Recent Addict

[kgworkman]

Hello, my name is Ken, and I bought a BT3100 yesterday.
<Enter ritualistic "Hi, Ken!" here>

I've been planning on this for quite some time. After being pleasantly surprised to find the price was now $250.I sat for a while (with an extra $50 in my pocket) yesterday staring at the box and daydreaming all of the marvelous things I'm going to make...eventually. Ironically, though I'm going out of town this week, so I won't even get to use it for a bit.

Finally after my psychological reveling, I opened the box, carefully counted and checked the parts. I felt like a 5 year old at Christmas who just got the Tonka truck he'd always wanted. I put the stand together. (I must admit that I mostly skipped the instructions on that, us geeky engineers have our pride you know...)

I hit my first (and only, so far) hitch while mounting the saw on the stand. You put the stand together with those monster bolts and nuts, and then take out the puny little bolts to attach the saw to it. First bolt... fine. Second bolt... felt something twist a bit. Third bolt...sheered right off in my hand. Now I'm no strong arm, so I was really surprised to find half a bolt with a nut on it sitting in my hand.

I'm an optimist though, I'll hit the hardware store this week, replace all four bolts with something stronger, finish the assembly, and I'll be making scrap in no time.[^]

[bigstick509]

To the best Forums on the Net.

[JR]

Hi, Ken!

[Ken Massingale]

Welcome to the forum, Ken. Always glad to see another one of us!. We may catch up with the Jeffs in a few years.
You will enjoy your new BT.
Ken

[jhart]

Glad you joined us Ken. It's a great group

[mater]

Welcome Ken. Glad you decided to join the group.

[gmack5]

Welcome Ken,

Congratulations on the acquisition of your BT3100 and welcome to the "family".

One of the first things you need to do, after you get your BT3100 Saw assembled is, following your Owner's Manual, go thru the entire set-up proceedure, step by step, in the sequence laid out in the Manual. Each set up proceedure builds on the preceeding one, so you MUST keep them in sequence.
Usually the Saw is set up properly, right out of the box, but you should still check it as this gets you familiar with all the adjustments on the saw and assures you that everything is as it should be.

Here's some free plans that'll keep you busy for a while. http://www.woodworkersworkshop.com/r...ex.php?cat=102

And here's some additional information about your Saw that you may find useful.

Regardless of what you've read or others have told you, NEVER NEVER use any wax or lubricant on your saw that contains Silicone, this includes all automobile waxes and polishes and most spray-on furniture polishes. The reason is simple, most of them contain Silicones and they will make your projects difficult to finish.
Silicones repell liquid, making "fish eyes" in your finishes, this will force you to remove the Silicones from your project and start over. That stuff (Silicone) migrates all over every where, don't ask me how, it just does.
If you put it in one place, eventually it will be all over the
entire saw.

Your best bet is to use a "dry" lubricant, such as Teflon (PTFE), Powdered Graphite, or Candle Wax for the Raising/Lowering and Tilt mechanisms below the table top.

Then use either Johnson's Paste Wax, Minwax's "Finishing Wax" or Butcher's Wax on the working surfaces, table tops (All three of them) and the Rip Fence.

Do NOT Wax the Front and Rear rails or the Miter Fence. As a mater of fact, you may want to glue 220 grit sand-paper to the front face of the Miter Fence, cause you don't WANT things to slide on there.

You might also want to check out the "Articles" section on the www.BT3central.com site. Lots of good maintenance information on your saw and some of the Jigs and Fixtures that BT3Central members and others have designed for it. Located here: http://www.bt3central.com/articles/ The only thing you'll need to access the information is a recent copy of the Adobe Reader (It can be downloaded from the BTcentral site). One of the Articles mentioned is a "Check List", written by Jim Frye. You can find it here: https://www.sawdustzone.org/articles...nce-check-list

This list contains all the different areas on your saw that need to be periodically inspected or given some sort of special attention. In other words, a "Preventative Maintanence Check List" or PM. Performing this PM on a monthly basis would be a good idea. One of the other things you'll find there is an on-line copy of the User's Manual in downloadable pdf format (a handy thing to have).

Something you might think about is the use of a set of Draftsman's Triangles instead of the Carpenter's Square that they show in the Owner's Manual for setting up your saw.
An accurate Carpenter's Square is almost a myth!
A good one will cost you quite a bit of money, $40 - $75, or more. I would recommend that you consider using a pair of Draftsman's 30 -60 and 45 degree triangles instead. You'll find they're not near as expensive and are far more accurate than a run-of-the-mill Carpenter's Square. The 30 -60 triangle should have one 12" leg and the other leg would be 9" long. The 45 degree triangle should have at least 8" legs on either side of the 90 degree corner. That way either one can be put up against the side of the Saw Blade without touching the saw teeth.

Just remember, regardless of which measuring instrument you choose to use, check it(them) to be sure they're accurate. When checking the Miter Fence for Square to the Blade with a triangle, use the 12" 30-60, if possible.

One of the other "tricks" that I've discovered is to take a piece of "Wax" paper, fold it several times and rub it in the grooves that the "T" nuts that lock your Rails in place ride in. Makes the Rails move smooth as Butter.

Last, but not least, don't forget to paint the RED line!
It's a line that extends the line-of-sight from the saw blade to the front edge of the table to remind you NOT to let your Miter Fence or your FINGERS get in the way of the saw blade. Just put red paint, nail polish, or what ever, in the grove that extends towards the operator from the front edge of the saw blade.

You might also want to check out the "FAQ" shown in the link below.
http://www.bt3central.com/forum/topi...TOPIC_ID=12490
It'll answer a lot of your questions.

[Wood_workur]

Welcome!

I would ease up on the tensioning of the bolts, as we are stronger than we think. Ryobi will take care of the broken one(s), though.

[Crockett]

Welcome Aboard Ken!

[lcm1947]

So, a tough guy huh? Just kidding. Yeah, I don't know how you twisted them off but I'm sure you did if you say so. Don't know why you'd say something like that if you didn't. Unless of course you are trying to ...... oh never mind that's not important. I'm sure you did. Anyway, welcome to the best darn forum around and not just because of me. I actually play a very small part, well except in asking questions that is, but anywho, welcome and I know the feeling you must be experiencing right now getting this awesome tool. It is the main tool in the shop as far as I'm concerned and you've got yourself a good one. So enjoy and watch those hands and fingers. Hopefully we'll see you around the forum a lot.

[Pappy]

Welcome to the Asylum, Ken!

[monte]

Welcome to the group Ken. Be safe and enjoy your new saw.

[jdoolitt]

Welcome Ken. I sheared off one of the same bolts during assembly. :~) You might want to consider replacing them with something a little longer, in case you ever decide to build a shelve between the base and the saw...

[LCHIEN]

Welcome, New Ken.

We forget that we have a huge amount of mechanical advantage when working with screw threads.

The requirements for the four bolts that hold the saw to the stand:
The saw weighs 75 lbs but the weight is borne by the stand in compression so there's no load on the bolts. You push sideways on the saw and ther's maybe 20-30 pounds side load (shear) across 4 bolts.
Pick up the saw and the base hangs from it so maybe 50 pounds shared by four bolts is about 15 pounds tension per bolt.

There's not really much going against the bolts, the main reason they need to be tight is so the nuts don't rattle off, lock washers will prevent that. You want the bolt in moderate tension so it won't work loose.

It seems like a lot of people go to town on bolts. Small bolts in the 1/4" range don't need much torque. That just stresses the bolt in tension. Snug down by hand then turn 1/2 to 1 turn more with the wrench. Maybe another half a turn if you have a lock washer that will compress. Use an appropriate sized wrench or ratchet, you should not have to put so much force on it your hand hurts. Don't use a 1/2" ratchet with a 1/2 to 3/8 and a 3/8 to 1/4" and a 1/4" socket to drive the 1/4" bolt. And a cheater bar. You'll get too much torque.

[greencat]

Welcome Ken

This is a great site. The best advice I can tell you is never look at the bargin section. [^] You will end up with a garage / basement full of tools.

Good Luck