Alignment Of The Blade - Sears Craftsman 113.198311 Operator's Manual

Alignment of the Blade
The blade of your radial arm saw must be
aligned properly for two reasons: to make
cuts accurate, and to prevent binding of the
blade and workpiece which can cause jams or
thrown workpieces.
These adjustments must be done in order,
before using your saw for the first time. If
they are not done in order the saw will not
cut accurately. If you miss an adjustment, you
must go back to the adjustment you missed
and repeat all steps from that point on.
These adjustments are like fine tuning a
piece of equipment. Often a series of steps
must be repeated more than once in order to
get the adjustment just right.
WARNING:
Plugging the saw in
during alignment can result in your
fingers, hand, or arm being cut off from
blade contact. Do not plug in the saw at
any time during alignment. The saw
should only be plugged in when it is to be
used.
Make sure that the blade and blade guard are
removed from the arbor shaft before begin-
ning to align your saw. Do not install the
blade or blade guard until you are instructed
to do so.
Adjusting Elevation
The goal of this adjustment is to make up-
ward and downward movement of the radial
arm smooth and firm. If the column that sup-
ports the arm is too tight it will be difficult to
move the arm up and down and to get ac-
curate depth of cut. If the column is loose the
blade may "walk" on the workpiece and stall
the motor, or cause a heel in bevel and com-
pound cuts.
1. Use a 1/8" hex "L"wrench to loosen the
four screws in the front of the column
support. (Figure 53)
Four Socket
2. Raise and lower the radial arm by turning
the handwheel a few turns in each direction.
It should take about the same amount of ef-
fort to lower the arm as to raise it.
3. If movement seems smooth and the
column does not rock back and forth, go to
the next section, or
If movement seems difficult, loosen the four
bolts in the back of the column slightly
(Figure 54) and go back to step 2, or
23
If column rocks back and forth, tighten the
four bolts in the back of the column slightly
(Figure 54) and go back to step 2.