Craftsman - 218330 10" Contractor Table Saw (Rating: 4)

I purchased this saw as an upgrade February 2010, at a very good price with the blessings of my wife. I initially had some of the same issues others had with the set up of this TS. My son saw an entry in LJ's that very helpful and I joined. I changed the bolts, washers, etc. What was the most help was an entry that suggested loosening the 45/90 set screws in front of the blade and everything just fell right into place.

The saw was packed well, it did not have damage and/or missing parts. The included instructions might as well have been left out all together. There were 2 small scratches on the table top, they were minor and I was able to live with them. It took about 4 hours to initially set up. Would have been helpful to have had a second pair of hands. I did when I placed the TS on the wheels. Had the normal paint that chipped when the screws were tightened down, the wings are not the best but I was able to get them level, the fence rails were a journey in themselves to adjust properly and the fence it self was not bad at all. As previously said I had alignment issues, but they were solved. I checked the arbor, the table top and the rail with a dial indicator. All was well. I checked the blade with a Wixey several times by starting in the top blade position all the way down to the lowest blade position. Dead one at 90 deg and also at 45 deg. Someone provided me with this link www.tablesawalignment.com. I set the TS according to these instructions and it has been dead ever since. I was not able to get much use out the TS for a while due to a prior back injury that flared up. I was able to start to make saw dust, was making some finger joints, was having an issue with them not being square (front to back). As it turned out the face of the miter gauge was not 90 deg to the TS. Since there is no adjustment for this it had to go. Everything was going along well in TS land.

UNTIL…., I started to make small boxes again, I tier/step the tops of some of them with he TS. I started to get burning on the back side of the blade. I checked everything with the dial gauge as I have a small shop, thinking I may have knocked it out while moving the saw around. Everything was dead on. I was also experiencing the blade slowing down. I used 10" Diablo 60's (thin kerf) and Avanti (thin kerf) 7 1/4" 40's as they are cheaper than the 10" blades and work fine for me.

A friend of mine has a complete set of gauges with extensions and he brought them over. Set the TS up just like for the cut, check the fence in place thinking maybe the rail was bent in this area of use. Fence was straight in place all the way down. Did a test cut and same results. Checked the blade. The back was closer to the fence. Took the panel off the saw, thinking the trunnions had come loose. They were still lined up with the marks I had placed there previously. Checked the arbor for run out and for still being round, which it was all right for both. Changed the blade, checked for square, set it up for the cut with the same results.

Here is what I found out, I have attached pictures. While looking at the blade notice there was a cirle where the blade flange sits behind the nut. As it turns out, my thin kerf blades were slipping. Why you ask, did not I tighten them down. I did, by research and a trip to Sears verified that my arbor threads are about 1/8" shorter that they are supposed to be. So the nut was bottoming out with thin kerf blades. Solved that with a thick 5/8" washer

I took the best pictures I could with my camera. When I use the smaller blade, set the riving knife accordingly and to the proper height for the blade, the back side of the riving knife hits on the housing inside the saw. This causes the back side of the blade to be closer to the fence. There are 3 preset positions for the riving knife. If you use any of these and/or have it all the way up/down it clears. However, if you set it as I have been for the smaller 7 1/4" blades, it does not clear the inside of the saw.

I like the saw, just has some quirks.