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| Craftsman Job Site Table Saw |
Fast forward to the lockdown, and I'm sick of dealing with this bug, so I decide to spend some of my ample spare time to investigate. With Agnes's help, I got the saw onto the operating table. But I don't mean her physical help. She's the genius who realized that my folding work table could be configured as a ramp, with one set of legs folded. Brilliant! One ratchet strap served as a winch and the saw was soon on its back on the table.
Since I am pretty blind, I have to resort to lots of lamps and flashlights and I wear a heavy-duty stereo magnifier headpiece. After a small amount of disassembly (one bolt and a few plastic pieces), I locate the problem: two missing plastic pieces called bushings that go on the ends of the steel locking pins to protect the aluminum slides while exerting an ungodly pressure on them to hold them in place. The only reason I found this problem was that there was a fragment of the previous bushing still in the slide.
So I consult the Goo-Gul and find many companies that sell Craftsman parts. And if you are patient enough to peer at their fuzzy parts diagrams, you can eventually locate this part, along with the inevitable label "part unavailable".
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| 3D Printed Bushing |
2 comments:
I wonder if the two were different thicknesses, like 90ish in the front and 70ish in the rear?
So here's the rest of the story: After dinner, I went out to the garage and installed the new 70-thou bushings. The front lock still works perfectly, but the back one was still too tight. And it's a fairly light cam follower, so I didn't want to force it. Fortunately, the rear lock rod is adjustable, like a car's steering rods. After a few minutes with a couple of metric open-end wrenches and the back lock was also working perfectly. So, tomorrow, the saw goes back on duty. For now, it can roast in the garage while we go for a swim. And tomorrow I can also retire the bungee I had been using to hold the extension closed when moving the saw.
BTW, another possible issue is the material used for the bushings. The new 3D-printed items are made with Polylactic acid (PLA) and they are as hard as a rock. So the lock rod adjustment is quite critical. But I examined the carcass fragment of the old bushing and it seems to be made of some kind of flexible squishy plastic resembling gummy candy. That's probably why it worked with insufficient clearance, until it was crushed into oblivion.
Your pal James.
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