What are the BT3 Critical parts?

[LCHIEN]

I saw the recent post about a group purchase for the roller holder https://www.sawdustzone.org/forum/di...group-purchase and in post #11 I suggested that people buy one as insurance because this is a somewhat failure prone part of critical importance tot he saw's longevity.

With the saw being long out of production (around 2005) and the parts inventories literally being exhausted for key parts, It got me to wondering what the critical parts were for a BT3x saw and Sears clones that would mean a death knell for my saw in the event that I could not get a replacement or make a suitable replacement.

i think there are some key categories:
Critical in this case means parts that you almost can't use you saw like you want for operations.

1. Parts that wear out, wear, are broken
   1. Critical parts you cannot replicate with DIY: motors, motor brushes, locker bracket, belts
   2. Critical parts that are extruded or molded that might be made with machined parts or by 3-D printing: roller holder, elevation crank, shims; SMT locking levers
2. Parts that are durable and don't wear out or break even after a nuclear explosion (meaning you can pick them up used)
   Miter fence, rip fence, Sliding miter table, front and rear rails, stand, rip fence "T" block

Less critical convenience parts
miter angle indicator (orange thingy), Miter fence pivot (black thingy on the bottom of the miter fence), rip fence width cursor window

Parts we can get by with:
power switch, miter fence holder

What do you see as a critical part and do you have a spare/backup/source?

[leehljp]

The most critical parts, in my thought, will be the ones that break for a particular person and their operation method.

The most critical parts to me are the SMT SLIDES. After breaking 3 or 4 of the 8 pieces at one time, that affected how I handled the SMT from that point on. I had taken the SMT off, and thought I had locked the sliding table in place on the slide rail, I stood it up against a wall. In about 2 seconds, the sliding table succumbed to gravity and dropped down. The abrupt stop broke three of the 8 slides. I happened to have several on hand, so it was not out of use more than an hour or so before getting fixed.

So, to me, I changed the way I handled the SMT more than anything else. Any time I take the SMT off, I an very deliberate in how I set it down: Locked in place and laying flat.

Second part: Fence back end locking bracket, followed by the SMT Fence holder.

Third: Motor. I have a back up motor from a 13 amp BT3000 in case mine does go. There have been several folks here to have fried their motor and it makes me cautious. I still do lots of cuts, but I think it is probably the rips that burn most motors. In rips, I have never been in a hurry with rips, and use the riving knife religiously except if using the dado blade.

I fixed the shims a long time ago, but that could be an issue for some.

[ballard770]

The motor, in my opinion, is the most critical as when they are gone they are gone. Hopefully those who have replaced burned out motors have kept them in the event they can be rebuilt.

Many of the often to fail parts, slides, rip fence end hardware, miter holders, shims and eccentric roller have been made by 3D printing, machining or other methods so even though they are critical they are obtainable. T-nuts in several sizes are available from T-Nuts.com and I had a bt3k that had prong t-nuts to install a wide table kit and flotation table top. Rail connector can be substituted by mending straps made by Stanley (?).

If the ribbed angle shims are damaged there may not be a source and the smooth angle shim may not work with the guide mount due to the dimension change because of the thicker angled shim which would probable result in a loose fit of the guide mount. The bt3100 uses a different guide mount with the wavy angle shim


Resourceful bt3k owners can fabricate wooden twin track table inserts, miter/rip sleds, miter hold down and possibly a rip fence which may be difficult. But if they can’t obtain or rebuild a motor I think it would be a challenge to find a motor that would work.