Table Saw Flatness

You’re wood is likely to move more than 0.006” on any given day. Shimming is very common, and IMO, flatness of the top is a bit overrated unless it’s so bad it’s effecting the cuts, which can really take a big deviation depending on where the deviation is. Shim it best you can, then check your cuts….alignment is the place to get fussy.

I am with Knotscott. I have never checked my table to the degree that a machinist would.

I flushed the wings. I put a basic straightedge across the top and it looked good. I did not use feeler gauges and micrometers.

The tablesaw cuts good, my joints are tight, my work is great.

Woodworking will drive you crazy if you approach it with a machinist’s mentality. Wood moves all over the place.

-- Todd A. Clippinger, Montana, http://amcraftsman.com

Same thought here, The reference will be 90 degrees to the blade and the wood will span any voids right?

-- Sell it here> http://woodworkerslist.com

Knotscott and Todd are 100% right your working with wood your not building a space ship. lol

Don’t try to be too accurate it a waste of time wood moves.

-- --<<<<<< I will not stop until I get it right. >>>>>>--

Thanks fellas, sounds like all very practical advice and makes alot of sense. I was kinda going by what i read in reviews and have seen that this is one of the tests. Thanks for saving me some trouble.
FMG

-- FMG

There is definitely a time to be anal about machine set up, this is not one of them. I agree with everyone else, as this is a waste of time.

-- Kent Shepherd * The goal is-----More Tools!

you buy the tools you can afford ,
you learn with them the best you can ,
you buy better ones if they quit working for you .
nothing is as it seems ,
the only constant ,
is what are you going to do next ?

-- david ,new mexico ,allheart

FMG,

Here’s a similar thread from about a year ago.

0.008 is probably well within the manufacturers spec and sounds flat enough to do excellent woodworking. Worrying about getting it flatter than that is probably a crap shoot.

As for the wing sag you might try to correct that. Since shimming to eliminate the sag is cheap and easy it’s probably worth a try. A strip of tape on the bottom side of the joint where the wing attaches to the table would probably be enough to lift the wing ends. Loosen the wing, slide the strip of tape in at the bottom, maybe a quarter or half inch wide piece of tape or paper or any other thin shim, tighten the wing back up.

I agree with everyone – your .008 “mountain” in the wing isn’t an isue. Getting the sage out is a good, essential, idea though. I use the aluminum “flue tape” sold through HVAC suppliers. It won’t compress over time as much as masking or other tape. It’s relatively cheap, .003 or .004 thick and makes excellent shim stock for just about everything you can think of. It’s adhesive is also robust so it won’t come off in the future. I’ve used it to seal the joints in my DC pumbing. I didn’t glue them in case I reconfigure things in the future.

-- M1911BLDR