New BT3000 Owner (well almost)

[jlmeredith]

Evening everyone. My first post here, so go easy on me. It is great to see a thriving online community around what looks to be a pretty cool piece of shop equipment.

I am due in the morning to pickup up a used BT3000 that I found up on Craigslist. I think I got a pretty good deal on it. The gentleman who purchased the saw new, got it with all of the options, which he will hand off with the saw. He seems to remember it being around $1500 for everything that was available for the saw. Does this sound correct?

If this is true, then based on the popularity of this machine (which I just learned of tonight) it sounds like it was a good deal at $200. He indicated that he used it once for a house project and never went back. The pictures in the listing show it as being very dusty and likely has been sitting around for many years.

My question for all of you that know how this machine - What do I need to do to get it ready to be used? What parts need to be replaced, upgraded or cleaned? Are there any must know things that I should be aware of?

Obviously, if there are threads that you can point me too for help, please do. I tried to come up with some search terms to try, but none of them seemed to yield the results I was looking for.

Thanks to all of you here that make up this community. It is great to get a hold of something and have a community of people who are passionate about it.

[LCHIEN]

well, $1500 seems high. At the introduction in around 1992-3 the saw was $600 list and all the options included outfeed table, Ryobi vac, air flotation table, extension rails and legs, and various small accessories. I think a fully outfitted saw would have maybe topped out at around $1200 but the vac, flotation table were pretty rare. You seldom see a fully outfitted system, if you got one, good for you. If you got some of the common accessories for $200 that could be a good deal.

See my sig line below, I have a FAQ document which has answers to literally hundred questions I have collected here on this board over the years I've been a (charter) member.
Among the things discussed, how to clean and lube, what to look for in used saws, what are the factory accessories and how useful are they, and lots more.

this recent thread may help you.

http://www.bt3central.com/showthread.php?t=54754

[jlmeredith]

Picked up my TS today. Everything was as the gentleman said. All the extras I could probably want - saw, stand, dust bag, miter clamping kit, dado plate, router and jig saw kit, and the wide table kit. I am very happy with what I got for the price for sure. I like that the table is very solid but light.

I still have to sort through all the parts, so I am not sure if anything is missing yet. Will hopefully get it all sorted out in the next couple of days.

After I got everything unloaded into the shop, I plugged in the saw and turned it on. Puffff - huge cloud of what I thought was wood - turns out it was the belts! Ugggg.

So now I need to procure some belts and proceed to replace them. Here I was hoping to use the saw this weekend! LOL

Can anyone suggest a place to pick up new belts. I did some reading and it seems there are different belts for different models. Is this true? If so, how do I tell when ones are the correct ones? How long will the belt fix take?

Thanks for the help and suggestions.

[Bill in Buena Park]

Hi Jamie, and congrats on your purchase.

BTW - have you asked LCHIEN for a copy of his FAQ? Has great info on the saw, including belts, changing, etc.

Belts for the BT3 are unique to the saw, I believe, and can be ordered from Ryobi, Sears, E-bay, possibly elsewhere.

But just out of curiosity - have you determined what caused the belts to fail? I don't think I've heard of belt failure just from turning on the saw...

[jlmeredith]

The belts failed as a result of ROT! LOL 19 years in storage took its toll I think. I ordered new belts for it and they should be here on Tuesday. Follow this post for updates. http://www.bt3central.com/showthread.php?t=54773