How To Change Blade On A Ridgid Table Saw

I've had problems with the RIDGID table saw R4512 contend and I've seen some complaints from others. The problem is that, when locked, the fence is not parallel to the blade (or the miter rails). So I decided to spend some fourth dimension trying to effigy out the trouble.

I performed every aligning in the manual with no success and I took the debate completely apart to try to figure out the problem. Hither's what I think is happening.

When the fence is not locked down, at that place is a little bit of play in it. This comes from the gap betwixt the T-end of the debate and the edge of the table. There's an equivalent gap where the T-end fits into the groove on the rail.

Trying to reduce the gap so equally to eliminate this play just locks down the debate so that information technology won't move or won't motility easily.

In theory, the play shouldn't be a problem. As the fence is locked downwardly, the T-edge should be pulled toward the table. This should eliminate whatsoever gap and too straighten the debate. The problem is that the rubber grip on the far side of the fence locks down the fence in whatsoever position information technology is in earlier information technology can straighten out, so the fence stays at any crooked angle it is in.

In the above image, the fence is not aligned properly. Clamping information technology down doesn't change the orientation at all.

My solution (we'll see how well it works in the long run) was to supervene upon the T-terminate of the debate with a home-built version that has no play. Here'south what it looks like:

The new T-end has a slice that fits into the rail groove with little play. This slice is fabricated from a sandwich of wood and UHMW plastic. When this slice is in the rail slot, the border of the T-finish touches the edge of the table. Now, when I slide the fence, it remains parallel to the blade even when the contend is not locked downwards.

As shown in the final photo, I was able to move the plastic distance cursors from the onetime T-end to the new i.

I made this T-end from 1/two MDF. Portions of information technology are routed down to 1/8" thick. The UHMW-woods sandwich fits into the runway guide and there is a thin piece of wood that spans the pocket-size gap from the top of the sandwich ot the bottom of the MDF.

This is a hack, but it seems to work OK. I'll know more than after I employ it for a while. I hope this helps someone having the same problem I had.