This morning I see that there is a request for the "Roller Holder" part which fits the back of the BT3100 fence. They are apparently not available from ereplacements nor from Ryobi parts. Ryobi doesn't show the part at all as a results of a search.
It seems that more and more we are finding parts being discontinued for the BT3-series saws. That's rather a shame and though my BT is still working fine, it bothers me that someday in the no-to-distant future I might loose it's utility.
A year ago, I helped with making some drawings for 3D printing of the SMT slides and atgcpaul came through with a new design. The drawing and 3D print file was made available here on the web for anyone's use. Not sure if anyone ever did so, but the idea was a good one.
The question is whether there are other parts, like the fence "roller holder' can be made through 3D printing? It's certainly many times larger than the slides, but I still think would be doable. Of course I'm somewhat of a novice to this procedure, but after examining the part on my fence, it looks printable to me.
What do other members think? Or should we just leave well enough alone and let this fine saw just pass because it's parts eventually fail and aren't replaceable beyond cannibalization?
The other challenge with this is the Ryobi detail drawing. While with the SMT slide we took the measurements directly from the part, it would be greatly less time consuming if we could get the detail drawing that Ryobi used to manufacture the part. Does any member have a contact within Ryobi to explore that avenue?
I called Ryobi customer support a few minutes ago and was told that the drawings were probably destroyed. Personally I find that answer somewhat strange, as no manufacturer that I ever had experience with would destroy a drawing, even when the part may have been discontinued. While I do understand the reluctance of making such detail drawings available outside the company, in this case they are no longer manufacturing it, and our purpose would be to simply make a 3-D printable piece for individual use.
While a drawing can be made by taking measurements from the actual part, I really don't want to disassemble my saw to do so and it would take a number of hours of make the 3D printable drawing. Still might be a worthy cause though should the time be available somewhere in the future. But are there other parts that are worthy of exploring?
CWS
It seems that more and more we are finding parts being discontinued for the BT3-series saws. That's rather a shame and though my BT is still working fine, it bothers me that someday in the no-to-distant future I might loose it's utility.
A year ago, I helped with making some drawings for 3D printing of the SMT slides and atgcpaul came through with a new design. The drawing and 3D print file was made available here on the web for anyone's use. Not sure if anyone ever did so, but the idea was a good one.
The question is whether there are other parts, like the fence "roller holder' can be made through 3D printing? It's certainly many times larger than the slides, but I still think would be doable. Of course I'm somewhat of a novice to this procedure, but after examining the part on my fence, it looks printable to me.
What do other members think? Or should we just leave well enough alone and let this fine saw just pass because it's parts eventually fail and aren't replaceable beyond cannibalization?
The other challenge with this is the Ryobi detail drawing. While with the SMT slide we took the measurements directly from the part, it would be greatly less time consuming if we could get the detail drawing that Ryobi used to manufacture the part. Does any member have a contact within Ryobi to explore that avenue?
I called Ryobi customer support a few minutes ago and was told that the drawings were probably destroyed. Personally I find that answer somewhat strange, as no manufacturer that I ever had experience with would destroy a drawing, even when the part may have been discontinued. While I do understand the reluctance of making such detail drawings available outside the company, in this case they are no longer manufacturing it, and our purpose would be to simply make a 3-D printable piece for individual use.
While a drawing can be made by taking measurements from the actual part, I really don't want to disassemble my saw to do so and it would take a number of hours of make the 3D printable drawing. Still might be a worthy cause though should the time be available somewhere in the future. But are there other parts that are worthy of exploring?
CWS
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