This is the first in a series of posts that will cover several areas of the table saw that need to be aligned. They are: Rip fence rails, rip fence, sliding miter table, crosscut fence.
Both table saws share many components and the BT3100 is an incremental version of the BT3000. These alignment procedures will work on both versions of the Ryobi table saw. These are not the only ways to align your table saw; however, they are accepted as ‘best practices’ for aligning the table saw.
Some background terminology is needed. There are to general types of tests static, and dynamic. Static tests are performed when the table saw is powered down. Dynamic tests are performed when the saw is running in ‘normal usage mode’. When the saw is being used various forces are being applied to the saw blade, rip fence, sliding miter table and the crosscut fence. These forces will change the results slightly from the static results. For safety’s sake, dynamic tests will only be performed when needed while keeping the operator safe!
The final thing is, knowing when to stop. Eventually you will reach a point where the table saw is in as good of an alignment that it can be. Bear in mind that most of the measurements will be in thousands of an inch. When working with measurements this small slight force changes, such as the pressure of the stock against the rip fence at the front verses the back, will change the results slightly.
