Bent arbor!

[Salty]

Anything I can do short of replacing it?
At least I think that is what's wrong. I need the advice of experienced users.
I was adjusting the fence and was going to lay my framing square against the blade to check it for parallel. I decided to examine the teeth and while I was truning the blade I noticed that it moved slightly from side to side. OK, I must have a warped blade. Took it off and put on the original blade. It did the same thing. So I marked the blade teeth and discovered that both blades are moving about 1/32" on a half turn. So, it can't be the blade right? I know it isn't sawdust as I have just recently taken it apart to clean it.
Now, I cannot say for sure that it was ever NOT that way because I cannot ever remember checking this before. I can still get decent cuts but my guess is that the kerf is that much wider. I have had a few kickbacks over the years so maybe one of those did it in.
Do I need to be concerned?
I see the arbor assembly with bearings is around $50 and I think I could replace it.
Question: if the blade is out by 1/32" at the outer edge of a 10" blade, how far out from exactly straight would the shaft be? And, could one force it back with a smack in the correct direction? I'd be willing to try that before replacing the arbor.
Thanks to all for any help.

Salty

[crokett]

I would replace it. I am thinking smacking it hard enough to straighten it would break something else on the saw. If you pull it to try and straighten it, you are halfway to replacing it anyway.

[master53yoda]

1. Verify that you do not have a bur on the blade washers.

2. Bushout the blade so that it is at the very end of the arbor shaft, if the shaft is bent you will have more noticeable missalingment the further out you get on the shaft.

3. before a concluding that it is a bent arbor take two large flat washers and surface sand them and replace the blade washers and recheck. the blade washers could be warped.

4.The other possibility is a bad bearing but if that is the case the misalignment will move between tests if you turn on the saw. because the balls will move in relation to the inner bearing race.


The BT arbors are very well supported you would have had to do something pretty noticeable in order to bend that shaft.

Croket is dead on,if it is bent replace it as you will never get it straight

good luck

[cgallery]

Had the same problem. It was the spacers. Called Ryobi, got replacements.

When you think about it, a small (.001") error on those spacers will be greatly magified at the edge of the blade.

I tried cleaning them before replacing them. Didn't help.

[LCHIEN]

clean the arbor washers, a piece of grit or something could be in there.

Another thing to do is to mark the high side of the arbor, take off the blade and arbor washers, clean carefully, rotate everything, and reinstall and see if the high spot is still on the same marked side of the arbor...

[gjat]

Salty,
I sent you a PM about a 'free' arbor.

[dbhost]

I had the same problem, grit between the arbor and the washer.... Make sure it is good and clean, a tiny speck can create a noticeable wobble...

[Salty]

Good call Art, there was a small bulge in the edge of one washer. Probably from one of the many times that I dropped it on the concrete. However, even after I fixed that the problem remained. In the end it was as cgallery guessed. One of the spacers is causing it as far as I can tell. Actually after trying many combinations where the problem remained, I was ready to give up for the time being and put the blade back on and the ZCTP back in. I don't know why but I decided to check it one last time. What do ya know, no wobble. Now what? I don't know I did that fixed it. I then tried to re-create the wobble but no luck. Then I considered that the only thing I didn't rotate was the spacers. I turned the thick one 180 degrees and bingo, there it is again. Rotated it back and it went away.
OK, so should I order new ones from Ryobi or is there maybe something from McMaster that I can use?
Thank you all for your help as I was not looking forward to replacing the arbor.

Salty

[LCHIEN]

Good call Art, there was a small bulge in the edge of one washer. Probably from one of the many times that I dropped it on the concrete. However, even after I fixed that the problem remained. In the end it was as cgallery guessed. One of the spacers is causing it as far as I can tell. Actually after trying many combinations where the problem remained, I was ready to give up for the time being and put the blade back on and the ZCTP back in. I don't know why but I decided to check it one last time. What do ya know, no wobble. Now what? I don't know I did that fixed it. I then tried to re-create the wobble but no luck. Then I considered that the only thing I didn't rotate was the spacers. I turned the thick one 180 degrees and bingo, there it is again. Rotated it back and it went away.
OK, so should I order new ones from Ryobi or is there maybe something from McMaster that I can use?
Thank you all for your help as I was not looking forward to replacing the arbor.

Salty

maybe you dropped both spacers, they each have a bulge, when the bulges are together they add, when 180° opposite they cancel.

In practice, I think its really hard to bend the arbor.

[cgallery]

or is there maybe something from McMaster that I can use?
Salty

I have tried spacers from McMaster, too. I had to get one because I wanted to use a .125" blade stabilizer on my saw (on the motor side of the blade) and I needed to replace one of the stock spacers w/ a thinner one.

The McMaster one looked identical in construction to the Ryobi unit. Works great, too.

[Salty]

Thanks again all.
I don't recall ever droping the spacers, just the washers.
I see that some of the items I need, like the blade washers, are not available from the Ryobi site but are from the sears parts site. The spacers are $2.16 for either one at sears. I need some new parts for the fence too so I guess I'll place an order tomorrow. I really doubt that McMaster could beat that price. I'll just get all 4 pieces and a new nut as well.