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It's a new day and after visiting two hardware stores, I found dry
silicone spray, as specified in the instructions.
I used a bit of this, and it improved the tables movement but not enough for
the what I was looking for.
I did notice that the steel bars seemed not to be smooth enough — that I
hadn't gotten all the sticky preservative off. I decided to remove the table and start
over.
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I got an old T-shirt out
and used it with WD-40 to remove all the residual preservative that was on the steel and
to polish it real well. After a minute or two on each rail, I could start to see and feel
the difference.
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I may have gone
overboard, but I was determined to have the rails as smooth as I could. I am using the
buffer, but I am sure that polishing with the old T-shirt would have sufficed.
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Next, I used a clean cloth
to remove any residue from the UHMW plastic bushings. I also loosened the bolts that held
each of the bearings on the table. I am sure that they are aligned in the factory, but I
wanted to realign them on the table just in case.
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Since I had buffed the steel
rails totally clean, I sprayed some new dry lubricant on the rails.
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I slid the table back on
the rails. From under the table, I tightened each of the bushings, making sure they were
seated properly on the steel rails. I am happy to report that the table slid smoothly at
this point. The 30 minutes spent cleaning and buffing the steel bars made the difference.
My advice to new users, spend the time necessary to get the bars super clean and then use
the dry silicone spray.
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I move on with the
installation by adding the large washers at both ends of one of the rails. This keeps the
table from sliding off the rails.
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Adding the fence is easy.
You simply slide it onto two T-nuts. The white washer serves as a spacer between the fence
and the table.
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The first step in aligning
the sliding table is to move the fence so that it is at the miter slot. Then you can slide
the table back and forth and adjust the two rails until the sliding table is exactly
parallel with the miter slot.
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This alignment can be
pretty accurate using just the touch, but I decided to use the Master Gage (Super Bar),
since I use it to align the blade and the standard fence. It works as well here. Aligning
by touch was close but not as close as I could do it this way. Now, when I have tightened
the rails, the table is exactly parallel to the miter slot. That is good.
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With the
table aligned, it was very easy to align the fence to the miter slot.
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As always, the real test
is in using the product. This is my first cut with the newly installed Rockler Sliding
Table. The sliding action is smooth. Note, that I have moved the fence further than the
miter slot. It is now 1" away from the blade. I will explain this more in a minute.
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This is the only test that
counts. The cut is right on. Now I can install the accessories that make this product even
more useful.
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