Replies

1. 
   ProDek | Aug 16, 2003 06:16pm | #1

   We cut lot's of compound angles and prefer to keep our blade snug but not tight. this will save your gears, eliminate kickback, and help you keep all your fingers if your saw does bind.

   Good topic- most think a blade wrench is for snapping the head off of the blade bolt.

   You're talking chop saw and I'm talking about worm drives, but we use the "snug" rule for all our blades. 

   "Rather be a hammer than a nail"

   Bob

1. 
   allenschell2 | Aug 16, 2003 06:24pm | #2

   Thanks for the input Bob.  I'll think I will just try snug instead of tight,  it's really never much of a problem unless I'm cutting really big pieces.  Seems like I can cut 50 treads and all of a sudden one will close up on me.

2. 
   Piffin | Aug 16, 2003 07:34pm | #3

   I've told it here before but this is a good place to throw in about the DW portable table saw arbor and nut.

   I have taken to taking the blade off to clean it often. One reason is that about 1-1/2 years ago, I had the arbor nut explode on me- shattering into about five or six pieces.

   Once I finally got through to somebody with the authority to do something about it, DW tech replaced it and the blade. He explained that the camber or something about the angle of the thread shoulders will cause the nut to continually tighten itself while in operation, sometimes to an extreme point of causing what I had experienced. Apparantly, mine was not the first one.

   The only thing unique about my usage when it happen3ed is that I had ripped a few sheets of ply the day before. The saw was set up in the customer's garage and it got down to about 20° that night. I flipped the switch and no sooner than I touched the 2x8 to the blade and POW! Ther must have been something about the cold shrinking the hot metal that was the straw to break the camels back.

   .

   Excellence is its own reward!

1. 
   allenschell2 | Aug 16, 2003 08:13pm | #4

   "will cause the nut to continually tighten itself while in operation"

   Is that on an arbor with reverse threads?

1. 
   SamT | Aug 16, 2003 08:21pm | #5

   All arbors are designed to tighten themselves in operation.

   However, do not allow the system to start loose and tighten itself...please don't ask me how I know this.

   SamT

   True, the white man brought great change. But the varied fruits of his civilization, though highly colored and inviting, are sickening and deadening. And if it be the part of civilization to maim, rob, and thwart, then what is progress?

   I am going to venture that the man who sat on the ground in his tipi meditating on life and its meaning, accepting the kinship of all creatures, and acknowledging unity with the universe of things, was infusing into his being the true essence of civilization....

   Chief Luther Standing Bear, 1933,              From the Land of the Spotted Eagle, p.515

1. 
   briankeith | Aug 16, 2003 08:34pm | #6

   That's what I thought, too.

   Makes sense.....you put the blade on snug and then have to give it hard tweak to get it loose.

   and the blade bolt on my PC 743 (lefty) is a left handed thread.

   Dewalt must have just gone for the x-tra tight thread.

   Bet that was a start when it came apart.

   Anyway, I also just snug up my blades, never really torque 'em.View Image

1. 
   Piffin | Aug 16, 2003 08:45pm | #7

   "Bet that was a start when it came apart. "

   Let's just say thtat it left me taking a nut inventory, LOL

   The pieces either dropped straight down, or exited out the exhaust chute. Had a guy been there to recieve offcuts, he'd have been black and blue at least..

   Excellence is its own reward!

2. 
   NickNukeEm | Aug 17, 2003 12:20am | #8

   Piffin, if we ever meet on a job, I'm gonna stand well clear of you when you're operating rotating machinery with fast moving cutters.  In the last couple of days you told us about exploding carbide router bits, and now saw blade arbor nuts.  If you were a cat, your nine lives would be all used up.

   Be safe.

   I never met a tool I didn't like!

1. 
   Piffin | Aug 17, 2003 01:14am | #9

   There was a thread or two about injuries and scars suffered in our careers, and somebody said the same about me after reading my "medical history".

   Excellence is its own reward!

1. 
   skids | Aug 17, 2003 04:19am | #10

   at work a few years ago we all got handed a printout of instructions on how much to tighten the blade in a wormdrive skillsaw. apparently there is some sort of anti-kickback feature built in to the saw that is over-ridden if you tighten it too much. so just snug em up, don't get it super tight.

   piffin's story reminds me of the time in high school woodshop when i was working with the radial arm saw. i was measuring for a cut and had the lock on the tape engaged but it didn't hold. as the tape started creeping toward the saw i realized that i shouldn't grab for it. when the blade hit the tape it made the loudest bang, and got the attention of everyone even in the noisy woodshop. then all of a sudden there were all these 4" long pieces of tape measure floating all over the shop. just like confetti in a ticker tape parade. fortunately no-one got hurt and lesson learned.

1. 
   allenschell2 | Aug 18, 2003 03:57am | #11

   I thought you all might find this interesting, from Ben over in knots.......

   : 

   BEN1109  

   9:40 am 

   To: 

   ALLENSCHELL2

    (8 of 9) 

    

   13471.8 in reply to 13471.1 

   you were pretty fortuninate to find a dealer that new your solution to your  problem. I use to work for Makita and heard that problem many times and everyons said that the arbor was bent , and needed a new armature. The inner & outter flange will warp after many years of use. The slide compound saw is a great machine, but maintain it with makita origional parts , and it will last you more than another 7 years. Good luck

    

    

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