Need tips for CMS alignment

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I discovered today that my CMS is out of whack a little. I must have knocked it around a bit before mounting it on the cabinet I made for it. If anyone has some time saving tips that could help me avoid some trial and error, sharing them would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Losing fingers since 1969

I don’t use mine much so I don’t have any tip.
But I am interested as well.

Abbas, Castro Valley, CA

I’d love to find a way to do this quickly, but haven’t. On average, I check (and sometimes adjust) our SCMS just about once a week. Having several people use a saw, sometimes not too gently, can mean some tweaking. I use a piece of 1/2" plywood that is as wide as the saw is capable of cutting and make a cut. I then check that with a verified square. Loosen the bolts and gently tap into alignment.

Not sure there are any short cuts.

Artisan Woodworks of Texas- www.awwtx.com

Hi Brian. I use a Wixey digital angle gauge to square my blade. First I unplug it then I zero it out the Wixey on the SCMS table, loosen the stop screws, set the blade to 90 deg. and retighten the nuts while making sure the blade doesn’t move. Then it’s just to recheck with the Wixey to make sure the blade is in fact a 90deg. If you don’t have Wixey, then you can use a square.

It might help to lock your blade in the closed position when using a square. This can be a little clumsy as the blade guard has to be somehow held in an open position while testing for square or removed.

The blade guard usually has a little tab that’s used as a handle for opening it manually and you might be able to tie some string to that and fasten the other end to the saw body to keep the guard in an open position while you test with your square.

Mike, an American living in Norway

Thanks. After I posted I went back to finish my mitre project and discovered the 2 fences are not coplanar. The left side seems to be OK. I’ll play with it tonight. I guess it’s true that there are no shortcuts.

Losing fingers since 1969