PALS Precision Alignment and Locking System with 8mm Stud

PALS Precision Alignment and Locking System for Contractor Style Table Saw Alignment I never had any luck aligning the blade and fence to the miter slot of my old Craftsman table saw. Banging on the trunnions with a mallet was a very imprecise process that required more luck than skill to align the blade parallel to the miter slot. Several years ago I replaced my trusty Craftsman saw with a Delta 36-441 contractor saw. I used that saw for years, but recently realized that I needed to re-align the blade and fence to the miter slot. I looked for solutions on YouTube and found a great video by Stumpy Nubs that provided an excellent tutorial on how to do the alignment on both cabinet and contractor saws. Stumpy recommended using these alignment clips with contractor saws that don't have adjustment screws to facilitate the process. They worked a treat. I recommend that you first watch Stumpy's video and then watch the video that appears on the Amazon page for this product. They were both a big help for me. Here are two tips for using the clips. - The non-nylok nuts included with the kit require a 12mm wrench. I replaced them with SAE 1/2" nuts. - You may find that you have to bind the standard nut and the nylok nut together on each threaded stud so you can tighten or loosen the studs that you install on the underside of your table's top. I needed to do that because my moderate-strength Locktite was not holding the stud tight in the tablesaw top even after letting it set for a day. . A thin 1/2" open end wrench is very handy when working with the two nuts on the studs. - Pay attention to Stumpy's advice about loosening the two trunnion nuts in the front of your saw. One should be finger-tight and the other one should be slightly tighter so as to provide some friction when shifting the trunnions with the clips in this kit - Pay attention to the advice in the Amazon video about slowly alternating the tightening of the four trunnion nuts after you have the blade aligned with the miter slot.

Wow this really works!!!!!! It took me a little longer than it says because the blade was as far as it could go in the back. I had to loosen both front bolts and move the front over a bit and then it was easy. Question now is why aren’t these saws sold with these. Great product especially for newbies.

Installed this on my old Craftsman table saw the other day. Got my blade lined up to .001 of an inch out at the back away from the fence. Honestly, I think I could have tweaked it to 0 if I'd tried a little more. I'm giving 4 stars because of the headless studs that came with the kit. I had to take one out and use a slightly longer bolt than the original because the splitter support bracket hit it if I tilt the blade past 35 degrees.

I found a Craftsman contractor saw that will work great for my needs. The previous owner bought this saw new in 1998 and has had it in his shop since. It's practically new as he took very good care of it. However, as you know, the Craftsman saws had some issues that need to be addressed. I broke my saw down completely and cleaned and assemble it with some new lube. I had to work on the slot on the rear trunnion to get the blade tilt to work freely. I installed a support inside the side panel to keep it from flexing when tilting the blade. All that done, I needed to align the blade and tune the saw up. I installed this kit on the rear trunnion. Talk about making thing easy ! Installation waw easy. Adjusting the blade was equally easy. If your working with an older saw and you care about the accuracy of you cut, you've got to get one of these.

This is simply too good an idea. The 'official' method of adjusting the trunion position, of loosening the 2 rear cap screws, and then banging the trunion with a mallet and block of wood was nearly impossible because there was always a tendency for the trunion to rebound and spring back after being struck, as well as the changes that would happen as you attempt to re-tighten the screws. Changing to studs and nuts with flat washers would have been a significant upgrade to that. But to be able to dial in the exact position incrementally, and lock that position in with horizontal screw pressure from both sides -- takes this to a new level. I was easily able to adjust to the miter slot within .0005 using a dial gauge. The bad news, if there is any, is that you'll have to make or buy all new zero clearance inserts for the new blade position. Use the stock insert for a week or two and re-check before making the new inserts ...

The PALS system worked well to align my old Delta contractor saw trunnion with the miter slots. It made a difficult task tolerable. The specific glitch with my setup is my Delta saw (built circa 1980) uses metric threads, so the SAE version of PALS I ordered of course did not thread into the trunnions. A trip to the hardware store for 1 1/4 long metric bolts solved that issue. Who knew Delta was making their saws overseas back in the '80's? Moral of the story is to pull a trunnion bolt first to check the threads before ordering the PALS set. For anyone using Delta, be advised that the trunnion is front mounted with four bolts, not just the two that are relatively easily accessible. By lowering the motor (sans blade of course) and then changing the bevel angle from 90 to 45 degrees the two trunnion bolts toward the front of the saw can be accessed. Be prepared to repeat the adjustments several times to get the blade parallel to the miter slots even with the PALS system.

Great product. After using the Delta manufacturer's recommended method of hammer and 2x4 ineffectively, I heard about these online. With detailed, clear written instructions (a rarity these days) I easily installed and adjusted them using the rotating blade method to 1/1000th of an inch. With fence adjusted to the same tolerance my bookshelves and cabinets will be better aligned than the rooms they're going in to. Should be standard on every contractor saw. One caution: make sure the loctite bond has time to fully cure before tightening the nylon lock nuts. Otherwise, you'll just be driving the stud further into the trunnion before they have a chance to engage fully.

This is a nice adjustment addition to your toolbox. It will allow for accurate alignment of the table saw blade to the fence. It was fairly difficult to install on my table saw. Unfortunately, my table saw had some major issues which this tool was not able to overcome though that's not a fault of the tool.