Riving knife alignment

[RedShirtGuy]

I've landed myself a Ryobi ETS1526AL table saw (only now after a bit of reading here do I realise it may have been a poor choice ) and being a TS newbie I'm a tad confused about the alignment of the riving knife.

The instructions say to attach the knife by its slots directly around the nut heads and to ensure the blade and knife line up. This is physically impossible as there is a metal shim the width of the blade that isn't mentioned in the instructions that is stopping that from happening.

Am I correct in assuming that the blade and knife should be perfectly aligned and that I should completely remove this (oily) shim to do that? Would it be ok to attach the knife with the shim on the outside of it for some extra pressure around the knife's slots?

If this is any help, this is what I'm expecting to have from the included pieces if my assumption is correct:

mounting brackets -> riving knife -> (shim ->) flat washer -> split washer -> nut head

I'm not sure on the proper washer locations either so if it's not too much to ask...any suggestions there as well? Obviously if they're pushing the knife out of alignment I'll move them around, but that description above seems logical to me (who doesn't really know what he's on about anyway. Hehe)

Thanks.

[Cruzi]

There is no need to remove the bolts at all, the bottom of the riving knife should have slots, which allow you to push it down into position when the bolts have been loosened.
The riving blade fits between the 2 plates, the bolts and washers are on the outside of the plate.
Basically it goes as you thought.

As for the Ryobi being a poor choice.........

If it is what you could afford, its a great choice, it works well, but you do need to work around and with its limitations.
Of course its not as good as a 3hp cast iron topped $1700 one, but it will do nearly everything once you know how to make it work.

There is a recent thread in the General woodworking section about this saw, read it.