It Just Occurred To Me...

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  • Jim Frye
    Veteran Member
    • Dec 2002
    • 1051
    • Maumee, OH, USA.
    • Ryobi BT3000 & BT3100

    It Just Occurred To Me...

    That my BT3000 was 30 years old back in February. Best $500 I ever spent, tools not withstanding. The only failure/repair has been the drive belts, but the modifications, jigs, and fixtures are numerous. The saw has been so reliable, the $300 BT3100 sits unused under the BT3000. Never did assemble a Frankensaw with it.
    Last edited by Jim Frye; 06-05-2023, 09:17 PM.
    Jim Frye
    The Nut in the Cellar.
    ”Sawdust Is Man Glitter”
  • leehljp
    Just me
    • Dec 2002
    • 8429
    • Tunica, MS
    • BT3000/3100

    #2
    One of mine is 23 years old and the other is 19 years old. One at my house and one at a daughter's house.
    Hank Lee

    Experience is what you get when you don't get what you wanted!

    Comment

    • twistsol
      Veteran Member
      • Dec 2002
      • 2892
      • Cottage Grove, MN, USA.
      • Ridgid R4512, 2x ShopSmith Mark V 520, 1951 Shopsmith 10ER

      #3
      I bought my original in 1998 and burned up the motor running 3/4 dados for about 9 hours straight. It was right about the time the 3100 came out. I was in the middle of a project so I picked up a 3100 and slid the 3000 out of the rails and slid the 3100 in and continued working. I sold it 8 or 9 years ago and I understand it is still going strong.

      Being a clumsy oaf, I dropped the rip fence and broke rear clamp, of course I cut the ends off the miter fence and a basketball hoop tipped over onto the air floatation table and put some extra holes in the top. I'm sure it was glad to get away from me in the end.
      Chr's
      __________
      An ethical man knows the right thing to do.
      A moral man does it.

      Comment

      • cwsmith
        Veteran Member
        • Dec 2005
        • 2737
        • NY Southern Tier, USA.
        • BT3100-1

        #4
        I think I bought my BT3100 in 2005 when my local HD had them on clearance. IIRC it was about $ 300. A couple of weeks later I picked up the accessory kit for less than a hundred. Unquestionably the BT was a great purchase. I had been looking at it for some time, and of course all the comments and recomendations I had read here and on the Ryobi Tools website led to that decision.

        It has been a great table saw and the only thing I've had to replace (besides the blade) was a set of belts, which I destroyed because of my own failure (I was cutting a new clearance plate and had the blade too high when I started the motor). Really stupid of me, but it was a good experience learning to replace the belts. Since then I always check everything before I plug it in.

        The BT is still going strong, though I don't use it as much as I first did, when I remodeled this house, building the two libraries, the kitchen, and other smaller projects.

        A year or so later I purchased the mobil BTS21 which also has the SMT feature. I used that at the Painted Post house for a number of years. Both have been great but the BT is really outstanding in my experience.

        CWS
        Think it Through Before You Do!

        Comment

        • LCHIEN
          Internet Fact Checker
          • Dec 2002
          • 20913
          • Katy, TX, USA.
          • BT3000 vintage 1999

          #5
          I think my BT 3000 has a date code of very late 1999 and I bought it in early 2000 so I've had it for 23 years.
          I have treated it pretty well and it's worked quite well for me. I can't recall if I paid 400 or 500 for it.
          ​​​​
          only major issue was cracked rear rip fence block

          Over the years I bought a lot of spare parts most of which I have not had to use.

          I have and use accessories
          • Outfeed table
          • second Aux table
          • micropositioner
          • miter fence clamp
          • Zero clearance throat plate and dado plate
          • extension half length removable rails
          • extended length miter fence (23 inches)
          Spare and mostly not used
          • dust bag
          • spare set of rails
          • spare SMT
          • router mounting kit
          Last edited by LCHIEN; 06-07-2023, 10:05 AM.
          Loring in Katy, TX USA
          If your only tool is a hammer, you tend to treat all problems as if they were nails.
          BT3 FAQ - https://www.sawdustzone.org/forum/di...sked-questions

          Comment

          • nicer20
            Established Member
            • Sep 2007
            • 365
            • Dublin, CA
            • BT3100

            #6
            Looking at the date code of my BT3100 it appears to be one of the earliest models from 2002. I acquired it used, probably sometime in 2007 based on my joining date of this forum. I used it for a flooring project and then some itty bitty things. When I got it, it was overall a well-cared machine except for raising & lowering mechanism. The mechanism was so stubborn that I would avoid using the saw and then also life's other priorities came along and the saw was pushed back in one corner.

            Then during the pandemic I rediscovered the passion and spent a good amount of time & effort on overhauling the saw. Thanks to help from everyone here I was able to "fix" the blade raising & lowering mechanism too.

            I just love my BT although I have still some kind of apprehension about the SMT. It is great when crosscutting long pieces but for shorter pieces I still struggle when the piece is mostly riding between the blade and the SMT. Also the SMT is a bit raised from the rest of the surface. So that causes unstable situation & tips the piece a bit downwards to create bevel with these short pieces.

            - Nicer

            Comment

            • leehljp
              Just me
              • Dec 2002
              • 8429
              • Tunica, MS
              • BT3000/3100

              #7
              Originally posted by nicer20
              I just love my BT although I have still some kind of apprehension about the SMT. It is great when crosscutting long pieces but for shorter pieces I still struggle when the piece is mostly riding between the blade and the SMT. Also the SMT is a bit raised from the rest of the surface. So that causes unstable situation & tips the piece a bit downwards to create bevel with these short pieces.

              - Nicer
              IF I remember correctly - On the bottom of the SMT base is a piece of tape on both ends where it rests on the rails. Some people took that tape off and cleaned the spots where the tape was. That lowered the SMT by about 1/64th" or so, and helped some.
              Hank Lee

              Experience is what you get when you don't get what you wanted!

              Comment

              • nicer20
                Established Member
                • Sep 2007
                • 365
                • Dublin, CA
                • BT3100

                #8
                Thanks Hank - I think I have seen those 'shims' but I wasn't sure removing them was a good idea. I thought it might be bad especially when cutting large pieces which need to ride a tad bit off the table. I thought that is a 'special' feature of these BT saws compared to traditional saws where the piece is riding completely on the surface and experiencing friction. Of course, that is my assumption - since I never owned any other saw I have no idea if that is true.

                Comment

                • LCHIEN
                  Internet Fact Checker
                  • Dec 2002
                  • 20913
                  • Katy, TX, USA.
                  • BT3000 vintage 1999

                  #9
                  Yeah, you can raise or lower the smt height A bit using more or less shim tape like mylar or umhw where it rides on the rails, you need to do all four places. Some people like it flush, others like it a hair high so it doesn't drag.
                  .
                  Another thing to do is adjust the four clamps that hold the rails to the saw body. The T nuts in the rail probably have a few thousandths play and you can jiggle the rail up or down before tightening the clamp. At least I've always suspected so but I never tried it. Most likely you can raise the rails and set because the rails will tend to bottom out if you don't hold it up.
                  Loring in Katy, TX USA
                  If your only tool is a hammer, you tend to treat all problems as if they were nails.
                  BT3 FAQ - https://www.sawdustzone.org/forum/di...sked-questions

                  Comment


                  • leehljp
                    leehljp commented
                    Editing a comment
                    Thanks Loring, for a better explanation. I couldn't remember the finer points but did remember the basic.
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