Question/saw issue...

[steveg]

SUCCESS!!

I got the new blade in the mail today, along with the tap kit and new screws for the throat plate. After re-tapping the hole, I put on the new blade and re-attached the throat plate, and ran that same piece of 3/4 oak -- the one I had issues with before -- through the saw. PERFECT! That blade cut like a hot knife through butter -- NO burning or smoking at all, and it left a perfect "jointer-like" edge.

I did notice that there is still some "stickiness" or "friction" between the wood and the saw when pushing the wood through, but this time, it's clear this has nothing to do with the blade. The cutting is fine, as I said; I can tell now that the only thing left for me to do is to wax the table (and maybe the fence?) So, for those of you that have done this, do you wax both the tabletop AND the face of the rip fence? Do you use just a normal car wax?

Thanks -- and thanks for everyone's help w.r.t. troubleshooting my problem. It's solved now!

Steve

[steveg]

CWS -- that picture makes it very clear, and I think I'll give that a shot. Still some protection, but looks like it will solve a couple of issues. Plus, I'm used to not standing behind the stock you are cutting, but off to the side. That was the only "kickback protection" we had, back in the day in shop class.

I'd love to know if that thing could be retrofitted...I haven't even looked at the price yet, since it appears it won't work, but if it's already close in price to the Shark Guard, then no reason not to get the Shark (as it's apparently the cat's meow! )

Steve

[cwsmith]

Steve,

Here is how I tied-up my anti-kickback springs:








Basically, it's just a piece of steel wire forming a "bridge" across the top of the riving knife, on which I've hung the two springs.

Try it if you would like, but understand that it is by no means as "protective" against a "kick-back" as the force of the springs ensures! While my initial tests showed that it worked okay, I've noticed today that on hard and/or very smooth stock, the teeth do NOT readily dig in. Of course they no longer score the stock either, but they may not PROTECT as positively as I'd like. But, if they don't work for you, it's easy to simply remove the wire bridge and position the springs back on the pawls as originally designed.

A better solution would be to either have a slightly weaker spring, or the best solution would be to get the "Shark Guard".

I wonder if this new model riving knife and splitter can be retrofitted to the older BT-series... but then it would probably cost a bit more than a Shark Guard.

CWS

[steveg]

Wow. Very nice looking guard there...but, sounds like from LCHIEN's post that this will probably not be able to be retrofitted with my saw, the Craftsman 22811...

If anyone has any other ideas that MIGHT make this work, please let me know...

Steve

[LCHIEN]

Wow, that's pretty neat. I didn't realize Ryobi had designed a new riving knife mounting and guard and pawl mounting as well. Competes with Shark Guard in some features, but it appears you can't retro fit to the BT3100/BT3000 because the riving knife base mounts with two vertically running bolts instead of horizontally running bolts.

[GerryR]

Two socket Head Cap Screws:

[pelligrini]

Lifting the yellow lever, tilting the splitter / riving knife(?), then lowering it to the next set of holes makes it lower than the blade. Push the lever down and it locks it in that position. You can see the second set of holes in the third picture down.

OK, that's pretty cool. Thanks for the info.
How does the lever assembly attach to the saw/shroud casting? Are there two bolts or screws?

[GerryR]

That looks like a big improvement, my 21829 doesn't have a guard like that.

I wonder if it will bolt up to the older saws. I really couldn't tell from the parts diagrams or your photos. Doesn't look like they included a riving knife that isn't taller than the blade though.

Lifting the yellow lever, tilting the splitter / riving knife(?), then lowering it to the next set of holes makes it lower than the blade. Push the lever down and it locks it in that position. You can see the second set of holes in the third picture down.

[Cochese]

That looks like a big improvement, my 21829 doesn't have a guard like that.

I wonder if it will bolt up to the older saws. I really couldn't tell from the parts diagrams or your photos. Doesn't look like they included a rving knife that isn't taller than the blade though.

The front mounting screw looks like it's moved over to the right side, instead of in the middle. The insert might be able to be modified, but I'm not sure how you'd mount the knife to ours, though.

[pelligrini]

That looks like a big improvement, my 21829 doesn't have a guard like that.

I wonder if it will bolt up to the older saws. I really couldn't tell from the parts diagrams or your photos. Doesn't look like they included a rving knife that isn't taller than the blade though.

[GerryR]

New Saw Guard

If you go to Sears Parts Direct and type in 315218291 as "Model Number," it will bring you to the Saw diagrams and parts / price list. Here are some pictures of the guard assembly on mine:













I hope this helps.
Gerry

[steveg]

Gerry --

Very interesting...

While likely not as nice as the Shark Guard, I wonder if this "new" assembly would be a nice middle ground (price-wise and performance-wise)...

Guess the question becomes what is the price of the part, and will it work on older Craftsman/Ryobi units...

Steve

[Cochese]

The guard, riving knife assembly and anti-kickback pawls on the new Craftsman version of the Ryiobi B3k are much different than the what has been described here, as far as I can tell. The guard comes off with the push of a button, the pawls, likewise and the riving knife assembly is taken out or adjusted by lifting a lever and maneuvering around a set of pins which hold the assembly in proper perspective.

I had the Ryiobo 10 to 12 years ago, selling it before moving, and don't remember the details exactly. I just got the Craftsman version a couple of weeks ago, and the guard assembly struck me as being much different than what I had rememberd on the Ryiobi. I assume the Craftsman parts would drop in the Ryiobi. It might be another option once you solve the blade problem.

That's different than the one I bought two years ago then. The guard was integrated to the riving knife, which is why I had to buy a Shark Guard.

[GerryR]

The guard, riving knife assembly and anti-kickback pawls on the new Craftsman version of the Ryiobi B3k are much different than the what has been described here, as far as I can tell. The guard comes off with the push of a button, the pawls, likewise and the riving knife assembly is taken out or adjusted by lifting a lever and maneuvering around a set of pins which hold the assembly in proper perspective.

I had the Ryiobo 10 to 12 years ago, selling it before moving, and don't remember the details exactly. I just got the Craftsman version a couple of weeks ago, and the guard assembly struck me as being much different than what I had rememberd on the Ryiobi. I assume the Craftsman parts would drop in the Ryiobi. It might be another option once you solve the blade problem.

[steveg]

cabinetman --

Probably quite true, though I had a list of blades from knottscott that he broke down into categories (decent inexpensive combo blade, premier combo blade, etc.) and when I called my local Lowe's to see if they had a couple of the models knottscott recommended, they didn't. So, since I am not knowledgeable enough to "branch out" and make any blade choices myself, and thus wanted to stick to what was suggested by knottscott, I gave up on finding one locally; since there were some other things I was ordering online, I just added one the suggested blades to the order. It is supposed to be here Friday, so won't be long now...

Steve