TS-Aligner, Jr. added to the shop

To help with the calibration of my new SawStop, I invested in a table saw alignment tool.

After doing a lot of internet and magazine research, I purchased a TS-Aligner, Jr.  from Ed Bennett via his website.  Ed makes these tools himself, and the fit, finish and accuracy is excellent.  The included instructions and DVD are also very good.  It is a bit pricey, but for the quality of the tool, I think that it was worth it.  The TS-Aligner also seems to be more versatile than many other similar products (you can use it to align a lot more than table saws), and it also has some unique features that I think work better than other methods.

It was easy to learn to use, and my saw is now calibrated much more accurately than I would have been able to achieve without it.

Calibration and alignment of woodworking tools is a lot like sharpening for me.  I did not realize how important either of these skills was when I began woodworking, but after time and experience, I've learned that they are necessary evils if you want to be successful.

About mattsanf

Matt Sanfilippo is the Chief Partnership Officer (CPO) for the College of Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) and Co-Director of its Engineering Research Accelerator. In this role, Matt coordinates and enables strategic and sponsored research opportunities across the college, and stewards the development of proposals for major research opportunities along strategic themes. Additionally, he enables collaboration among the college's research institute/center executive directors, and industrial and government relations personnel in the pursuit of opportunities with industry, federal and state governments. Before becoming CPO for the College, Matt was the Senior Executive Director for Research Initiatives, the Executive Director of CMU's SII (Smart Infrastructure Institute) and ICES (Institute for Complex Engineered Systems), and Associate Director of PITA (Pennsylvania Infrastructure Technology Alliance) and RAMP (Research for Advanced Manufacturing in Pennsylvania). Before CMU, Matt was Managing Director of Applied Technology for Michael Baker Corporation, an engineering and energy services firm. Matt managed Baker's technology division including Geographic Information System (GIS), software and web development, multimedia, virtual reality, visualization, Global Positioning System (GPS), mapping and surveying services. Before joining Baker, Matt was an Innovation Director for Redleaf Group, a Venture Capital/Operating Company focused on information security, supply chain and mobility solutions. While at Redleaf, Matt managed technical due diligence for seed-stage investments and coordinated relationships between Redleaf and their partner companies. Prior to Redleaf, Matt was CIO of GZA GeoEnvironmental Technologies, an infrastructure engineering firm, and operations manager for their Internet start-up that focused on web-technologies for health and safety and manufacturing metrics. Matt is on the board of Larson Design Group (LDG), past Chairman of the Board for the Pittsburgh Botanic Garden, current board member of the Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation (PHLF), current Vice President of the Sewickley Heights Gun Club (SHGC) and former member of the Information Sciences and Technology Advisory Board for the Pennsylvania State University Beaver. Matt is also former Vice President of the Pittsburgh Chapter of the Association of Internet Professionals and former Vice President of the Board of Trustees for Baker Combined Charity of Pennsylvania.

Posted on July 27, 2009, in Tools and Shop. Bookmark the permalink. 1 Comment.

  1. I read your post and am going to refer my husband to Ed Bennett’s site. He is currently struggling because the jointer we inherited from my father that he was just LOVING (it’s the first one he’s owned) is now out of alignment. He’s been forced to use his table saw right now to cut (and recut until he can get a straight enough edge to glue up his sides) to make the side pieces to our Chair and Loveseat.
    I think he’ll need to spend some time learning these skills so he can start using his jointer again.
    Thanks for your post.

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