Resolving Crooked Cuts Lesson #4

Larry Anderson
Technical Advisor

We now have checked our saw in Lesson #1 and #2 and #3 for Loose Guides, Guide arm Squareness and for Tensioning problems and have yet to find anything wrong.

Wheel Tracking

Now we want to be concerned about the blade sitting firmly within the guides. If the wheels are not tracking properly there is a chance that the blade is not situated deep enough in the guides.

The visual for this is: the teeth are the only thing that should be seen protruding out the bottom of the guide. If the body of the blade is showing there might be something on the guide arm that is pushing the blade out of the guides. If the wheels are badly worn or mis-tracked the blade will be coming off the wheels. This might cause the blades to be below the guides.

The idler wheel, the wheel on the left, has adjustment screws which will force the blade back on the wheel and in turn, will let the blade rest in the right depth in the guides. There most certainly could be a crooked cut if the blade is not completely seated in the guides.