Table Saw tune-up help needed

[Matt Day]

Hello,

I'm tuning up my new-to-me Bridgewood TS and have run into a roadblock at the pulleys. I'm trying to get them aligned after noticing they were about 1/4" out of parallel.

If I understand correctly (which follows the same process for every type of machine I've worked on with belts), I need to loosen the set screws at the motor's pulley assembly, and slide the pullies on the motor's drive shaft until they are parallel with the uppor pullies on the arbor. The problem is, I can't get the set screws to tighten down to hold the motor pullies in place! I tighten down on them as much as I felt comfortable without stripping the set screws and it's like I didn't do anything - the pulley assembly just slides back and forth.

I could take the motor off completely so I could remove the pulley assembly, but I thought I'd consult you all before I undertook that.

Also, the cast iron arbor bracket that holds the arbor pullies and arbor/blade can be adjusted in and out with a pinch bolt. It's clearly off center by about 1/8 of an inch or so. Should this align straight over the worm gear?

What do you think?

[Steve H Graham]

I think I'd start out by getting some spare set screws. You never know.

[Matt Day]

They look fine and not at risk for being stripped, but I'll take your advice and get some more at the hw store.

[Jim Solomon]

Matt if you tighten them as much as you felt comfortable with and the pulley still slides off, they are not making contact with the arbor. Is it a hard task to remove the pulley and check the threads on the screws and pulley? Is it possible to remove one set screw and just temporary use a bolt of the same thread and see if that can be tighten down on the arbor. It sounds as though the threads either have had loctite applied or are messed up somehow at the bottom of the thread portion on the pulley. Without seeing it or having experience with that saw I am not sure how hard it would be to remove the pulley. But I would if only to run a tap through the threads to make sure all was well there. Sorry I couldn't be of more help.
Jim

[Josiah Bartlett]

If the shaft of the motor is very hard then the setscrews won't bite unless there is a recess machined for them or you are using pointed screws. I would pull the pulley off the shaft and look for evidence of where the set screws were landing on in the original position of the pulley.

Also, make sure your set screws are actually the ones the are holding it to the shaft. Some setups use an inner and outer setscrew. The inner ones hold the pulley, and the outer screws jam the actual setscrews to keep them tight.

[Bill Petersen]

Check to see if there is a key on the shaft. Often the set screw tightens down on the key to secure the pulley. Either way, there is either a flat spot on the shaft for the set screw to seat against or a keyway and key.

Good Luck, Bill

[glenn bradley]

I'm with Bill. It sounds like you are either missing the key with the set screw or the key is missing period.

[george wilson]

There must be a keyway on the shaft. You just might have a set screw on top of another set screw acting like a jam nut. My Hardinge HLVH metal lathe has double stacked set screws. Normally,you might only find double set svrews on high quality American machines. Take the set screw out,and see if there is another under it.

[Matt Day]

I figured it out! I also got to know my saw better after playing with it which I really appreciate. So I took out the two bolts that lock the motor in from rotating down, and that let the motor swing down and let me easily take off the motor pully assembly. I took out the key that locks the pullies on, and tried to screw in the set screws down further and they wouldn't protrude out enough to lock the key onto the driveshaft. So I got my tap set out and chased the threads - turned out to be a heck of a lot of gunk in there and the set screws do their job now! I bet the saw was never set up or tuned correctly, which might be why the belts were cracked all over (which I just replaced).

Thanks for the help and encouragement guys!

[Charles Lent]

The gunk that you found in the threads was most likely Loctite. Vibrating machinery stays together much longer when Loctite is used, but it can be a real pain when dis-assembly is needed. It would be a good idea to use Loctite again, if you don't want the set screws to loosen, but only use the blue Loctite, as it doesn't harden so hard that it can't be dis-assembled again. An old machinist trick before Locktite was available was to use 2 short setscrews, one behind the other, and when reading about your problem I was beginning to think that this might be the source of your frustration. If you don't want to use Loctite, 2 short setscrews, with the first one holding the pulley on and the second one behind it to lock the first one in place works really well. Just don't forget that you have done this or you will have major problems the next time that the pulley needs to be moved.

Charley