redwine Posted July 30 Report Share Posted July 30 pdI have been at this hobby since 2005 and have owned 7 different saws and have never had a problem with this until I received the newest Wen 22 inch saw. The saw is good for me as I can use just about any saw and not have any issues. What I need to know now is the blade holders on the upper and lower arms adjustable to square the blade 90 degrees front to back? I have found that it is more pronounced with # 7 to #9 blades that I use for cutting the 3d ornaments and not getting square ornaments! I have been using a small 90 degree machinist tool to get the blade set for the front to back 90 degree to the table! The normal side of the blade is dead on 90 degree, no problem there! The blade holders are or look the same as the ones on Dewalt, Delta and numerous other saws, so just wondering if there is an adjustment that I don't know about as there isn't any thing about that is the manual! I noticed this as I have always put the blade in the bottom holder to the back and the same with the top holder. Any help much appreciated! Erv OCtoolguy 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JTTHECLOCKMAN Posted July 30 Report Share Posted July 30 (edited) Need to answer a few questions first that may help. First are the blades flat on the back side?. Sometimes blades have a bow to them and even when you put tension on them it is not enough to take the bow out. Next are any of the blades from either pack #7 or #9 able to square up in the holders? Most those type scrollsaws have set screws on the sides of the holders that help center the blade so it is 90 degrees side to side. I always found that if I set one side setscrew just about flat with one side of the clamp and use the other screw to tighten the blade it keeps the blade from twisting in the clamp. I do this on both sides of the clamps top and bottom. If you have screws sticking too far out it is possible for the blade ends to bend out of shape. So next question is, are the ends of the blades bent in anyway after you release them from tension? If you do not hold the blade to the back of the clamp it can have a tendency to creep forward and add that bend I am talking about and this causes more rocking of the blade. Finally those saws actually cut in a rocking manner so no matter where you set the arm and place the square it will show daylight either on top or bottom. You are looking for a consistent rocking motion from top of blade to bottom of blade as it travels in the cutting motion. If you could find the exact center of the arm travel and then set the square against that you should see equal light distant both top and bottom of blade. You could also just move the arm up and down and watch the movement and by eye see if there is equal distance. I know on the Dewalt saws especially the type #1 saws there was a trick that everyone did to take out alot of that rocking motion and get it more parallel up and down stroke and that was to lift the back of the table ever so slightly. I will show you a photo of what I did with mine. So a few questions that can help others help you. Edited July 30 by JTTHECLOCKMAN OCtoolguy 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kmmcrafts Posted July 30 Report Share Posted July 30 I've not been around to see one of these in person.. but have seen photos of them, unfortunately all the photos never show a good view of the saws motor and how it is mounted. I've always wondered if they have this adjustment like most of the other short link arm saws except DeWalt and Delta. Most these saws the motor is mounted with a ring around it and the bolts go through some slots.. In order to adjust the front to back movement on most of these is to loosen those three bolts just enough to move the motor and then rotate what I do is put the saw on the lowest speed and with the square behind the blade I run the saw and rotate the motor in those slots.. until I get it with the least amount of movement. I don't know if the WEN has this style system or not.. I'm guessing it's price point and build is to compete more with the DeWalt so it probably doesn't have this option.. Some of the first type 2 Dewalts had a terrible issue with this after they moved production to another location and they got a bad name for the type 2 saws because of this. There were guys doing modifications as JT said... IF the saw is under warranty you might want to just take it back, could be a flaw in it that is making this cut more aggressively than you like. For precise cutting I would not own one of these saws that could not be adjusted for the blade aggression. I believe the two cheapest saws that can adjust the motor is going to be Excalibur or the newer Grizzly otherwise you're looking at the expensive Jet,Pegas and Seyco etc.. OCtoolguy and BadBob 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redwine Posted July 30 Author Report Share Posted July 30 Thanks for the reply's. I don't thank it is a warranty problem as I don't or haven't had that problem with the smaller blades! I do notice that I cannot back the blade into the cut to continue because of the blade not being square front to back. The blades I use are fd ultra reverse all sizes and they are flat on the back. They do not show any signs of being twisted or bent once I loosen them to go to another entry hole or to change blades. Erv OCtoolguy 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kmmcrafts Posted July 30 Report Share Posted July 30 3 hours ago, redwine said: I do notice that I cannot back the blade into the cut to continue because of the blade not being square front to back. The blades I use are fd ultra reverse all sizes and they are flat on the back. They do not show any signs of being twisted or bent once I loosen them to go to another entry hole or to change blades. Erv Hmm, Are you saying if you cut a straight line and want to back up slightly you can't because the blade front to back is out of alignment? This shouldn't cause you not to back up.. Now, if the blade was out of whack side to side yes.. Is the blade when clamped in in the center of each clamp? I could see that causing this especially if they are way out off center.. such as the top one all the way to one side and the bottom one all the way on the opposite side and depending on the position of the stroke could put the blade in a bind.. This is also a problem with the blade heating up and slightly expanding the metal of the blade thus pinching it in the kerf even more. Would think the blades wouldn't last as long too. OCtoolguy and Roberta Moreton 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redwine Posted July 31 Author Report Share Posted July 31 19 hours ago, kmmcrafts said: Hmm, Are you saying if you cut a straight line and want to back up slightly you can't because the blade front to back is out of alignment? This shouldn't cause you not to back up.. Now, if the blade was out of whack side to side yes.. Is the blade when clamped in in the center of each clamp? I could see that causing this especially if they are way out off center.. such as the top one all the way to one side and the bottom one all the way on the opposite side and depending on the position of the stroke could put the blade in a bind.. This is also a problem with the blade heating up and slightly expanding the metal of the blade thus pinching it in the kerf even more. Would think the blades wouldn't last as long too. I have times when what I want to say doesn't come out right! The backing back is when I make a cut up into a "v" or something similar, than turn the project to make the cut down the other side of the "v". That is where the problem with the blade not being not being "square" front to back shows up. When that happened with other saws it was the table not being at a true 90* to the blade. This is what I thought at first but the table is 90* to the side of the blade, no problem. I will keep working on it, can't be that big a problem. Thanks everyone for the advise. Erv Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kmmcrafts Posted July 31 Report Share Posted July 31 1 hour ago, redwine said: I have times when what I want to say doesn't come out right! The backing back is when I make a cut up into a "v" or something similar, than turn the project to make the cut down the other side of the "v". That is where the problem with the blade not being not being "square" front to back shows up. When that happened with other saws it was the table not being at a true 90* to the blade. This is what I thought at first but the table is 90* to the side of the blade, no problem. I will keep working on it, can't be that big a problem. Thanks everyone for the advise. Erv Ohh okay, Yeah written word is many times hard to interpret what your trying to say. After looking at some web photos of the saw it looks to me like it'd be really easy to shim the table to get this corrected.. That is kinda what many folks did back in the day with the Dewalt saws that had this issue. Looks like you could just remove the bolts to the table and place some washers or shims to raise the table where needed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redwine Posted July 31 Author Report Share Posted July 31 4 hours ago, kmmcrafts said: Ohh okay, Yeah written word is many times hard to interpret what your trying to say. After looking at some web photos of the saw it looks to me like it'd be really easy to shim the table to get this corrected.. That is kinda what many folks did back in the day with the Dewalt saws that had this issue. Looks like you could just remove the bolts to the table and place some washers or shims to raise the table where needed. Thanks for that advise, I will give that a try! I have all sizes of washers! The thought closed my mind that when I built a bench to set it on,I tilted it a good amount, like I had the old P20 tilted, but that wouldn't cause what the problem is! The saw is level all around and does not move so as I said I will give the washers a go! Erv kmmcrafts 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kmmcrafts Posted August 1 Report Share Posted August 1 Keep us posted if it works and if not what you end up doing to make it work, as the info might help someone else someday. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redwine Posted August 1 Author Report Share Posted August 1 Will do! Erv Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redwine Posted August 4 Author Report Share Posted August 4 Kevin, sorry it has taken me so long to get back to you but there was a big thunder storm rolled in Thursday afternoon and it did a number on the wi fi and knocked out the land line phone and my lap top! I have just gotten back some of the items but this lap top is still not right! Anyway I sorted out 6 thin washers that fit over the bolts, one at a time till I got the table tilted enough to fix the front to back square, I tried four but that was to much and it went back to the old problem! That idea did work and I thank you so much for your time to help me! Enjoy your day and take care! Erv Wichman and kmmcrafts 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kmmcrafts Posted August 4 Report Share Posted August 4 Glad you was able to get it sorted out and working better. Sorry to hear about the storms and what they did.. We've had some strong storms roll through quite a lot more than normal this year.. lots of rain too.. normally the grass is all dried up by July but I've been having to mow 2 times a week to keep up with it... in between the rain, LOL.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redwine Posted August 5 Author Report Share Posted August 5 Understand the mowing of grass in between the monsoon rains! I only have a half yard this year to mow as the rains came way to late this year, but then that is more time in the shop! Once again, thank yor for your help! Erv kmmcrafts 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.