Missing riving knife shims or clamp?

[tjr]

When I bought my BT3000 the guard and riving knife had been removed, but I did get them from the previous owner. Now, as I'm putting the thing together, it looks like the shims and/or clamp are missing. On the nut side of the 2 bolts that hold the knife to the saw, I only have one rectangle of metal with 2 holes. It's about as thick as a saw blade. Is this likely to be the clamp or one of the shims? How thick are these parts? According to the parts list, I need 5 shims - sound about right? I guess I can order them or even maybe make some.

[steve-norrell]

Welcome and enjoy the "new" saw.

One clamp and five shims is correct. I honestly don't know if all the shims are the same thickness but I am sure that someone else on the forum will know.

I believe it is fairly important to get the riving knife centered on the blade so the shims are important. I arrange mine by "trial and error" (that is, by eyeball calibration) whenever I change blades, especially when changing from normal to/from thin kerf blades.

Good luck and again, welcome, Steve

[LCHIEN]

offhand, i think the shims need to be about 10 mils thick (.010") and Maybe for starters cut them out of aluminum soft drink cans. Use the clamp as a template to make the shims. No real accuracy is required. Just need to space the riving knife away from the motor in about 10 mil steps. There's nothing magic about the count of 5, if you are a bit short with the thickness you made them then make some more shims.

[pecker]

On my saw, (and many others, if I remember correctly) the shims all ended up being on the left side of the riving knife. In other words, they weren't needed at all.

Try assembling it first and see if you need any.

[Pappy]

Loring posted a good idea. One of the tips to make remounting the riving knife was to make 2 extra shims from an aluminum can that were slightly taller than the stock shims (1/8" or so). Bend the tops over, away from the riving knife, and add them on either side of the knife.

[tjr]

Thanx

Thanks for the ideas - I must have the clamp as it's about 1/16" or so thick. I guess I could cut slots in the shims instead of just holes so they'd be easier to rearrange. Got a pile of stainless that's about soda can thick, so I should be all set. Plus it'll be an excuse to get out my Harbor Freight deep throat punch.