Loring's Easy miter indicator pointer replacement

[LCHIEN]

Several members wrote about their need for the now unavailable miter pointer - what I call the orange thingey that slides along the rear of the miter fence to point out the angle of the miter fence. Though I don't need one (I have two) I convinced my self a DIY replacement was pretty easy.

Here's the OEM miter indicator showing how it points out the miter angle. The zero stop is set to the left to make finding zero degrees easy and fast, a neat feature of the BT3000.


Here's the miter fence profile viewed from the end, with the user face to the right and wood support face to the left:


Here's the profile of the fence as I measured it:


Here's the two parts I cut: The Aluminum is 1/8" thick, I had some 3/4" x 1/8" bar extrusions. I cut a 1" piece because the slot was 1,03 " high and .139 thick. Drilled and tapped a #6-32 hole in the dead center. Any width other than 3/4" will work fine.
The wood is 3/4" wide to match the 3/4" aluminum. I measured the edge of the tab to be 0.334" away from the miter fence. This is a fairly critical dimension. I cut a piece very close ripping on the BT3000 saw, in the end I was a hair over so I just beveled the edge a hair to match the width of the orange thingey. The hole should be 1.22" from the bottom tip; I slotted it a bit to allow some play. A 6-32 screw will pass through a 9/64 hole nicely.


Check the fit


This is how it goes together and into the fence


Side by side against the orange thingey:



I will consider putting a thin strip behind the wood piece to keep it more square, but its not critical it be perfectly vertical..

This took me a little over an hour scrounging up the scraps and cutting the pieces. Then I took 20 minutes to search and finally trim a #6-32 machine screw to the right length so it won't drive into the fence. About a hair under 5/8" long with a washer.

Like I said, I did this because two people mentioned they needed one and I just did it to prove I could. I wanted to show off the flexibility of the saw. Having all the slots and extrusions makes this saw neat to build things and jigs for.

If you have one of the large T-nuts sold by Ryobi for this saw at one time or one of the aftermarket T-nuts Inc. then you don't have to make the aluminum piece like I did.

Several improvements could be made. 3-D printed parts. A thinner wood piece with a "foot" sticking out of the necessary thickness would look better.

[cwsmith]

Thanks Loring, the pictures are there now in all their usual 'Loring' clarity!

So, nice job and relatively simple to accomplish. I've got to give it to you Loring, you are always thinking and I am always learning something from you.

I don't need this part, as my BT is in great condition, but it sure is nice that you've published a remedy. I also own the Ryobi mobile BTS21 which uses the same fence, on a somewhat different SMT. I'm sure it will help everyone who has lost or damaged their indicator.

Thanks,

CWS

[LCHIEN]

Note: I was at Home Depot this morning and noted that they had 3/4x 1/8" aluminum strip and 1" x 1/8" aluminum strip in both 48 and 36 inch lengths; I think the cheapest was about $6-something.

or Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Aluminum-Gene...%2C211&sr=8-47

I cut the aluminum strip on my mitersaw with the normal woodcutting blade. This provides a safe and clean cut as the aluminum is soft and cuts easily with a wood blade and does not do any harm to the blade, If you prefer not to, then a hacksaw can also do the job.

[leehljp]

Thats is a great idea. Well done.

[Black walnut]

Nicely done.