PT

Paul <"The Stillwater Worksop">

25/09/2005 7:33 PM

Questions for General 650 owners

Just bought a General 650 table saw.
Seems like a nice, solid saw but I'm having a few problems getting the
fence installed correctly.

After I got everything together, I did some measuring.
Found I had two problems.
1) far right end (as you face saw) of the square tube the fence rides on
was about 1/16" lower than the far left side - as referenced from table top.
2) far right end of the tube was 3/4" away from the table, while far
left end was 7/8" from the table.
( could not get all seven bolts in to bolt the square tube to the front
rail - bolt on far right matched up so poorly I gave up, figuring it
would not matter - first sure sign of disaster, ignoring common sense ).

Spent the next few hours cursing the fates, clenching teeth, kicking the
dog, blaming the public school system and sulking.
For some reason, that didn't help.

Took tube off, front rail off and looked them over.
Tube is dead straight and flat. I have another tube around from an old
Exacta fence and they both mate up perfectly.
Front rail on the other hand is bowed about 1/16" in the middle. Both on
the side that touches the table saw and the side that faces the floor.

So I bolted the tube to the front rail with both off the saw.
It was a lot easier to bolt together and when it was together the two
far ends were the same distance from the tube. Slightly closer in the
middle. Starting to look less like defective parts and more like setup
errors.

I figure it dipped on the far right because you bolt the left half of
the front rail on first, which I made level with the tablesaw top.
I also figure the tube was different distances from the table top
because I did a poor job attaching the seven bolts - six in my case.

Finally to the quesions!

Can someone please run a line along the bottom of your front rail (like
snapping a chalk line ) and tell me if there is any bow? If so, how much.

I was thinking of attaching the left side of the front rail as I did
before, then slightly lifting the far right end to flatten the bow
before drilling into the particle board table.
Did anyone do anything like that? Not real wild about introducing stress
like that but there would not be much force involved - finger pressure
at most.

Did you have problems lining up the holes for the seven bolts in the
tube or could you spin them on with your fingers?

How did you attach the legs on the extension table?
The spot I see them in the picture puts them right on top of the metal
clips that hold the extension table top to the sides.
I bought some 1 3/4" bolts for the two end holes so that after they are
attached to the table and tightened down, about 1/2" of bolt sticks out
that I can slide the legs on and bolt them on to.


Unrelated quesions: a) does your saw give a nice whump on start up?
Sure hope it's harmless because I like it. Tells me this is not my
dad's Oldsmobile and b) do you have a mobile base? Which one?


Thanks.

--
Paul
The Stillwater Workshop
netcomcastppccsm


This topic has 2 replies

DW

"Dave W"

in reply to Paul <"The Stillwater Worksop"> on 25/09/2005 7:33 PM

26/09/2005 9:10 AM

I have the 650, my rails are dead straight in both dimensions. Suggest you
have a word with General or the distributor. The whump on startup is part
of the deal....The motor goes from zero to 3600 RPM in a big hurry and
accelerates the belts, arbor and blade at the same time. It is a great saw,
whump and all!

Uu

"Upscale"

in reply to Paul <"The Stillwater Worksop"> on 25/09/2005 7:33 PM

26/09/2005 9:24 AM

"Dave W" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> I have the 650, my rails are dead straight in both dimensions. Suggest
you
> have a word with General or the distributor. The whump on startup is part
> of the deal....The motor goes from zero to 3600 RPM in a big hurry and
> accelerates the belts, arbor and blade at the same time. It is a great
saw,
> whump and all!

So it's a whumping great saw eh? :)


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