One thing I would inspect closely is the blade. Possibly it has some dulling of the teeth on one side. If the blade is good both sides then I would set the 90 deg vertical with a good square, then I would go back and set the blade straight inline with the guide being sure not to allow the teeth to interfere with the straight edge. I'm surprised that you would have had to change the tracking of the saw.

 

Thanks BlasterStumps. The blade is still in excellent shape as I have only cut up a couple sheets of MDF a couple of cuts in cherry and whatever cuts I have made in the slab I am trying to use for adjustment. The cordless does use a very thin kerf (.05709"/~1.5mm) blade so I was wondering if deflection was causing the rough finish I was seeing. Unfortunately I headed down the path of making adjustments so I will have to follow it through to completion. I am planning to do as you say, set the blade to where I know it is 90 deg vertical and go from there to try to fine tune the tracking. Makita's initial response was that this is not adjustable on the saw. After continued conversation with the rep he sent me a couple pages from the service manual. It appears that Makita recommends no toe-in while Festool recommends ~.006". I would just like to get the saw to where it can give me clean square cuts on sheet stock since my reason for purchase was to not have to lift full sheets of MDF onto my table saw in my small shop. If there are limitations on thicker stock I may have to live with them.

 

Once you are to the point of cutting again to check your progress after setting the saw to the guide, you may have to tweak the adjustment a hair if during the cut it still isn't right. It may take several test cuts to find dead on straight. I would cut some 4' strips of 3/4 stock for the test. I'm sure I'm not telling you anything that you don't already know. : )

 

The stock blade, in my experience, does not give good results in thick stock. I would adjust and test it using 3/4 stock rather than the slab. That high tooth, thin blade cutting the slab could very well be deflecting as you suggested. I have not had to make any adjustments other than the 2 knobs for snugging the saw to the rail.

 

Thanks for the advice BlasterStumps. I am going to go back to ground zero squaring up the blade and attempting to remove the toe-in as best as I can. And tweak from there. I feel like I should find a use for all of the slivers I have shaved off trying to adjust this saw.

Rob - Do you have any suggestions on blades? I was actually quite surprised in how well the stock high-tooth count blade handles the thick cuts. I am sure the super-thin kerf has a lot to do with that. I imagine the Makita engineers went that route to keep the cordless from feeling under powered. But it is very flimsy. I was wondering if one of the blades for the corded model would give me more solid cuts. I am sure it would affect the run time but it is not like I am doing production work and I have a couple of extra batteries to keep charged and running.

Thanks,
George

 

Thanks all for your suggestions. I took some time this past weekend and set my saw back up to be square with the plate and verified it against the cut surface while on the track. This required removing the blade guard which is only five screws. The saw is cutting very good on sheet goods, about perfect on MDF, but is still a little rough on hardwoods. I think I will need to research other blade options for ripping wood. The Makita descriptions for blade use leave a bit to be desired. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

When ripping hardwood I get a bit of blade chatter from the rear of the blade which you can see in this pic. The stock blade is very thin so I think this is just a symptom of blade flexing.

Timing was perfect and I saw a tip from jar944 on Instagram for using a dial indicator to set toe-in. I used the same setup to get my blade to be exactly .005 toe-in. Cuts and measurement of remaining pieces show this to be fairly accurate given the blade width and kerf.

I hope this is helpful to anyone else who may be experiencing similar issues.

I am liking my Makita cordless track saw again!

Thanks,
George

 

I was just about to post up the pics from IG to this thread, lools like don't need to..lol. im glad it helped.

 

Jared,
I was not sure if you were on here. Please post away. I was really getting down on my saw as I was struggling to get it cutting right. Seeing your post on IG was a real shot in the arm for me and gave me the inspiration to press on. Messing with paper, cards, and feeler gauges between wood and a flexible blade had me at my whits end. Your idea made me realize I had the tools necessary to more accurately measure. Thanks for that!!

 

A rip blade may help, not sure if Makita makes one for their track saw though.

 

Rob - Do you have any suggestions on blades? I was actually quite surprised in how well the stock high-tooth count blade handles the thick cuts. I am sure the super-thin kerf has a lot to do with that. I imagine the Makita engineers went that route to keep the cordless from feeling under powered. But it is very flimsy. I was wondering if one of the blades for the corded model would give me more solid cuts. I am sure it would affect the run time but it is not like I am doing production work and I have a couple of extra batteries to keep charged and running.

Thanks,
George

- gtrgeo

I have the corded but assumed it was the same blade. I could be wrong. I have not purchased a rip blade yet, but have been looking at the slightly smaller ones for the Festool saws. Makita does make a 165mm one.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B078M38XX7/ref=ox_sc_saved_title_3?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&psc=1

 

Rob - Do you have any suggestions on blades? I was actually quite surprised in how well the stock high-tooth count blade handles the thick cuts. I am sure the super-thin kerf has a lot to do with that. I imagine the Makita engineers went that route to keep the cordless from feeling under powered. But it is very flimsy. I was wondering if one of the blades for the corded model would give me more solid cuts. I am sure it would affect the run time but it is not like I am doing production work and I have a couple of extra batteries to keep charged and running.

Thanks,
George

- gtrgeo

I have the corded but assumed it was the same blade. I could be wrong. I have not purchased a rip blade yet, but have been looking at the slightly smaller ones for the Festool saws. Makita does make a 165mm one.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B078M38XX7/ref=ox_sc_saved_title_3?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&psc=1

- RobHannon

The cordless does come with a different blade than the corded model. It is a 56 tooth ATBR. I have seen the blade you linked to but was not sure how good of a cut it would provide given the "Framing" designation on the blade and it is ATB rather than the flat top/raker as is standard on rip blades. I may just end up going with one the Freud offerings. For some reason they only offer 160mm blades in the US. They do have 165mm blades available in the UK. Apparently Axminster offers shipping to the US but I have not looked into how cost effective that would be vs losing <1 /> cut depth.

Thanks,
George

 

When using the stock Makita blade on my corded Makita track saw, I had a similar problem. In my case, I was trying to get glue-ready straight-line rip cuts, but they were coming out slightly banana-shaped. After verifying that my track was straight, track-adjusters snug, the saw's toe-in was set at zero, etc., I also began suspecting a blade-dynamics problem.

This led to a whole lot of experimentation on 3/4" MDF, and I finally found a smoking gun.

With the track clamped to the workpiece, I found that that if I first made a skim cut, the kerf line was straight. When I followed that with a normal through cut, the cut line would enter the workpiece at the skim cut, but drift a bit more than 1/64" outboard of the skim-cut by the time the blade was fully engaged. The through-cut would then taper back in toward the cut line at the very end of the cut, as the saw blade was exiting the cut. But if I did a plunge-cut in the middle of the workpiece, the blade would cut exactly on the skim-cut kerf.

The blade had very little use, but it did have a bit of pitch buildup. So I cleaned it thoroughly, inspected for noticeable wear or damage, and then re-tested. The results were exactly the same.

Then I found a video on YouTube where another guy had a similar problem. He bought a different blade, and the problem disappeared.

So I sold my first-born son and bought a Forrest WW16507100, which is a 160 mm blade with a 3/32" kerf. It has a thicker plate, not to mention a huge amount of carbide in the teeth. I put it to the same test, and the cut-line drift problem was completely gone. A good straightedge and feeler gauges confirmed that the cut line was straight to within 0.003" over a 3' cut-possibly even a bit better. And for the first time, I was consistently getting square edges-at least to within my measuring ability on 3/4" stock.

 

Amazing results Dennis thanks!

 

Dennis,
Sorry to hear you also had the same types of problems with the stock Makita blade. Glad to know I am not the only one and that you were able to find a solution. I was not aware that Forrest made a blade for the track saws, will need to check that out. Not sure how the cordless model would do with a blade that heavy though. I see that Infinity also makes 165mm blades but they seem to be more for sheet goods. The Festool 28 tooth blade looks like it may be a good option for ripping and the cost is not horribly high. For the most part I believe the stock blade will be fine since the primary reason for acquiring the saw for me was to cut down sheet goods.

Thanks,
George

 

I prefer the tenryu 160mm 28 tooth blade. I generally leave it (have 3) in the saw for straight lining lumber and ply. Im not a fan of the freud track saw blades

 

George, I am glad I found this thread and am hoping you can provide some more input on adjusting the Makita blade for 90 degrees. I have searched and found nothing else besides adjusting the saw to the track.

I bought the corded version of the saw awhile back and my first little project was to build a mobile dust collector and after making all my cuts and put things together, nothing was 90 degrees to each other.

I have all Makita cordless tools, so I just ordered the cordless version with 2 extra batteries and a 39" track.

And sure enough, it doesn't cut 90 degrees out of the box either when set at 0 degrees.

Both manuals under the adjusting 0 degree and 45 degree cut accuracy state "These adjustments have been made at the factory. But if they are off, you can adjust them as the following procedures." They show/state to adjust the adjusting bolt on the leading edge of the saw. But there are 2 adjusting bolts, c/t the -1 degree locks. It doesn't say which direction to turn to increase or decrease the angle, and also ignores the other adjusting bolt.

I would post some pics, but I no longer have a functioning photobucket account. Basically both my saws have a blade angle set at like +1 or so degrees.

Can you provide any input on your adjustment procedure, as far as which direction to turn the adjustment knob(s) to decrease the angle and bring it back towards 0 degrees. And the use of the other adjusting bolt? Seems like you would need to back off both bolts initially, otherwise one bolt would be holding it in position going in one direction of adjustment.

Or, since you got some adjustment info from Makita, maybe they provide more info than the owners manual does which provides very little info, I could get that from you.

Thanks for any input you can provide.

 

I agree, the information in the Makita manual is very sparse and does not give much or any direction which is why I contacted their help line. Even there they were very tight with the information and refused to respond to emails.

When adjusting the saw to cut at 90deg I found it easiest to back off the set screw in the base toward the rear of the saw and only make adjustments to the set screw towards the front which is also closest to the degree scale. Tightening the screw will increase the angle and loosening the screw will reduce the angle toward 0deg and also has the ability to go to -1 or -2 deg, maybe more. You have to be careful when adjusting these screws as it can and will cause warping of the bottom plate if the knobs are tight. Always make sure the knobs at either end of the saw are loose when adjusting the set screws to prevent creating any twist in the plate. The plate is somewhat flexible and it will tend to stay twisted once the knobs are tightened while the plate is not flat. Hope that is not confusing.

Once I feel comfortable that the saw is set to 90deg and cutting well I adjusted the rear set screw while carefully monitoring the flatness of the bottom plate with a straight edge. You will see when the rear set screw is making contact as any further tightening of the screw will cause the plate to warp. This becomes obvious with a straight edge on the plate or set it on a flat surface, the saw will rock.

In use I also always make sure my saw is setting on a flat surface when making angle adjustments and tightening the knobs at each end. This keeps the bottom plate flat which ensures the angle stays true through the cut.

 

Sorry to be so redundant regarding the plate flatness. It was an issue I struggled with at the start and wanted to make sure you did not go down the same rabbit hold.

One more thing regarding blades. It may be tempting to use standard 6-1/2" circular saw blades due to cost. This is possible but will require some added parts in my experience. The shaft on the saw is a standard 5/8" and the washers have a step to hold the 20mm plunge saw blade. It would appear you can just flip over the outer washer and run a standard blade.

I found this to not work well after again chasing down a rabbit hole of a saw not cutting square. I found that just flipping the washer on an inexpensive Diablo circular saw blade caused the blade to cup due to how the washers were mating.

I purchased a set of washers for Makita's 6-1/2" cordless circular saw and this resolved the problem with the cupping of the blade. This solution did leave the cut line a couple millimeters out from the cut line with the stock blade. This may not be an issue if you only use the standard blades to the splinter guard on your rail or are not concerned with cut quality.

George

 

Let me give you guys some advice. First off, get rid of the stock blade. The stock blades are junk. Get a high tooth blade for cutting plywood and a 24 tooth blade for ripping solid woods. Use these blades properly and don't try to rip solid wood with the high tooth count plywood blade and vice versa.

Second, you don't want your blade to be toed in or out. How can you expect to get a perfect cut when you don't start from a perfect position. There is nothing to be gained from towing in or out your blade. Only thing gained is a poor quality cut.

Set your blade up to be perfectly 90 degree to the base plate and check it with a good quality metal square not a plastic or previously cut wood. Make the adjustments to the saw so that the blade is cutting perfectly parallel to the track. Check it with a high quality metal square. Last take a high quality metal straight edge and check to make sure that your base plate is flat. Do not rely on your eyes alone. Instead use feeler gauges and a high quality precision straight edge. Not a level or a piece of wood.

Do these things and with the correct blade you will be perfect. If you deviate from ANY of this you will get subpar results. For Pete's sake don't toe in or out your saw!

 

Hi George - thank you for posting this! I'm a new member on LJ as well as a new owner of the Makita cordless track saw. My plan is to use it in a couple days so I've been researching how to calibrate it and came upon your post. Would you be willing to share the information you received from Makita in regards to setting the saw up by chance? I'm happy to hear you've been able to crack the code!

- Derrick

 

Hi George - thank you for posting this! I m a new member on LJ as well as a new owner of the Makita cordless track saw. My plan is to use it in a couple days so I ve been researching how to calibrate it and came upon your post. Would you be willing to share the information you received from Makita in regards to setting the saw up by chance? I m happy to hear you ve been able to crack the code!

- Derrick

- dcodco101

Sorry, I am not on here much in the summer. Will send you a PM to get you the documents I have.

George

 

Hello George,
I'm having cutting issues with Makita corded, bought a new blade, and tested the 2nd saw, and still have the issue, and as a new member, I cannot contact you yet until I have 5 posts.
Could you share with me the Makita information?
Thanks

Joseph

 

Comes in a 4' and 8' model. Clamps not included.

 

sent a message

Hello George,
I m having cutting issues with Makita corded, bought a new blade, and tested the 2nd saw, and still have the issue, and as a new member, I cannot contact you yet until I have 5 posts.
Could you share with me the Makita information?
Thanks

Joseph

- zekaty