Blade adjustment binding

[actoffaith]

I have a year old Sears 218290 that has a binding issue when raising and lowering the blade. I cleaned everything up with no improvement. I loosened the 4 screws that hold the moter housing slide and tried to work some powered graphite into it but as soon and I retighten the screws it binds. It's worse if anything and VERY hard to turn. Does anyone have experience with this problem? I don't want to take the hole thing apart unless I have to. Please help!!!

[charliex]

I had the same problem with my Cman bt3 last month. For the first year it went up and down with ease, something my BT3100 never did. Then within a matter of a couple of up's & downs it started to bind. It got so tight it would not even move. I did what you did, loosened the guide screws, cleaned and sprayed with dry lube, and it still wouldn't move. Then I tried wax still no better. I finally used a silicone spray lube and now it works fine. If find something different that works, let me know.

Welcome to Bt3 Central.

Chas

[Ed62]

Welcome aboard. I have the BT3000, and have had raising the blade get to be hard to do. But a good cleaning, and a little dry lube cured the problem.

Ed

[pelligrini]

Also make sure to clean and lube the bevel gears, and threaded height adjustment rod. My 21829 developed a similar problem. I cleaned an lubed the guides. It helped a little, but not completely. When I finally took a brush to the gears and got them all clean from the fine sawdust attracted from the improper lube I was using it moved much, much better. I pretty much use just wax now.

[Mr__Bill]

There are screws that adjust the tension on the shims they are on the side away from the motor, and it's possible that there is gunk in there too. To clean it you really need to take it apart and clean the shims and bearing surfaces and then lube things up with a dry lube. Mine was doing the same thing and it took only a few hours on the saw to go from working to stuck up. I went to change the blade and it would not lower again.

If you know what you are doing it's a half hour job. I spent half a day on it plus going out for some dry lube. I now know a lot more about my saw and it moves up and down with ease.

The FAQ is helpfull and the exploded diagram shows how things go back together. This is from Ray Girling's web site. (AKA Ray in the UK) Figure 59, scroll down. and note part # 73, there are 4 of them.

Have fun

Bill

[actoffaith]

So whats next

So now I've taken the slide apart and cleaned it. I do not have a shim problem. My machine does have the new style shims.
I did learn a lot and thank you to all who explained the best way to get it apart. I'm still binding. It's in the slide, but loosening the screws doesn't help much. The motor housing is showing a little twist as the pressure builds until the pressure is enough to move. I can grab the riving knife, push down when lowering, pull up when raising and that helps a lot. My screww thread is not binding. I have no galling of the mating services.
I'm a retired tool and diemaker/machine builder and know what I'm doing around a machine mechanism. I can't understand how well it worked and now so quickly it binds. I have not yet found THE problem, anyone have an idea?

[actoffaith]

My machine does not have screws that adjust the shim tension. I have the new style shims.

[Black wallnut]

Reread what Wrik wrote above about the bevel gear and elevation rod. If you have the new style shims then the shims likely are not the problem. Also check to make sure is not binding on the rear of the blade opening and that the anti kickback pawls are not catching the throatplate.

[actoffaith]

Thanks so much to all of you that keep trying. I don't have a bind in my anti-kickback pawls or throat plate because they are not on. I have most of the machine apart. I have cleaned and lubed the screw, nut and gears on the elevation shaft. The handwheel moves freely within it's backlash but when it gets to trying to move the motor housing in the locker bracket it binds. I don't think it takes to much to cause a bind. Anyone else have an idea. I know Sears will have no idea what to do with it.

[Black wallnut]

If you are having binding between the locker bracket and the guide holder then you are having issues with the shims! Check to make sure you have all of them. Do you have any galling of the ways where the shims ride?

[LCHIEN]

Thanks so much to all of you that keep trying. I don't have a bind in my anti-kickback pawls or throat plate because they are not on. I have most of the machine apart. I have cleaned and lubed the screw, nut and gears on the elevation shaft. The handwheel moves freely within it's backlash but when it gets to trying to move the motor housing in the locker bracket it binds. I don't think it takes to much to cause a bind. Anyone else have an idea. I know Sears will have no idea what to do with it.

There's not much else place it can bind if you've already accepted that the elevation screw, nut, and gears are not binding and the attachments (splitter and blade guard stuff) are not installed. Did you put a coating of johnson's paste wax (best dry lube for it) on the ways where the shims ride up and down the locker bracket? That's about the only thing left.

Unless they plain screwed up on machining and the threaded hole is not in line with the elevation screw or some other machining or assembly mistake.

If its new maybe you should take it back and exchange it. Oh, I see its a year old. Big question and clue - did it ever work right?

[actoffaith]

Thanks for the reply! I just don't know where to go from here. As I stated earlier I have cleaned and reassembled the whole thing. I took a small stone and checked for burrs or bumps on the motor housing and locker bracket before reassembly. There is no galling and all my shims are in great shape. I only have a few shinny spots and I would expect that on a wear shim. My unit is only about a year old. What type of lube would you recommend? I have tryed powdered graphite and pure silicone spray. I'm about ready to take the screw loose and see how it slides by hand. What do you think?
Again, I sure appreciate all of you that try to help.

[actoffaith]

I just posted a new question about what type of lube is best. I will take this thing apart again and reclean it and put some paste wax on it. And yes it did work just fine until about 3 weeks ago, it got tighter and tighter until it was scary how much pressure it took to move it. It binds going up and going down. The pure silicone lube spray I have been using couldn't be the problem could it?

[Black wallnut]

I just posted a new question about what type of lube is best. I will take this thing apart again and reclean it and put some paste wax on it. And yes it did work just fine until about 3 weeks ago, it got tighter and tighter until it was scary how much pressure it took to move it. It binds going up and going down. The pure silicone lube spray I have been using couldn't be the problem could it?

The best thing you could do with that can of silicone spray is dispose of it in your trash! Silicone is a huge mistake to use on woodworking machinery as it tends to migrate and transfer to wood. It is insoluable to normal solvants used in wood finsihes so it causes fisheyes and other bad things to happen to your finishes. I use an evaporative dry spray lube; Lockeze is one brand. Others report good results with candle wax and johnsons paste wax. Something had to happen 3 weeks ago for your saw to suddenly get worse. As Loring has mentioned there are very few reasons why you would be having trouble and I think all of them have been mentioned in this thread. Carefully review this article on shims and make sure you have all of them installed.

[actoffaith]

Thanks again for the quick responce. Please allow me to keep my silcone lube. I promise not to use it on the saw. Does the Lock-Ese work as well as the wax? I just want to get the thing working again as soon as possible and I know you guys are tired of hearing from me.