Vertical Alignment Jig

This video shows how to build a jig using a dial indicator to check that your table saw blade is precisely vertical (or anything else is vertical like a tilting fence). Naturally, I wanted to 3D print something to do the job.

The files are published on thingiverse as Vertical Alignment Jig.

Here is all the parts I came up with. A 3D printed base and a 3D printed clamp that slides into the base and holds the dial indicator. An M3 bolt and nut secures the clamp:

Loosely attach the bolt and nut while you can easily get to both sides of the clamp:

Slide the clamp onto the base. You can glue it if you like, but on my printer I got a very snug push fit so I didn't think glue was required:

Now you can insert the dial indicator and screw down the bolt to clamp it into place at a convenient angle to read the dial:

Test that a square can be used to push in the plunger to the exact same plane as the end of the stop printed on the base:

Best to detrmine the zero position on the table saw itself, which is probably more level than the previous test location (although I see the dial reads about the same):

Now push the stops against the blade and if the plunger reads the same, then the blade is indeed vertical. As I suspected, the blade on my saw was not exactly vertical:

Adjust the blade tilt (being sure to push the stops back against the blade as it may tilt away from them), and now the blade is indeed level:

The continuing saga of the table saw improvements can be found here.

Go back to my main Solidoodle page.