Unisaw blade insert "frozen" in place

[Mark Pruitt]

The last time I put a blade on my Unisaw, I noticed that the insert was difficult to remove and place back in. It was mysterious but didn't seem to be of critical importance. I rarely use the saw, so it's been a long time. The other day I attempted to lift the insert to remove the blade, and the insert is so tight that I cannot lift it. I will most likely have to use a metal cutter to destroy it in order to remove it, but I thought I would ask first if anyone else has encountered this problem. If so, were you able to do anything to get the insert to loosen up? Maybe a hair dryer to create some heat? Or some WD40? Those doggone inserts cost over $40 and I'd love to avoid that expense if I could.
Thanks,
Mark

[Mark Wooden]

Unplug it, go through the motor side or back dust door with a stick and tap it up. Remember to tap the infeed side because of the tab on the other end. When you get it out, clean the corrosion off the edges with steel wool and wax it. Clean the recess in the table too.

[scott spencer]

Unplug it, go through the motor side or back dust door with a stick and tap it up. Remember to tap the infeed side because of the tab on the other end. When you get it out, clean the corrosion off the edges with steel wool and wax it. Clean the recess in the table too.

Good advice....

[Matt Day]

Before I used set screws on the sides of my inserts to dial in the fit, I had a few hardwood inserts that would get extremely tight after a while. Sometimes I'd use the biggest allen key I have (10mm), put the short leg in the hole and yank on it to get it loose. If that didn't work, I'd do what Mark suggested. Please don't take an angle grinder or something to it!

[Mark Pruitt]

I'll give that a try. As much as I dislike pulling that cover off, it definitely beats spending money unnecessarily. Thanks.

[Rick Whitehead]

I'll give that a try. As much as I dislike pulling that cover off, it definitely beats spending money unnecessarily. Thanks.

You shouldn't need to pull the motor cover off. Just take the front dust door off, find an appropriate length stick and a hammer, and give the front of the insert a tap.
Rick W

[Charles Lent]

What about removing the leveling set screws and replacing them with longer set screws, then just turning each down to put upward pressure on the insert. Maybe some WD-40 would help too. I also like the stick up through the dust door idea.

Charley

[Ryan Baker]

I had the same problem, and I tried pretty much everything mentioned and everything you could think of. It was a long time ago, but as I recall driving it up with a stick from below (as mentioned) was what finally got it out (with a lot of effort). It will never go back in -- it is way too large to fit. Somehow it magically got bigger while sitting there. I previously had it get snug, and eventually had to file a little off the insert to get it to fit better. A little after that is when it got really stuck and had to be driven out. Driving it out actually cracked some of the metal (it was that tight). There wasn't any corrosion on it at all, it was just too big. I tried jacking it up with longer set screws but stopped for fear of breaking off the tabs below it. To this day I have no idea just what happened with it.

I don't miss it though. I always have a zero clearance insert in anyway. The only time I used it was for bevel cuts, and I have since made a different insert for that.

[Rick Thom]

I had the same problem, and I tried pretty much everything mentioned and everything you could think of. It was a long time ago, but as I recall driving it up with a stick from below (as mentioned) was what finally got it out (with a lot of effort). It will never go back in -- it is way too large to fit. Somehow it magically got bigger while sitting there. I previously had it get snug, and eventually had to file a little off the insert to get it to fit better. A little after that is when it got really stuck and had to be driven out. Driving it out actually cracked some of the metal (it was that tight). There wasn't any corrosion on it at all, it was just too big. I tried jacking it up with longer set screws but stopped for fear of breaking off the tabs below it. To this day I have no idea just what happened with it.

I don't miss it though. I always have a zero clearance insert in anyway. The only time I used it was for bevel cuts, and I have since made a different insert for that.
This is exactly the same thing that happened to me with my 10 year old Delta Hybrid saw. I finally destroyed the oem insert to get it out. I can't think of any logical reason for this to have happened.