sloppy miter gauge on my Ryobi table saw. need some help

Check out the http://www.bt3central.com/index.php .They have many post about the BT 3000, 3100, and also adjustment of the miter guage . I have the same saw, and it is a very precise system . do some looking at the articles there and you will find what you need.

-- Saved, and so grateful, consider who Created it ALL!!!

If it’s a standard miter slot, you can “alter” your miter gauge. Most factory miter gauges have a little give in them in both directions and no way to tighten them. Except for taking a nail punch and lightly dimpleing the sides in various places down the length of the bar. When you strike the nail punch it pushes into the bar, Newton’s third law, for every action there is an opposite and equal reaction. The opposite reaction is the sides of the dimple ease out. Do it on both sides and it will “tighten” your miter gauge to the slot.
It will save you a couple hundred dollars for an accurate miter gauge.

Incra makes miter gauges that you can get at rockler or woodcraft that start at $100 and can go up from there.

-- Joey, Magee, Ms http://woodnwaresms.com

I own Ryobi 10” bench top table saw model ETS1525 (RTS1525 for US market). The miter gauge channel or slot is 3/4”W X 1/4”H and the miter gauge bar is 11/16”W X 3/6”H, thus there is 1/6” plays vertically & horizontally.
My solution : I made my own slider bar from UHMW for my miter gauge and from hardwood for my sled.

-- masrol, kuala lumpur, MY.

How old is your saw? Maybe HD can do something about it if the saw is still under warranty. I have used the dimpling method mentioned by Joey and it removed all the slop from the miter gauge… for a while (about 1 ½ years of use.) Repeated use eventually wore the dimple out. Instead of buying a new miter gauge, I picked up and older saw. If all you want the miter gauge for is making 90 degree cross cuts, consider making a crosscut sled.

-- Brian, Lebanon PA, If you aren’t having fun doing it, find something else to do.

is the looseness in the bar or in the pivot? I would suspect the latter as the amount of play on the bar in the slot would hardly be noticeable. if the slop in the bar was 10 thousandths the angle would vary in the neighborhood of +-0.05 degree . . . I had one one time that the pivot was loose on. I don’t recall the fix. might have been some shrink tubing over the rod. probably easiest to replace I would think.

-- Fred, Springfield, Ma

Sorry! typo correction : miter gauge bar measurement 11/16”W X 3/16”H, there is 1/16” plays vertically & horizontally.

Thanks

-- masrol, kuala lumpur, MY.

looseness is in the slot itself or i guess the bar.

-- my mind is constantly racing..... but it hasnt came in 1st place yet

Dimpling is one method, but it will be hard to make up 1/16”. For a temporary solution, you can lay a few layers of plastic packing tape on it and trim off the excess. This will wear, but if waxed, will allow you to take up the slack for a while before replacing. Aluminum HVAC tape also works. If you use it a lot, I would suggest looking at the Osborne EB3, Incra or Kreg replacements. Keep the old one to sell with the saw when you upgrade.

Go

-- Go http://ncwoodworker.net/pp/showgallery.php?cat=500&ppuser=730

I found one in my job work storage area, if you want it PM me, I don’t know if it will be any help, but you could experiment with it and not worry about destroying anything.

-- Ciao, gth.

It is not a standard miter slot and the play is both in the attachment point and in the runner of the miter gauge. I was not able to find an aftermarket replacement. I put a strip of clear tape on both sides of the runner and trimmed it. That improved the accuracy considerably and tape lasts for a long while. Can’t do anything about the attachment point because it is not screwed but seems to be press fit into the plastic. I made a sled for whenever I need an accurate 90 deg cut. I plan to add a 45 deg guide to the sled.

If it’s anything like my Ryobi BTS12S, then it has a 5/8” wide (as opposed to the industry-standard 3/4” wide) miter slot.

There seems to be ab-so-lute-ly NOTHING made that will replace the 5/8” miter gauge … and I looked. Incra’s got nothing. Ryobi’s got nothing. Peachtree’s got nothing.

It was the main reason that I ended up replacing my Ryobi saw (with a Bosch 4100).

I’d LOVE to know who’s bright idea it was to use that non-standard size…..

-- -- Neil

Hi Neil, thanks for the response.

I consider the Ryobi a challenge and a learning opportunity until I decide I am serious enough and interested enough to buy something better. For now it is adequate for what I’ve been doing and I like the portability. According to the TV woodworking shows I’ve seen you are better off replacing nearly any miter gauge with some kind of a sled if you want accurate cuts. My sled makes great cuts. Even the expensive tables and miter gauges I’ve seen at the hardware store have noticeable play.

I used old oak molding that was lying around to make my runners. The molding has two nice straight flat sides which I can put against the fence in turn to rip it to the right size. Of course I first had to double-stick-tape an auxiliary fence of MDF to the Ryobi fence since it isn’t flat. Luckily the table slots do seem to be accurate so I was able to get a nice smooth close fit.

I think the same person who had the bright idea to use a non-standard slot size also had the bright idea to design the blade opening without a zero clearance plate in mind. You cannot buy one and making one is an exercise in file to fit.

I once had a gauge that I couldn’t get the slop out of, and this worked for me (until I broke down and bought an Osborne.) Since you can’t use an after-market gauage it might work for you too.

1. Calibration: While attempting to “twist” the miter gauge counter clockwise adjust it to 0 degrees (or the desired angle).

2. Use: Then when you use it, “twist” it counter clockwise when you push it across the table. I put some arrows on the miter gauge fence to remind me to always twist it the same direction. After you forget to twist it a few times and suffer the results of a bad cut your memory will improve!!

PS – Twisting it clockwise is just as effective. For me CCW was easier because a long board is normally trying to twist it CCW anyway (assuming use of the left slot).

-- Joe

Joe, I have never tried the twist method. I have tried pushing it to one or the other side of the slot without much success probably because the wood wants to twist the gauge.