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My vintage BT3000 riving knife clamping bolts threw in the towel this weekend. I was attempting to loosen the clamping nuts to install the blade guard after some dado cuts and found the front nut began to tighten as I loosened it! Finally got it to come loose enough to free the riving knife. Then I moved to the rear clamping nut. Same thing, but worse! It got so bad that I was afraid I was going to shear off the aluminum in the Guide Holder bolt capture channel. I finally got it loose. Removed both nuts, pulled out the shims and i was shocked. The threads on the forward bolt were horribly degraded. On the rear bolt the threads were virtually gone.
Not sure how this happened. Anybody else had this happen? Maybe I crank those nuts down too tightly? And perhaps I do the same to the blade?
I ended up changing from "production mode" to "service mode" and disassembled the Guide Holder and replaced the bolts and nuts. I'm glad that Black Wallnut had his shim replacement posting. It relieved my apprehension as I've never done such surgery on my saw. I've been fortunate that the shims and belt have been well behaved. I cleaned things up while the saw was disassembled, and lubed up the shims. I appreciate the support provided by this site!
Not sure how this happened. Anybody else had this happen? Maybe I crank those nuts down too tightly? And perhaps I do the same to the blade?
I ended up changing from "production mode" to "service mode" and disassembled the Guide Holder and replaced the bolts and nuts. I'm glad that Black Wallnut had his shim replacement posting. It relieved my apprehension as I've never done such surgery on my saw. I've been fortunate that the shims and belt have been well behaved. I cleaned things up while the saw was disassembled, and lubed up the shims. I appreciate the support provided by this site!