New to the forum, been lurking for a while!
I recently picked up a BT3000 for $60 and it needs some work but I don't mind. When I got the saw the blade wouldn't raise up and down and the gears would start to move and stop and the handle would just spin. I pulled the handwheel off and the hole in the handle with 2 flats to mate with the shaft that drives the gears to raise and lower the blade looked pretty much like a round hole with no flats in it. I could tell that the support ribs around the hole were more oval looking than round. The plastic had not been chewed away, just deformed. I suspect that the raise and lowering mechanism had gotten dirty and the previous owner tried to force the handwheel and left it sitting for a very long period of time with the flats of the handwheel aligned with the round part of the shaft and the handwheel had sort of permanently taken that round shape. The shims for the raising and lowering mechanism are in place as they should be and the aluminum threads are not stripped out (yeah for me!) so I'm pretty sure it is just dirty and not wanting to move as it should. For now I wanted to see if I could work on the handwheel and get it back to usable condition. I know a little about plastics and I know what ever plastic the handwheel is made of is some sort of thermal molded plastic. Those sorts of plastics tend to want to got back to the original position they were molded in when heated enough to make them pliable. I was able to heat the area in the pictures that I have my fingers on with a small embossing heat gun which is good for heating up small areas like this. Once heated enough to make it shiny in all the areas I needed to reposition I clamped it in place and left it to cool. It worked and the hole is once again in the correct shape and it is very rigid as it was once upon a time. Thermoplastics can be heated enough to reshape and then cooled to maintain that shape without losing much of its original strength. This should work just fine if anyone ever finds themselves in a similar situation. Of course I have more work to do before I can test the repaired handwheel, so I will be sure to report back on how well it actually worked out.
I recently picked up a BT3000 for $60 and it needs some work but I don't mind. When I got the saw the blade wouldn't raise up and down and the gears would start to move and stop and the handle would just spin. I pulled the handwheel off and the hole in the handle with 2 flats to mate with the shaft that drives the gears to raise and lower the blade looked pretty much like a round hole with no flats in it. I could tell that the support ribs around the hole were more oval looking than round. The plastic had not been chewed away, just deformed. I suspect that the raise and lowering mechanism had gotten dirty and the previous owner tried to force the handwheel and left it sitting for a very long period of time with the flats of the handwheel aligned with the round part of the shaft and the handwheel had sort of permanently taken that round shape. The shims for the raising and lowering mechanism are in place as they should be and the aluminum threads are not stripped out (yeah for me!) so I'm pretty sure it is just dirty and not wanting to move as it should. For now I wanted to see if I could work on the handwheel and get it back to usable condition. I know a little about plastics and I know what ever plastic the handwheel is made of is some sort of thermal molded plastic. Those sorts of plastics tend to want to got back to the original position they were molded in when heated enough to make them pliable. I was able to heat the area in the pictures that I have my fingers on with a small embossing heat gun which is good for heating up small areas like this. Once heated enough to make it shiny in all the areas I needed to reposition I clamped it in place and left it to cool. It worked and the hole is once again in the correct shape and it is very rigid as it was once upon a time. Thermoplastics can be heated enough to reshape and then cooled to maintain that shape without losing much of its original strength. This should work just fine if anyone ever finds themselves in a similar situation. Of course I have more work to do before I can test the repaired handwheel, so I will be sure to report back on how well it actually worked out.
Comment