New to BT3000 Ownership

[BTINTHE530]

Soooo, I picked up a BT3000 yesterday off of CL, now what?

I think I got a good deal; $250 (congratulate me if that's good and keep it to yourself if I got ripped-off). The saw is very clean with very little wear showing. Has two SMT's but they don't S very smoothly. The saw also included an accessory table with an attached B&D router. It seems like the saw has been sitting for a few years because the moving parts (blade height/bevel action) needed some lube (used "Lock-Ease") but now everything is running smooth. No rust or corrosion and it included a sturdy wheeled stand.

I plan to use the saw for projects around the house like book casses and the like.

Now my questions:

I saw somewhere on this site while I was researching table saws that someone had good instructions on setting up the SMT for smooth, accurate running but now I can't find it.

The saw is missing the throat plate and one of the nut/bolt/slide assemblies on the SMT. Where is the best source for parts for the BT3000?

Oh yea, it is also missing the wrenches, what size is the thin wrench used to hold the arbor for blade changes?

It came with one 60T blade. If I were to pick up a couple of other blades what should I look for? I plan on picking up a good quality dado set.

This site has already helped me make the decision to buy a BT3 and I look forward to a steepened learning curve with the support available here.

Thanks in advance,
Chris

[leehljp]

Soooo, I picked up a BT3000 yesterday off of CL, now what?

I plan to use the saw for projects around the house like book casses and the like.

Now my questions:

I saw somewhere on this site while I was researching table saws that someone had good instructions on setting up the SMT for smooth, accurate running but now I can't find it.

The saw is missing the throat plate and one of the nut/bolt/slide assemblies on the SMT. Where is the best source for parts for the BT3000?

Oh yea, it is also missing the wrenches, what size is the thin wrench used to hold the arbor for blade changes?

It came with one 60T blade. If I were to pick up a couple of other blades what should I look for? I plan on picking up a good quality dado set.

This site has already helped me make the decision to buy a BT3 and I look forward to a steepened learning curve with the support available here.

Thanks in advance,
Chris

Welcome Chris and congratulations on your saw.


I can't answer all of your questions and will leave them to others to post. LChien (Loring) has a good PDF that he can send you concerning the BT3X.

Here is a recent Post that has some links and good advice on the SMT, including where to order parts I think. IF not, go to the BT3x00 Forum and scroll down those posts. Lots of help there. http://www.bt3central.com/showthread.php?t=48750

Most BT3's came with a 36 or 40 tooth blade. Those are the ones I use the most. Other people change them out according to need.

On making book shelves, long ends sticking out make for difficulty in accurate cross-cutting of the ends. This is fine with lots of experience with the right technique.

For crosscutting the end of long pieces, I made a Squared mini-sawboard recently and it does great for that. I made it with my BT3000. The squared mini-sawboard can be made to work with a router in case you wanted to cut some dados. Click here

Again, cutting dado's towards one end of a long board for bookshelves can be difficult on table saws, without experience. I am sure some people will say that they have no problem - in the same way that Michael Shumacher has no problem driving 200 MPH. They are already experts!

[LCHIEN]

the arbor nut is 3/4" it doesn't take a thin wrench for that, any 3/4" combination open or box wrench will work, remember its a reverse threaded nut and especially remember you don't need a whole lot of torque on this - no "death grips" as one person described it. You can warp the blade by overtorquing it.
the nuts that hold the riving knife are 1/2". A combination wrench will work for this, too.
The arbor lock is a on the opposite end of either of the thin wrenches, You really need one or the other of this thin wrench to lock the arbor to loosen the nut.
This and all the other questions are addressed in my BT3 FAQ, see the sig line below.

[dbhost]

On top of what Loring (LCHIEN) said, and honestly I was too lazy to read Lee's post, I would say that the best place for pieces parts, IF you cannot find sombody that is parting out a BT, is M and D Mower. Their shipping rates are kind of up there for one or two item orders, but if you are ordering a few items at once, the rates become more reasonable...

I use a Freud Diablo 40T General Purpose blade on mine, as well as a Diablo 80T crosscutting blade. The Diablo blades are excellent budget blades. If you are wiling to spend money on a blade worth sharpening, I would look into either Forrest or Tenryu (not sure I spelled that right). The guys at Woodcraft demonstrated those blades last weekend. Amazing isn't an adequate word for them...

[Alex Franke]

Welcome! You already got off to a great start by joining the fun here!

[Knottscott]

Sounds like a pretty good for all that you got. Setup and blade selection are huge factors in the final performance.

Blade selection is very much proprietary to your saw and what you cut. Your saw will do well with good quality thin kerf blades (~ 3/32" tooth width). I think the first decision should be whether to choose separate task specific blades, or to go with more of a "do-all" general purpose blade that will give "good" results in most applications but excel at none. Both philosophies have merit depending on the situation, your preference, budget, and cutting objectives. A decent purebred 60-80 tooth crosscut blade will certainly make "cleaner" crosscuts than a 30, 40 or 50 tooth general purpose blade of comparable quality. Inversely, a 24 tooth bulk ripper will certainly be more efficient at ripping thick material than the general purpose (GP) style blade. The key to “better” depends on how you define that term. Better performance in one aspect of cutting doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a better choice overall. Consider both sides of the equation before making a decision. Taking the approach of using task specific blades requires owning at least two blades that each excel in a limited operating region, and are typically unacceptable for tasks outside of their intended scope. They also require blade changes for each different task for optimum results. Two task-specific blades (typically a 24T ripper and a 60T or 80T crosscutter) will generally stay sharp longer than a single general purpose blade because they share the work load, but will cost more upfront and will also cost more to re-sharpen when the time comes. A general purpose blade will neither rip as efficiently as a true rip blade nor crosscut as cleanly as a dedicated crosscut blade, but you may find that it’s more than acceptable at doing both tasks for most situations. A valid argument in favor of using one high quality general purpose blade is that the GP blade leaves a cleaner edge than the rip blade, crosscuts faster than a crosscut blade, and does so with the convenience and cost of using one blade. If you happen to do a lot of specialty cutting of fine veneered plywoods, veneers, melamine, MDF, plastics, etc., a blade made specifically for these materials is definitely recommended. If you tend to rip very thick dense materials regularly, then a dedicated ripping blade is a wise choice for you right from the start. Sooner a later a decent general purpose blade will be useful, so it's always a reasonable starting point IMO, even if you pursue separates later.

If you're willing to spend the money, my top choices would easily be to combine the 60T Hi-ATB Infinity 010-060 with the 30T Forrest WWII. The Infinity is on sale for $60, and is excellent for general purpose rips up to ~ 5/4", fine crosscuts, plywood/sheetgoods. The 30T WWII is a lower tooth version of the more popular 40T WWII....it'll rip more efficiently in thick materials up to ~ 3" than the 40T, and cuts about as cleanly. These two blades are a great compliment to each other, giving a taste of task specific blades without needing to change them out as often. Either blade will give excellent results in the majority of things you do, but you'll be strong in thick ripping with the 30T, and super clean in fine crosscuts and ply with the 60t on those occasions when you need it. It'll likely run you in the range of $140-$150 to score those two blades, but they're both top of the heap, will give you terrific results across the whole spectrum, and are an excellent match to your saw. To shave costs, you could add a 24T FTG ripper instead of the 30T WWII...you'll gain a little ripping efficiency but will lose a lot of versatility (24T rippers won't give acceptable crosscuts), and you'll get rougher cuts.

If that's more than you want invest now, a single 40T to 50T general purpose blade will do well in most tasks. The Infinity 010-150 Combomax Lite is among the best combo blades I've tried that in the < $75 category. Lowe's has recently picked up the Italian made CMT ITK Plus series, and they have the 50T ATB/R blade for $40.

It'd probably be best if you told us what you're willing to spend on blades, and what you'll be cutting most...

[annunaki]

Are you antwhere near this freebee?

Sawzilla free to good home.....
Anyone live in the San Bernardino area of Southern California interested in Sawzilla?

[BTINTHE530]

Thanks for the good info so far...

I PM'd Loring for the FAQ's.
I printed the manual posted by Ray.
I know cross cuts on long boards are not practical so my first table saw project will be a MDF cross cutting jig/sawboard for my circular saw and router.
It looks like I'm going to start with three good+ quality blades: cross cut (60-80), rip (30-40), and ply (100+).
I checked out M&D Mower and they look like a great repair/replacement part source.
Unfortunately I'm 400 miles from the Sawzilla deal.

Thanks again,
Chris

[pelligrini]

Welcome!

For a lot of ripping you probably want to go 30T or less. I picked up a 24T Olshun from Holbren a while back and it made a world of difference when I was doing rip cuts. I did get a 30T-TK WWII later, but I usually put the 24T on when I've got a lot of material to rip.

Check the two links at the top of the Main fourm page:

http://www.bt3central.com/forum.php

The Shark Guard is a definite plus. I really like mine. I didn't much like the original OEM guard and I usually left it off, unlike my shark. Lee also has started a new run of Zero Clearance Throat plates too.

You'll probably want to stop by T-nuts.com once you start building jigs and other attachments. His assortment packs are a good start.

[Knottscott]

...It looks like I'm going to start with three good+ quality blades: cross cut (60-80), rip (30-40), and ply (100+).
...
Thanks again,
Chris

Chris - If you get a 60T to 80T crosscut blade with a "Hi-ATB" grind, it'll give you outstanding fine crosscuts as well as ply cuts, and would essentially make a separate plywood blade redundent. The tooth grind is a critical influence on ply performance....even more so than tooth count IMO (within reason). Blades such as the Freud LU79 (TK) or LU80, Infinity 010-060 or 010-080, Forrest WWI or Duraline, Amana MB10-800, or CMT 255.080.10 (aka the model P10080 at Lowes).

Not sure if the Infinity Dadonator will fit your saw, but it is the best of the 4 dado sets I've owned...which were the Freud SD208 (12T/2T), DeWalt/Delta 7670 (24T/4T), Systimatic S42Fine (42T/6T), and the Dadonator (24T/6T).

[Norm in Fujino]

Be sure to disassemble your saw and clean it out well, and take a good look at your shims; they're one of the parts that's first to give trouble on a genuine BT3000, but also rather easy to fix. Good luck on getting it all set up.

[BTINTHE530]

Thanks for the additional input.

I will probably go for the better of the 80 tooth blades to try to get a range of uses out of one blade for starters. I believe I want a blade in the 80 tooth range for MDF also. My first projects will be MDF and hardboard router and circ saw guides. I don't think I'm ready to plunk down close to $200 for a dado set quite yet and i haven't been good enough for Santa to bring one.

The first thing I did when I got the saw home (much to my wife's bewilderment) was to tear it down and clean and lube everything. Now lift, tilt, and SMT's are smoother than a baby's butt.

[leehljp]

The first thing I did when I got the saw home (much to my wife's bewilderment) was to tear it down and clean and lube everything. Now lift, tilt, and SMT's are smoother than a baby's butt.

Shucks Chris,

If you are able to do that, you are ahead of about 95% of us! 50% of us that don't know how and 45% of us that are too lazy!

I am looking forward to seeing the fruits of your woodworking!

[Uncle Cracker]

I don't think I'm ready to plunk down close to $200 for a dado set quite yet and i haven't been good enough for Santa to bring one.

Heck, you don't need to spend that much... You can get the Freud SD206 for $85 (or less, from time-to-time) on Amazon. It's an excellent 6" set, which will give you dadoes as deep as you'll ever need on a BT. (You do not want to use an 8" set on a BT, because of clearance problems when you do wider dadoes.)

[LCHIEN]

so Chris, you have the BT3 FAQ I sent you, it has a whole section on blade selection and another whole section on dado blades. The Freud SD206 is outstanding and doesn't cost $200.

I usually keep a Forrest TK WWII on my BT3 except for ocassions when i need to rip somedeep hard wood or lots of rips, then i will change to a 27-T Freud ripping blade. The "general purpose - rip, crosscut, laminate) Forrest makes an outstanding cut - they're sometimes on sale for down to $65-75.

I keep an 80-tooth Freud blade in my miter saw.