100% complete list of accessories and mods?

[leehljp]

For some other tidbits of information - The BT3000 was originally planned by Ryobi as an engineering change from the old basic trunion type that has been around from the '30s - in what became the Unisaw. It was primarily engineered/designed or built in Italy, IIRC. Not totally sure as my memory has waned some over the years.

The BT3000 originally was also intended to compete as a contractor's saw, but because of the the precision, it found a home with low budget cabinet maker's type of precison needs. Being of aluminum and light weight, it did not hold its settings in a contractor form such as hauling from job site to job site. The precision of the BT did hit home with home shop owners who could not afford Unisaw type of precision.

We had several people early on here who bought the BT for its precison but also wanted to use it commerically. For most of these guys, it did not hold up well. It does not take to slamming (dropping) 2/4s on it and keeping alignment. (Strangely the folks that condemned it for not hoding up would not dare do the same to a Biesemeyer fence.) It also doesn't hold up well to ripping 2x4 lumber 8 hours day, 5 days a week 50 weeks a year. It wasn't intended for this.

[LCHIEN]

Merriam Webster on "shim":

: a thin often tapered piece of material (as wood, metal, or stone) used to fill in space between things (as for support, leveling, or adjustment of fit)

[mmcmac]

It was primarily engineered/designed or built in Italy, IIRC. Not totally sure as my memory has waned some over the years.

That would make the choice of SAE hardware even more interesting. I don't believe a single metric fastener exists in the machine. Perhaps it was a concious effort at that time to cater to the US market from a maintenance/repair perspective. AFAICT all of my machines were manufactured in Taiwan although I'm uncertain if that may have changed over the product's life.

[capncarl]

I get notices of surplus sales at the Ryobi plant in Anderson several times a year from my bro-in law who lives near Anderson. He is affiliated with someone who works there through the volunteer Fire dept. If there is any interest I'll inquire and see who/what/when/where. BIL has a BT, possibly came from there. You never can tell what turns up.
capncarl

[mmcmac]

I don't believe a single metric fastener exists in the machine..

Not quite correct, the motor housing mount screws (#18) and brush holder set screws (#19) are M5x0.8 pitch.

This is just academic curiosity, but is it known where the proprietary saw components were manufactured? The "Made in" Taiwan/SC may refer to the point of assembly, with the manufacture of the bt3000 specific components subcontracted out. The motor in particular strikes me as similar to Japan produced Ryobi motors from the period of late 80's to early 90's.

[mmcmac]

Everything about the early saws is apparently SAE. I looked at my old R sheet and found that the motor screws are SAE as well (13A motor, that is; the later 15A R sheets don't specify dimensions of motor screws)

The early motor indeed is a completely different animal. The latter version does appear to be a design improvement in several areas.

Also I just realized the blade elevation screw (shaft #24) is UNC 9/16-12TPI which seems somewhat of an odd choice if the motivation to use SAE components was primarily ease of end user maintenance.

Dunno bout the armature, field and the rest of the body, but I can tell you that my arbor and motor bearings are NTN brand, made in Japan and Taiwan. I can go check them again for which were made where if you're really curious.

The bearings being commodity parts won't really shed light as they were likely sourced from wherever was most convenient/inexpensive at the time and point of manufacture. It was just my curosity -- I can certainly wait until someone digs up historical data from a Ryobi engineering source.