Stop the clicking when lowering the blade

[RickT]

I decided to thoroughly clean and lube my saw. I disassembled the entire blade elevation/tilt and motor assembly. While I had it apart, I thought about ways I could stop the clicking when lowering the blade. I ended up simply bending the end of the spring that rides against the roll pin used to engage the blade elevation/tilt mechanism. I reassembled everything this afternoon, and the saw elevatation works smoother and quieter than ever. No more clicking. The spring on the left in the picture below shows a slignt bend at the end, which creates a smooth transition in both directions.

[hobkirk]

Superb! And fantastic cleaning. Now I might be forced to face the music and do mine (and maybe the transition from elevation to angle will work more smoothly).

[RickT]

LOML asked, "Are you sure you know how everything goes back together?" As I reply, "Of course I do," I was thinking to myself, "I sure hope I know how everything goes back together." The manual has a parts diagram, which helped.

I used denatured alcohol on a shop rag (I like those boxes of paper shop rags from Menards/HomeDepot) to clean most of the parts. I used mineral spirits and OOOO (extra fine) steel wool to clean the machined guides sandwiched between the front and back shims. I then whiped on T-9 (it's excellent for rust prevention and dry lubrication) and waited for it to "dry." If applied heavily, T-9 dries to a waxy film. I applied the T-9 and let it penetrate the parts for a few hours and then I whiped off the excess.

I wanted to be sure the blade elevation and tilt would work smoothly, and I've tried several lubricants over the past couple of years. I found that GulfWax (paraffin wax / candle wax) works about the best.



For an even coat of it, I rubbed a bar of the wax on parts I wanted to lube (elevation screw, shims, aluminum casting glides, gears, springs, etc.) and I carefully used a heat gun (hair dryer might work too) just until the wax melted to a clear consistency. It flowed well into the threads of the elevation screw.

The blade elevation and tilt work better than ever!

I need to add that LOML helped me when removing the motor assembly. My son helped me reassemble it by holding the motor in position while I set the elevation screw and gear back into the hole in the aluminum casting, put the shims in place, reinstalled the front aluminum cover, and put in the 6 screws. I don't know how some of you guys have done that alone. I also picked up a set of pin punches for removing and reinserting the 2 roll pins: one holding the gear to the elevation screw and the other holding the horizontal shaft at the end opposit the gear. (The gear end of that shaft is held by a set screw.) I initially used a nail to remove the first roll pin, and it was a pain. These made it much, much easier.



Two other points worth mentioning: First, I found tilting the motor assembly made it a lot easier (possible) to remove the motor and elevation screw. Second, I needed to remove the roll pin holding the elevation screw to the gear before removing the motor, and when I reinstalled the motor and elevation screw, I needed to insert the roll pin after the motor and elevaton screw were in place because the vertical gear was in the way. It's kind of like a puzzle.

It took some patience, but it was worth the effort. Everything works better than ever.

Rick

[silverfox]

Well, Rick...you have more patience than I and I admire you. I would love to do that but....I probably never will. How long did that take you?? I'll bet that mechanism works smooth as silk now.
Mike

[RickT]

I worked on it over a week, but total time was probably about 3 hours. It does work as smooth as silk.
Rick

[nlange41]

In my BT3 the elevation stopped working in Dec. I finally got to tear it apart last night and found the casing that the elevation screw goes though is stripped. Guess since I have it all torn down I'll give it a good cleaning too. Thanks for all the good sugestions for cleaning and lubing.

[RickT]

Sorry to hear that. I understand the fix for that can be to drill out the stripped threads and insert a Helicoil threaded insert or acquire a new casting from Ryobi. Here are a couple of links to topics on the repair. Is you saw still under the 2-year warranty?

Keep us updated

Thanks,
Rick

http://www.bt3central.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=19479&SearchTerms=BT3K,height,adj.,repair

http://www.bt3central.com/articles/files/rebuild.pdf

[rickd]

quote:Originally posted by RickT

LOML asked, "Are you sure you know how everything goes back together?"
Rick

hi rick,

i just know i would not get everything back together the right way!!!

but, thanks for the pics and instructions. i am going to save your post just in case i ever have a problem and have to end up doing what you did. in the meantime, i'll just keep clicking along and cleaning and lubing what i can see.

nice job!

[nlange41]

quote:Originally posted by RickT

Sorry to hear that. I understand the fix for that can be to drill out the stripped threads and insert a Helicoil threaded insert or acquire a new casting from Ryobi. Here are a couple of links to topics on the repair. Is you saw still under the 2-year warranty?

Keep us updated

Thanks,
Rick

http://www.bt3central.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=19479&SearchTerms=BT3K,height,adj.,repair

http://www.bt3central.com/articles/files/rebuild.pdf

My BT is 13 years old, way out of 2 year warranty, and still can cut through 6/4 maple. This is the second time the casing stripped. The first time I took it somewhere and they had it for 3 months because Ryobi would not send the part (new casing) because the shop owed money to Ryobi. This time I'm doing the helicoil fix so I can use the saw for another 13 years.

Thanks for the links, all information is a big help.