John
This afternoon when I was attempting to change the blade on my Ridgid TS3650, the left hand wrench on the arbor bolt actually rounded over the square portion of the bolt. The wrenches that came with the saw are flimsy stamped steel less than 1/8″ thick and the inside edges are somewhat rounded, not square/sharp and the open end is not all that deep. Ridgid is sending me a new arbor bolt assembly (the first tech was not helpful–I had to ask for a manager to get the help I needed), but to prevent this from happening again, what do you suggest? The “manager” suggested wedging a block of wood against the blade, and this worked fine, but seems a bit crude and somewhat unsafe. I am a newbie to TS’s, but I consider myself mechanically inclined and somewhat intelligent, although that’s open to opinion. What do you suggest? Thanks. Tom
Replies
Tom,
I suspect that you are probably tightening the bolt way more than is necessary.
There is little chance that a blade would come loose even if the bolt wasn't tightened at all, so you only need to put five or ten pounds pressure on the wrench handles to securely attach the blade. Basically just tighten the arbor bolt until it is snug and then give it a small turn farther. Being you have an arbor that takes two wrenches, there is no need to wedge the blade, which will risk damaging the blade's flatness by distorting the teeth or twisting the plate.
John White
Tom, just to reinforce John's instructions -- I used to jam wood up against my saw blade (one wrench system) and tighten for all I was worth. After reading John White and other authors, I finally was convinced it was super-overkill. I now simply hold the blade with one hand and tighten with the other. That carbide is sharp(!), so sometimes I'll wear a glove on the holding hand. No blades have gone into orbit yet! ;-)
forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
Thanks. I am pretty sure that I didn't overtighten the arbor nut. Just as John suggested, I tighten the nut just snug, and then just a bit more. The wrenches supplied by Ridgid are really pathetic. If Ridgid supplied you with a decent set of wrenches, this problem would not exist. To get the blade off, I jammed a piece of wood against the blade, and it did not take much of an effort to loosen the arbor nut.
I have since watched a video by Gary Rogowski on Tablesaws where he suggests using a stick of wood to hold pressure against the blade while you loosen/tighten the arbor nut with the wrench. I've also seen gizmos from BenchDog--Blade Loc and another gadget that completely encircles the blade. I am concerned as John mentioned about damaging the blade by jamming the piece of wood and possibly bending the blade. Thanks for your suggestion. I'm sure I'll figure something out. Tom
I agree that normal blades do not require too much tightning. The exception are the slick coated blades that are becoming commonplace. I've had them come loose when I used my block of wood to hold the blade while tightning the nut. So for them I use an arbor wrench along with the nut wrench.By the way. I've used the block of wood technique for more than 20 years without mishap. The gouges in it are certainly more welcome there then on my hand (make note Forestgirl).
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