Brand new to wood working.. Is my riving knife, just bad?


lavenderallen89

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I'd like to first please ask for no negative comments about my lack of knowledge.. I'm new. I've spent the last month watching various videos on using a table saw from safety tips and set up procedures to step by step instructions on how to make complex items. Ok, so the other day I bought my very first table saw. I decided on the Kobalt 1015 portable model because its my first one and in that price range it seemed to be the best for my needs.  I was super excited to get home and set it up.. all went well until I placed the riving knife to the through cut position.. It was obvious that it needed to be adjusted, I could see with my naked eye that it was not aligned with the blade. I made sure the blade was installed correctly, and also the appropriate size for my riving knife according to my manual. made sure it was at 90 degrees from the table surface. I read and re read the manual on how to adjust the riving knife as well as watched videos on the process. Its a nightmare, I cannot for the life of me get it to where it needs to be, it seems if the horizontal alignment is true, then the vertical is off, so I go to fix that, then it is either way too loose, or i just cant tighten enough to fix the problem. I would like to know if anyone has this model and ran into similar problems, or know anything about weather or not I just got a jacked up riving knife right out of the box, or if maybe theres some obvious thing that I am missing. I would hate to take the thing back just to realize the problem is with me and not the machine. Thanks in advance for any advice you can give. 

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Welcome to the forums!

 

I have never used that saw and it sounds like your (understandably) getting frustrated with it.  The riving knife is a very important safety item and my hat's off to you for tracking down the solution rather than just removing it.

 

Have you contacted their customer service for advice?  You might also search youtube for others in your same situation with the same saw.

 

Best of luck!

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Do they have a display model set up at the store? I would check it out and see if it looks right. If so, look it over and see if yours is set up the same. If so, return yours and exchange it. The riving knife is too important for safety and only works when installed correctly.Good Luck and let us know how it goes,

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FIRST order of business.....WELCOME!!

Second order of business - lack of knowledge, you're in the right place.  We all run into things like this - experienced or not so you've come to the right place.  Usually riving knives just drop into place and tighten up...usually.  My best advice is give customer service a call.  It's probably something simple that you're overlooking OR they may have packed the wrong riving knife.  Again, welcome!

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Thank you all for the warm welcome, Indeed all I needed to do was call customer service (I hadn't tried because I'm antisocial like that :P) I feel a little stupid for not thinking of this in the first place, Turns out it was something fairly obvious, well it might be to people with experience, but for me it wasn't, nor was it anywhere in the manual to look out for or in any videos about adjusting the riving knife.  So I figured I would write this for any others who came up short on the google search for this particular model and trouble shooting, and well for others without this model who are beginners.  So for the Kobalt 1015 15amp 10in table saw, If you are having problems with the riving knife alignment/calibration take it out to see if it is flat. (I know it seems like common sense, but really I never even thought to check that. So customer service said I had two options, I could put in for a replacement knife, or I could just take the saw back and exchange it for a new one or refund. Considering the reviews on this particular model I'm going to chalk it up to I just got a bad one and since exchanging it is quicker, I'm going that route. Crossing my fingers that the next one will be in much better shape out of the box :D

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Welcome to the forums! I'm glad we helped you get where you need to go. If your experiences are anything like mine (I'm relatively new to woodworking), you'll be here often with what seems like stupid questions. I can assure you they are not. As you know by now a riving knife is an indispensable piece of safety equipment which needs to be set up correctly function properly.

 

Don't forget, woodworking is a marathon not a sprint. Take your time with this. For me, this was a hard hard lesson to learn. I only get one day a week doing woodworking so my time in the shop is precious and fixing something as simple and seemingly trivial as a riving knife can be very frustrating. Learn to enjoy finding solutions to that kind of problem and your table saw experiences will be more enjoyable, knowing that your riving knife will keep you safe from kickback or worse.

 

Life's a journey, not a destination.

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Thank you all for the warm welcome, Indeed all I needed to do was call customer service (I hadn't tried because I'm antisocial like that :P) I feel a little stupid for not thinking of this in the first place, Turns out it was something fairly obvious, well it might be to people with experience, but for me it wasn't, nor was it anywhere in the manual to look out for or in any videos about adjusting the riving knife.  So I figured I would write this for any others who came up short on the google search for this particular model and trouble shooting, and well for others without this model who are beginners.  So for the Kobalt 1015 15amp 10in table saw, If you are having problems with the riving knife alignment/calibration take it out to see if it is flat. (I know it seems like common sense, but really I never even thought to check that. So customer service said I had two options, I could put in for a replacement knife, or I could just take the saw back and exchange it for a new one or refund. Considering the reviews on this particular model I'm going to chalk it up to I just got a bad one and since exchanging it is quicker, I'm going that route. Crossing my fingers that the next one will be in much better shape out of the box :D

 

Lots of times these manufacturers have online chats as well.

 

Glad you found the problem!  Best of luck with the next one!

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  • 4 years later...
On 7/28/2014 at 12:34 PM, lavenderallen89 said:

Thank you all for the warm welcome, Indeed all I needed to do was call customer service (I hadn't tried because I'm antisocial like that :P) I feel a little stupid for not thinking of this in the first place, Turns out it was something fairly obvious, well it might be to people with experience, but for me it wasn't, nor was it anywhere in the manual to look out for or in any videos about adjusting the riving knife.  So I figured I would write this for any others who came up short on the google search for this particular model and trouble shooting, and well for others without this model who are beginners.  So for the Kobalt 1015 15amp 10in table saw, If you are having problems with the riving knife alignment/calibration take it out to see if it is flat. (I know it seems like common sense, but really I never even thought to check that. So customer service said I had two options, I could put in for a replacement knife, or I could just take the saw back and exchange it for a new one or refund. Considering the reviews on this particular model I'm going to chalk it up to I just got a bad one and since exchanging it is quicker, I'm going that route. Crossing my fingers that the next one will be in much better shape out of the box :D

 

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I’ve got same saw. Riving knife is straight. Blade is 90. But been fighting this issue for a couple years. went back and forth between knife loose but could be forced in line or out of line and tight. FINALLY FIGURED IT OUT!  So figured I’d go from a reader to a poster. 

The three Allen wrench screws work together.   Raise knife to cut thru setting.  Have the lock knob tight as u can get but able to get Allen wrench to all three screws. Facing blade from cutting position my blade was 1/8” to right if blade when tight.  If like mine Loosen the bottom screw. This should allow blade to tilt to left (away from screws). This loosen top screws so tightened these. As you tighten the top screws the top of knife will move right(toward screws). You’ll have to Keep doing small loosen/tighten between top and bottom screws to get it in line and tight both. I found loosen/tighten in quarter turns works  

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