Tablesaw Routine Maintenence Effort

[glenn bradley]

I was trying to link to the thread that nudged me into action but my Google-Fu is weak today. The person was having issues with trunnion adjustments on his saw and the cure turned out to be a little preventative maintenance. That prompted me to check when the last time I did a PM on my tablesaw happened to be . . . it must have been a few years but 2 of those it was in storage. Turned out is was more than 8 years (2 of them in storage)!!!
My saw is somewhat surrounded and that makes it easy to put off routine maintenance if I get lazy. The outfeed blocks the rear access and the router table blocks the motor cover area.

Other items clog the other side but access here is not required.

First off, de-energize that mother.

A couple of simple pencil marks will let me get the router table back into the general area when I'm done.

I slide the router table over there . . .

And roll the outfeed over there . . .

This gives me all the access I need.


Pull the blade and riving knife.

cont'd . . .

 

[glenn bradley]

Seems obvious I should have been here sooner . . .







Typical Saw Stop; easy access to everything. The rubber bumpers to keep the door from rattling are a nice touch. It is nice when things are designed to be worked on.


A little brush work, some compressed air and a new wipe of grease.

I run each lubricated point up and down or back and forth a couple of times to spread the lube. I wipe away any excessive extra. I've been using this marine grease for years. Unless you are currently in high school a can will last you the rest of your life in the woodshop. A "clock oiler" makes reaching the bushings a breeze.

Put things back and test it out. All told it was about 30 or 40 minutes including cleaning up all those nooks and crannies I can't normally get to

.


If you are like me I hope this gives you a nudge to do a little PM. I almost forgot to mention; the trunnion moves like it lost half its weight. I guess we don't notice as things require just a bit more effort over time. What a difference!

 

[Darren Wright]

On the list to do, just need to get it out of storage.

 

[Vaughn McMillan]

When I got my trusty-dusty Ridgid TS3650 out of storage I was pleasantly surprised that it was still dead square to the miter slot and squaring up the Incra fence only took about 5 minutes once I mounted the rails to the table. Cleaning up and lubing the trunnion would be a good idea, although I only need to make bevel cuts maybe once every year or two, so it very seldom moves from 90º. I could stand to do some tweaking on my router table extension just to get it level with the cast iron extension, though. It's a little off, but not enough to affect any work I've had to do on it.

 

[Charles Lent]

I've been lubricating the gears and ways of my Unisaw with Johnsons Paste Wax, applied with an old toothbrush. I started using this because it develops a hard crust that resists collecting sawdust, but the crust breaks up easily when movement is necessary. I'm 80, and owned my first table saw at about 15, so about 65 years I've been doing this, and never have had a problem with either the wax or the table saws resulting from this use. I think my uncle (mentor) taught me this.

Charley

 

[Mike Stafford]

One thing I used to do was take care of my stationary tools. I am one of those OCD people who cleaned the inside of the saw cabinet after every use. I did that for practically every tool I had. Even today I vacuum the band saw and lathe at the end of each session in the shop. In fact I vacuum the bed and other areas of the lathe frequently while I am turning. I brush out and vacuum all of the chucks I use each day. And I always clean the Morse tapers.

Being OCD is a good thing sometimes. However it does conflict with my natural wood and tool hoarding instincts.

 

[Frank Fusco]

Nice set-up there. I especially like the dual purpose outfeed table.

 

[John Bartley]

Nice work. And yes .... maintenance is something that I should also do regularly, but it tends to get done when the raise/lower or tilt cranking gets tight.

I also have a couple of those foam kneeling pads like yours - they are great!!