can get at the trunnion bolts and also measure while you are standing at your bench. BTDT and it's worth it.
Another tip is to slightly loosen 3 of the 4 bolts so that you can rotate the trunnion assembly pivoting around no. 4 in the direction you need. Then tighten opposing bolts slightly and remeasure. Creep up on the tightness and nothing should shift. If using star washers, they can grab and pull to one side occasionally. New ones may work better. A hardened flat washer may work even better. If there is casting flash under your washers, that will throw off the setting also... just minor things I've discovered in my quest for "perfection".... :huh:
http://www.woodworkingtalk.com/f27/tablesaw-blade-alignment-miter-slot-11185/
If you are happy with your results, that's fine, carry on and get your new fence! :yes:
 
#15 ·
Yes Im happy with it but I would be more happy if the indicator stayed at zero! This isnt the final adjustment. When my CC blade comes, Ill install it and check it again. I just threw on a combo blade I had to get it as close as possible.

Yup, the stock star washers are on there. It never even crossed my mind to replace those with hardened flat washers. Ill see what the hardware store has.

Thanks for the suggestions!:thumbsup:
 
#16 ·
You should read my thread in the jig section. I made this way too complicated, much like yourself until I figured an easier way.

We all use wood clamps prior to screwing together boards so why not use that same mentality with the table saw?

I basically used a long 24" clamp horizontally on the out feed side of the table saw and one horizontally on the in feed of the table saw. These were hooked to the trunion and the cabinet in the direction I needed to move the blade. Basically slowly tighten the clamp until your blade is zero'd and then tighten the screws.

Took me 5 minutes using this method! I literally fought it for hours prior. Doh!
 
#19 ·
You should read my thread in the jig section. I made this way too complicated, much like yourself until I figured an easier way.

We all use wood clamps prior to screwing together boards so why not use that same mentality with the table saw?

I basically used a long 24" clamp horizontally on the out feed side of the table saw and one horizontally on the in feed of the table saw. These were hooked to the trunion and the cabinet in the direction I needed to move the blade. Basically slowly tighten the clamp until your blade is zero'd and then tighten the screws.

Took me 5 minutes using this method! I literally fought it for hours prior. Doh!
Now thats genious! Why didnt I think of that!?! Amazon says my new CC blade will be delivered tomorrow. Ill get it mounted up and try to dial it in with a couple of clamps.

Mine squeaks too. I sprayed the screw with whatever dry lube the local hardware store had and it doesn't seem to help. I'm tempted to squirt some silicone lube or WD-40 in there and see if it helps but I don't want it to get gummed up with sawdust so... I live with the squeak.
Yeah, Im gonna try the product that Ryan mentioned and if that dosnt take care of the squeak, Ill live with it. I hate to spray something in there thats gonna build up crud after I completely disassembled this thing and now its spotless.

and with a properly fitting miter gauge and a $10 dial gauge, there's really no reason the blade can't be made parallel to the miter slot, and make the fence parallel to the miter slot. here's my emerson built c-man:
I have a shop built jig that fits tight in the left slot and my indicator mounts to the jig. 0.000 is impressive. Thats what Im gonna shoot for but Im not gonna let it bother me at .002 or .003.
 
#17 ·
Mine squeaks too. I sprayed the screw with whatever dry lube the local hardware store had and it doesn't seem to help. I'm tempted to squirt some silicone lube or WD-40 in there and see if it helps but I don't want it to get gummed up with sawdust so... I live with the squeak.
 
#20 ·
In-line industries makes PALS, (Precision ALignment System), for about twenty bucks. You could have accomplished the same thing by drilling and tapping the trunnions for screws before you put it back together. But with the saw assembled this is your best bet.

Basically you remove the bolts on the rear trunnion and replace the with studs and adapters that have screws which allow you to jack the trunnion into place to set the alignment. You know the pitch on the jack screws so you know how much to turn them to move the trunnion as far as you need.

Another tip is to buy a calibration disc for the saw. Freud and CMT both make one that you can pick up for about $30 or $35. Blades are not necessarily true when they aren't spinning at 3400-rpm. The calibration disc on the other hand is thicker and made to be flat when it isn't spinning.
 
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