Re: Big Barn痴 Retirement Farm Shop
Building the 45* jig backwards may not be necessary - I have 2 of the HF 4x6 saws (one from 'way back when HF had ONE store in Camarillo Ca.) and a Jet 8x12 - built 45* inserts for both. Main thing I found was that without welding a tab or two on the jig, it tends to tilt when the vise is tightened - I had to "cut and try" to get that to stop.
And yeah, I'm looking at one of the pics of that "wrong turn" Grizzly...
Since
the main vise jaw should be at "0" to use the adapter anyway, from the pics it looks like you could make the adapter pretty much the same as mine and Terry's - both of mine need a "stop" on the "pointy" end to keep the adapter from "squirting out" of the vise jaws - that stop just comes up against the end of the vise jaw (closest to the blade)
The other tab that was necessary on both of mine is on the OPPOSITE end of the main jaw - it protrudes about 1/2" UNDER the movable end of the jaw, to prevent lift on that end of the adapter. The Grizz has plenty of stick-out on that end to do the same.
Things that will help/improve ANY saw - as soon as it's set up, blade on, and makes straight cuts (not necessarily @ 90*, but not curved or wavy) I use either a mid-sized machinist square (or a digital protractor) and find out what angle the factory "guess" REALLY is - then I cut small (maybe 1/4" thick) pieces of at least 2" square tube til the remaining piece of tube is square enough NOT to see light between the machinist square and the cut -
I make sure when doing this that the jaw's PIVOT bolt has the jaw pushed back (toward the motor end) against its clearance (slop) and tightened, and set at the factory "0" mark.
First I make sure the (newish) blade cuts square VERTICALLY - blade guide bearings should be gapped just enough to BARELY slide the blade between them, then adjust their angle so the vertical cuts are true at BOTH ENDS of the cut - 3" or 4" tube will show this up better than smaller. And yes, it IS possible for the blade ENTRY and EXIT sides of the cut to be DIFFERENT. This part of setting up a saw can be the most frustrating (other than trying to align a saw with a used blade

)
Aligning the vise jaw would be next; (getting the cut straight (90* when looking DOWN at the piece in the vise) is easier, and if you're as picky about this as I am (can ya tell??!? :laughing: ) it will usually require abandoning the idea that the factory "0" is really gonna give you a true 90* cut -
My method for that (which enables me to "RTZ" (ReturnToZero) WITHOUT having to start all over - once the main jaw is giving ACTUAL square cuts with its PIVOT pushed back toward the motor and tightened, I re-check to see if the factory zero marks still line up - if so, great; if not, I'll drag a razor blade along the jaw and scribe a fine line in the bed at TRUE zero - then if I need to cut an odd angle, getting back to true zero is as simple as loosening both jaw bolts, pushing the pivot end of the jaw back toward the motor, snugging that bolt, then putting the other end of the jaw so that scribe line is barely visible, and tightening both bolts the rest of the way.
I would post the sketches I made for me and Terry here, but I still haven't recovered from a recent computer crash that SOME fool :ashamed: hadn't been doing regular backups...
If all this attention to detail isn't your thing, just believe the factory settings - most of us should know that there's more to KEEPING a project true/square/etc than just having accurately cut pieces to begin with. If that's you, it's perfectly fine to just use the factory markings, make your cuts, THEN use a true square and a ton of clamps and braces and "hopscotch" your welds, leaving everything clamped (HARD) til it cools... Steve