How to tighten your TS blade?

[Rusty Eads]

I have recently acquired a Walker Turner cabinet saw as an upgrade to my contractor saw. My old saw is a direct drive and uses two wrenches to tighten the saw blade to the arbor. Now this may seem like a stupid/easy question but how do you tighten the arbor nut if there is no way to hold the arbor still? This is my first belt drive saw and so I never really thought about how to tighten the nut. I know they make some nifty gadgets to hold the blade or something like that but are there any other ways?

[Lee Schierer]

What I do is raise the blade so several inches are above the table surface and then pinch the blade between my thumb and fingers and tighten the nut with the wrench. It doesn't have to be super tight as the shaft rotation will tend to tighten it. When I loosen the nut, I push a piece of soft wood into the blade teeth so several are engaged and use the wrench to loosen the nut.

[Jerome Hanby]

They make gadgets like this one (http://www.milescraft.com/product/3401.html). I have a similar one that's orange. I bought it from Woodcraft, but can't find it on their www.

[Mike Nolan]

I used a block of wood about 2 x 4 x 8 inch. I sawed a 2 inch deep groove in the middle of the 2 inch wide side by raising the blade with the block clamped to the fence. After that pushing down lightly on the saw blade with the block was enough to tighten or loosen the arbor nut.

[Josiah Bartlett]

I use a block of wood or just pinch the blade in a soft jawed clamp. If you use the clamp it makes it easy to grab the blade without toothing your fingers.

[Troy Turner]

I'm with some of the others...just a scrap of 2x4 that's about 6" long. Position it behind a tooth to tighten and let it grab a tooth in the front to loosen.

[Dave MacArthur]

Stick of wood. Just shove it down vertically so the blade's teeth bite, pull back/pivot it against the blade opening to give it a bit of torque against the teeth, and it holds blade solid. Tighten/loosen nut with wrench. When done, lift up stick. ;)

No offense intended, but "How to hold TS blade still to tighten nut?" is a better topic than "A simple question"... no one has any idea what the topic will be with the second. Targeted titles let people help you better ;)

[Marty Paulus]

Box end wrench on the nut. Pinch the blade between thumb and fingers. Let the wrench touch the table top and pull/push with steady pressure. Like Lee says, the nut does not have to be torqued to 100 Ft. Lbs. The rotation of the shaft tightens the nut. I try to keep it just tight enough so I don't struggle to remove it next time. If I have to use a block of wood to help loosen it, it was way too tight. My saw is only 1 1/2 HP. I will stall the motor before the blade slips on the shaft.

[Bill Huber]

I use the Saw Jaw, I really like it because it is more then just something to hold the blade, it protects the blade from getting hit.

It is also nice that it protects you from getting hit with the sharp teeth.

I use it to take the blade off and then use it to put the blade back on. I have one for each of my main blades.

http://www.amazon.com/Saw-Jaw-Circular-Changer-Holder/dp/B00066N7B2

167008

[steven c newman]

all of this depends on which side of the blade the nut resides at. When wrenching it tight, I bring it up snug, then tap the wrench with my hand a couple of times to make "snug" "snugger", then let the first cut finish the job.

[glenn bradley]

When I had a one wrench saw I clamped a shaped piece of 2x4 to the fence and raised the blade into it about an inch or so. Lowered the blade, adjusted the fence and repeated till I had a slot about 3/8" wide. This became my blade holder during changes. Good and snug is good enough, the nut will tighten right up with use.

[Howard Acheson]

I just use my fingers.

As others have said, you don't want to make it too tight. Tightening the arbor nut too much can deform the blade and cause it to cut less cleanly.

[Von Bickley]

What I do is raise the blade so several inches are above the table surface and then pinch the blade between my thumb and fingers and tighten the nut with the wrench. It doesn't have to be super tight as the shaft rotation will tend to tighten it. When I loosen the nut, I push a piece of soft wood into the blade teeth so several are engaged and use the wrench to loosen the nut.

That's the way I do it...... :D

[Alan Schwabacher]

You don't need to crank the arbor nut down too tight, as it's threaded so that it will tighten up as you cut. That's why right and left tilt saws, with the nut on opposite sides of the blade, have opposite threads. As long as the blade can spin down without being stopped too quickly by arbor resistance, there will be little to no tendency for the nut to loosen up.

If the arbor were to be stopped suddenly, the blade's momentum would tend to loosen the arbor nut. Some means of keeping the blade from rotating on the arbor, such as a pin or diamond cutout, then becomes useful.

But it is nice to be able to use another wrench to hold the arbor still as you loosen the nut. Another option besides something in the teeth to keep the arbor from rotating as you loosen the nut is to use inertia. Just put the wrench on the nut, hold the blade loosely by the plate, and gently tap the wrench with a piece of wood.

[David Hostetler]

I am a bit confused. Do you mean to say that the arbor doesn't have the flats for a wrench to hold it still? While I have only owned cheap table saws (Both have been Ryobi), I have used plenty older saws, mostly Rockwell, and the King Seely built Craftsman saws, and they all had flats to hold the arbor still while you snugged the nut down...

[Rusty Eads]

With my new/old WT cabinet saw there is no flats on the arbor for a wrench, which my Delta contractor saw had.

I see from the opinions and techniques you guys have shown me that I have been WAAAYYYY overtightening my arbor nut in the past. Since I had the wrench that was used on the arbor and the wrench on the nut I would tighten that sucker just as tight as my little arms could, which is quite abit. I am now interested to see how my cuts will be different with the contractor saw if I don't tighten it down so tight :rolleyes:

[Chip Lindley]

Rusty, OVER-tightening risks stripped threads or warping/bending something. Sometimes more is not better! Your CS may have suffered. Inspect the threads up close and personal. A dial indicator will tell the tale if bent.

Off Topic, but still very related, are the many jointer and planer gib bolts I have seen with gnarled heads from over tightening. tisk tisk! Those can be over-stressed until the head finally breaks off! Not good! The only thing worse if breaking a lug nut stud off your auto's hub!

[Joseph Tarantino]

i use a leather glove to hold the blade to both tighten and loosen. no need to "sock it home" as the rotation tightens the blade. freud recommends against wedging wood into the blade for either tightening or loosening. and i always unplug the saw before handling the blade.

[Rod Sheridan]

Yes, holding it with a glove and using the wrench will work just fine.

My General had a flat on the arbour, my Hammer uses a wrench and an Allen key.

Don't over tighten it.............Rod.

[glenn bradley]

I am a bit confused. Do you mean to say that the arbor doesn't have the flats for a wrench to hold it still? While I have only owned cheap table saws (Both have been Ryobi), I have used plenty older saws, mostly Rockwell, and the King Seely built Craftsman saws, and they all had flats to hold the arbor still while you snugged the nut down...

Luck of the draw. Many makers/models do not offer a means to wrench the arbor.

[Kent A Bathurst]

They make gadgets like this one (http://www.milescraft.com/product/3401.html). I have a similar one that's orange. I bought it from Woodcraft, but can't find it on their www.


Bench Dog Blade-Loc. available everywhere, including Amazon. I use this for single blades - finger protector :D - also, the blade will slip under the internal "teeth" if you try to over-tighten, but they are kind of one-way, so the blade doesn't slip when you loosen. For dado stack, then I use trusty Mr Oak Chunk.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/413855AHHCL._SL500_AA300_.jpg

[Steve Jenkins]

Just a note as the methods stated all work well for tightening the blade. My saw has a hole in the table that you drop a steel rod into and it engages a hole in the arbor shaft. See if your saw has about a 1/2" hole located in the table top above the arbor.

[Jay Allen]

Steve, the only ones I have ever seen like that were larger saws with 1" or greater arbors. That generally means commercial units.
The Holz Her slider saw we have at work does have this method, as well as 2 pins to index the blade. It's a fairly big blade though, IIRC somewhere around 16" diameter in a metric configuration.