Reminder - Lube your blade elevation system

[Bill in Buena Park]

Just a reminder for periodic preventive maintenance if you haven't done it recently.

Regarding lubing the blade elevation mechanism, Loring offered the following a while back:

You'll want to keep the ways lubed and especially the elevation screw...

My 21829 has been in use for 5 years now, and just this past week, blade elevation began to feel unusually tight. I've read about it over the years but never had an issue, but knew I needed to address quickly hopefully to forestall further wear in the aluminum threads.

Dry lube or candle wax seems to be favored - After cleaning out some minor dust deposits, I used paste wax (only thing on hand) on the parts mentioned by Loring, ran the mechanism up and down, and applied again - now moving freely like new again.

[Ed62]

That's good advice. It's amazing how much of a difference it can make when you do a little preventative maintenance.

Ed

[thetimbo]

I've tried just about everything mentioned here from candlewax to pastewax to dry lube. But none hold a candle to Boeshield T-9. Each application lasts twice as long as more common lubricants.

[All Thumbs]

I've tried just about everything mentioned here from candlewax to pastewax to dry lube. But none hold a candle to Boeshield T-9. Each application lasts twice as long as more common lubricants.

I'm not surprised.

I've read and T-9 has a tendency to "stay wet" a little more than other rust protectors.

The company says it is solvents and waxes. The MSDS says it is mineral spirits with mineral oil.

When my saw arrived (new), it had some sort of OIL on the elevation screw. It worked GREAT for quite a while. When it finally started getting difficult to turn, I used dry lube. It didn't return it to "from the factory easy to turn," but it made it very workable again.

I have doubts that dry lube is all that important. You know, my fence became harder and harder to engage and I kept using dry lube on the locking components, but it only helped for a few days. Finally, I hit them with a few drops of oil, and it worked great for a couple of years.

Yes, the oil does attract sawdust. But the sawdust doesn't seem to interfere with proper operation.

I doubt putting a couple drops on the elevation screw would cause problems. I'm thinking of doing this next time around.

Oh, and to the best of my knowledge, the people over at OWWM use lithium grease on a lot of Unisaws. Seems to work okay for them.

[pelligrini]

My 21829 has been in use for 5 years now, and just this past week, blade elevation began to feel unusually tight. I've read about it over the years but never had an issue, but knew I needed to address quickly hopefully to forestall further wear in the aluminum threads.

I'll clean and put paste wax on my 21829 yearly, sometimes more often depending on how well things are moving. I will blow out the dust very often with my shop vac blower. One of the neat things about the 21829 stand is that the inside of the saw is easily accessible when folded.

[Bill in Buena Park]

...One of the neat things about the 21829 stand is that the inside of the saw is easily accessible when folded.

Mine was Then I installed an MDF panel to close up the bottom as part of a DC mod I put together (viewable here - includes blocking the big open slot in the back, and the same for the tilt slot in the front.) In fact, when I took off the right side housing panel, I checked for any dust build-up - and it was clean! Only when I took off the throat plate did I find very fine fine sawdust deposits built up along the ways, which I brushed/vac'd out.

I think I'll be adopting that yearly cleaning & lubing schedule...