Burning on my table saw

[godsmacker]

hello

I have a ridgid contractor tablesaw, and I was wondering if you guys had any problems/suggestions with burning on rip cuts. I have a freud rip blade from HD(bought recently), I have noticed it burning on all the woods in my shop, oak, walnut, cherry, and esp. on curly maple. any help would be great

[BadgerDave]

Sounds like an alignment problem to me. I suggest you go through the process of realigning both the blade and the fence.

[Sgt Beavis]

If the burning is happening only on your rip cuts and not your crosscuts, then Badger is right. Also, a misalignment that causes burning could lead to kickbacks and is unsafe. The manual has directions for correcting the alignment.

Good luck and be safe.

[Lorax]

Badger Dave and Sgt Beavis are correct. The fence is closer to the back of the blade than to the front. It should be a little (.005-.010") further away at the back of the blade. The most accurate way of aligning the fence is with a dial indicator (sometimes on sale at Harbor freight for about $10-$15).

[VLL]

Was it ripping ok sometime in the past?

Have you used the blade to cut laminate or melamine & then noticed it was burning wood as you ripped it?

Both myself & a buddy of mine had blades that ripped beautifully in hardwood like oak then we cut some melamine not thinking it would effect the blades but it did, his blade was a Tenryu & mine is a Freud TK 906 combination blade.

[hewood]

In addition to checking the alignment of the blade and fence for parallel, be sure to check that both the blade and fence or 90 degrees from the table.

[godsmacker]

I really appreciate everyones info. I am going to go and check the alignment.

It didn't have this problem untill recently, i wasn't sure if was because i was using figured woods, and hardwoods.

[imported_wbrooks]

It is not really likely that the saw just went out of allignment. If you have been using softwood check your blade for pitch build up on the teeth. There are several cleaners available to remove it but if all else fails you can use oven cleaner and a brass brush. Perhaps the blade is just dull and will only cut softwood without burning. Hardwood is less forgiving and requires sharper tools

[godsmacker]

the alignment on the rip fence was off by around of 1/8". WOW. i learned a good lesson on tune ups for my tools. thanks everyone.

[Sgt Beavis]

Originally posted by godsmacker:
the alignment on the rip fence was off by around of 1/8". WOW. i learned a good lesson on tune ups for my tools. thanks everyone. WOW, in woodworking terms, that is the size of the Grand Canyon :D

I'm glad you caught it before it did any damage to your table saw.....or you.