Another Blade Wont Rise Thread

[The Viking]

I've got an old BT3000. After reading about shim problems for over twenty years, I'm afraid I may finally have become a victim. Yesterday, I finished for the day and lowered the blade before leaving the shop; the mechanism to lower the blade worked fine. Today, I couldn't get the gears to raise the blade. I tried to lube the gears and shaft with no success; with only a fair amount of resistance will the gears turn at all and even then the assembly seems to want to pivot into the angle adjustment mode. Can others advise me 1) Do the shims sometimes bind up virtually overnight? 2) If it is a shim problem, would the shim have fallen out. There is no jettisoned shim under the saw. 3) Could the problem be in the gear mechanism? As I said the gears don't seem to turn without a fair amount of force. 4) What are the chances that overhauling an almost 25 year old saw are worth the effort and cost?

Any thoughts will be appreciated.

The Viking

[LCHIEN]

Refer to this: http://c.searspartsdirect.com/lis_pn...1426-00001.png

the shims ride against the locker bracket (fixed part, #10) and ride on the motor holder (#80, the part that goes up and down).
If they were to freeze, it would be against the locker bracket and they would probably fall off.

You should be able to see the shims by visual inspection, if you remove the red throat plate. The ends of the shims can be seen peeking out the top of part 80 and are held by the little 90 degree bend over tabs, if it seizes to the locker bracket the tabs will straighten right out and eventually fall out and the holder will be hard to elevate.

If you don't see shims below the saw or anywhere inside, then I'm guessing the elevation shaft has worn out the aluminum piece in which it threads. If you've stripped the gears you might be able to turn the crank but not raise the blade.
if the crank doesn't turn or is real hard to turn then the screw is frozen and maybe lube will help it. did you lube the shaft where it threads into the motor housing assembly?

[durango dude]

If it's shims - you can fix your problem for $20 or so ---- so I'd say it's worth the time/money.

Once you get into bigger/better problems ----- I'd give it pause.

[bkgeig]

I overhauled my BT3000 this weekend. Took me about 4 hours total, working over several nights, and cost less then $10. I bought the saw this summer only to discover that the blade wouldn't go all the way up and was binding on the way down. One of the shims was missing on the arbor guide. I bought 0.010 shim stock at a local hobby store and followed the directions here to make and install new shims: http://www.bt3central.com/showthread...=arbor+support Rubbed candle wax on the shims and metal they contact, and lubed the gears and shaft with dry lube (for bicycle chains). Works great now.

[The Viking]

Thanks to All

Guys thanks for the advice.

Here's the rest of the story. I removed the throat plate and took a look. I was very pleased to see the shims still in place. I then got under the table on the right hand side to take a look at the mechanism that raises/lowers the blade. I was able to see that the handle was not engaging the shaft, so I took that assembly apart. There is a cam that moves in and out - one way to raise/lower the blade, the other to change the blade angle. That cam was jammed so I could neither raise the blade nor change the angle. Once apart I cleaned out that entire mechanism and lubed it a bit. After reassembling, waxing the ways where there shims ride, and lubing the height adjusting shaft, the whole raising/lowering mechanism works better than it has for a long time.

Thanks again