Bad bearings?

[Drew Morton]

When running my table saw, whether under load or not, i get an off and on squealing coming from the arbor area. Its not the motor, as the motor spins nice and quiet when I remove the belt. I seem to have no arbor runout, and the saw maintains its accuracy. If it werent so annoying, Id probably just leave it, but that wouldnt be any fun.

Has anyone had similar symptoms with bad bearings?

Thanks in advance.

Drew

[Brad Olson]

I had this problem and it turned out to be sawdust build up on the outside of the bearings. I just cleaned them off with motor oil (not WD-40 or mineral spirits since this may get into the bearings and dissolve the grease). After that the problem went away.

HTH

Brad

[Drew Morton]

Thanks, Ill check that out.

I should have told you what kind of saw it is. Its a mid 70s delta rockwell model 10 contractors saw. I dont know if that makes a difference.

Again, thank you for the advice.

Drew

[Wes Bischel]

Drew,

Another source of the squealing could be the belt - if it is glazed, or old, it could be slipping and causing the squeal.

Wes

[Brad Olson]

Thanks, Ill check that out.

I should have told you what kind of saw it is. Its a mid 70s delta rockwell model 10 contractors saw. I dont know if that makes a difference.

Again, thank you for the advice.

Drew
Drew,

It is always a tough call how long bearings will last. Treated properly they last a long time, abused and they will go quickly.

When you clean them with motor oil, I did this with it on a tooth brush, and removed as much of the excess as possible with a tooth brush.

If you can find access to a machine shop, it is pretty easy to press new bearings in. You can also make a jerry rigged bearing press, search google and owwm.com if it turns out you need new bearings, there is a lot of into out there, and that is where I got the idea of checking for buildup around the arbor near the bearings. If you aren't using a DC (or havent in the past) there will be a huge build up of sawdust paste/cake. When I removed this, the sound when away. My squeaking noise only came when the blade got to a certain rpm during spin down, if that helps your troubleshooting any.

While you are in your saw innards look at this...

http://files.owwm.com/PDF/FAQ/TableSawTune.pdf

It is about the best article I have seen on table saw lube

[Tyler Howell]

Thanks Brad,

Good Info

[Drew Morton]

Thank you very much guys. Ive tried blowing the sawdust build-up out with compressed air, but I can still see some of the caked on stuff there. I will try the motor oil thing, and see if that works. A DC would help, I think, and is on the list of things to get soon.

Thanks again

Drew